Scam Calls Hit Record in Thailand Before Cyber Fraud Crackdown
Thailand saw the number of scam calls and text messages more than double to a record 168 million in 2024 from a year earlier, an anti-scam tech firm said, before authorities stepped up a crackdown on cyber fraud operations in Southeast Asia.
Scammers most often pretended to sell fake products, represent Thai firms, offer loans, or collect debt, according to data collected by Whoscall, an application that identifies unknown callers and blocks scam calls. The fraudsters have recently begun to impersonate delivery services and state utilities or agencies, said app provider Gogolook Thailand, a unit of Taipei-listed Gogolook Co. Ltd.
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American Military News
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Cambodia, Thailand wage tit-for-tat as border rift widens
This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission. Cambodia on Tuesday blocked imports of Thai vegetables and fruit, and Thailand banned its nationals from working at some casinos inside Cambodia in fresh fallout from a border dispute sparked by a 10-minute firefight last month. Cambodia's Ministry of Information said that starting at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, authorities along the border with Thailand closed gates to block the import of Thai agricultural products. Prime Minister Hun Manet declared Tuesday that Cambodia will only allow the Thai imports if the Thai military reopens all border checkpoints and resumes normal operations. He also set that as a condition for discussing reductions in troops numbers at the border. Tensions and military deployments have spiked since Thai forces shot dead a Cambodian soldier on May 28. Thailand says Cambodian forces dug a trench on the Thai side of the border. 'Thailand must first show genuine goodwill and comply with our basic condition, which is to reopen the border crossings on both sides to the way they were. Only then will we talk about troop matters,' Hun Manet said Tuesday. Since June 7, Thailand has restricted border openings to 8am to 4pm. Usually they are open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thailand's military was planning to propose a reduction in troop deployments along the border during a Thailand-Cambodia Regional Border Committee meeting scheduled for June 27-28. But Deputy Defense Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit said Cambodia, which was due to host the meeting, has indefinitely postponed it, The Nation reported. On Tuesday, the Thai military banned Thais from crossing the border to work at casinos and entertainment venues in Poipet, which lies on the Cambodian side of the main land border crossing point between the two countries, opposite the eastern Thai town of Aranyaprathet. Casinos are not legal in Thailand, so gambling establishments proliferate near at key border crossings in neighboring countries like Cambodia. The Bangkok Post newspaper reported that the order took effect on Tuesday at 8 a.m. and is in place until further notice. It is aimed at guaranteeing the safety of Thai people, the report said. Police Col. Napatrapong Supaporn, immigration police chief in Sa Kaeo province, was quoted as saying that Thais who are still in Poipet should return home for their own safety. Meanwhile, authorities in the Cambodian border provinces including Pursat and Preah Vihear announced on Facebook that hundreds of families had been evacuated from frontline areas to safer locations. This week, Cambodia submitted a request for the International Court of Justice in The Hague to rule on the demarcation of four locations at the border, including near the scene of last month's clash. The border dispute has historical roots and the two sides differ over which maps to use in demarcating territory. The last time there was a serious and bloody flare-up in tensions was between 2008 and 2011, over a disputed 11th century temple at Preah Vihear. The International Criminal Court has granted sovereignty over the temple to Cambodia.
Yahoo
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Taiwan central bank says US debt rising too fast may impact trust in Treasuries
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Yahoo
2 days ago
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Taiwan central bank says US debt rising too fast may impact trust in Treasuries
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan's central bank governor warned on Saturday that rapidly rising U.S. debt could be "unfavourable" to the outlook for U.S. Treasuries and that U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies have made investors cautious. Taiwan's $593 billion in foreign exchange reserves are more than 80% made up of U.S. Treasury bonds, according to the central bank, which said earlier this month that Treasuries were "sound" and still favoured by investors. It added there were no worries about the dollar's position as the leading international reserve currency. Governor Yang Chin-long, in a speech posted on the central bank's website, said Trump's repeated criticisms of the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy have caused concerns about its independence. "In addition, Trump 2.0's trade policy has made investors hesitant about holding U.S. Treasury bonds; Trump's budget, the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act,' may cause U.S. debt to expand too quickly, which is unfavourable to the outlook for U.S. sovereign debt," he said. "All of these have had a significant impact on the international monetary system centred on the U.S. dollar and based on U.S. creditworthiness." Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill is the centerpiece of his domestic agenda. The bill would lead to a larger-than-expected $2.8 trillion increase in the federal deficit over the decade, despite a boost to U.S. economic output, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected on Tuesday. Trump, in his first few weeks in office, also announced sweeping tariffs on a broad swathe of countries and trading partners, including Taiwan, only to pause them for 90 days in April to allow for talks to take place. Yang said Trump had been hoping the tariffs could resolve the U.S. trade deficit. "However, the tariff policy not only fails to solve the structural problems, it will also impact the U.S. economy, and threaten to further affect the outlook for global trade and the economy."
