Thailand Cracks Down on People With More Than 5 Sim Cards

People in Thailand with more than five mobile SIM cards must register their identities at customer service centres or through mobile operator applications beginning January 16 to avoid having their cards cancelled after the registration deadline.

The decision is consistent with previous regulations announced by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) involving identification verification and service usage information for mobile phone customers, which will go into effect on January 16.

According to the authority, the new rules apply to around 300,000 persons and 6 million SIM cards.

On Friday, all three mobile operators said they intend to comply with the regulations designed to combat cybercrime.

The operators are ready to assist consumers in verifying their identity.

According to NBTC commissioner Pol Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn, criminal groups, particularly call centre gangs, use SIM cards to make calls to victims or send messages with a link.

Users with 5 plus SIM cards

The NBTC announced procedures to avoid this fraud on online and offline platforms, particularly prepaid cellphone phones with either no user registration or incorrect, incomplete, and out-of-date data.

As part of the procedures, users with 6-100 SIM cards must authenticate their identities within 180 days, beginning on January 16.

Individuals with 101 or more SIM cards must authenticate their identities within 30 days.

If people fail to authenticate their identities on time, they cannot make outbound calls.

If the target group does not authenticate their identity within 30 days of the deadline, all services on their SIM cards will be discontinued.

According to Pol Gen Nathathorn, the NBTC and major mobile carriers believe the measures will not affect most customers, with 300,000 users expected to require authentication, accounting for 0.5% of total subscribers across all networks.

Authenticate callers identities

The NBTC summoned representatives from the three mobile companies for a final meeting before enforcement on January 16. Advanced Info Service (AIS), True Corporation, and National Telecom are the three operators.

Waroonthep Watcharaporn, head of business relations at AIS, stated that the company is committed to assisting clients in compliance with this policy. Notifications via SMS will be sent to phones requiring verification, pushing action on January 16. He stated that the sender will be described as AIS, with no link associated.

According to AIS, this strategy protects consumer rights while preventing interim suspension.

Customers can authenticate their identities through various outlets, including the AIS Shop, AIS Telewiz, and national distributors. They can verify their identities by dialling *161*2*ID Card Number#, making a free call, and following SMS instructions.

Additionally, prepaid clients can access the myAIS App.