PHUKET: The Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) held a public awareness seminar in Phuket Town yesterday (Apr 26) to educate local officials and community leaders of the dangers of online threats and scams in the hope the awareness will be passed onto to local communities.
Phuket Vice Governor Amnuay Pinsuwan chaired a training session, held at The Pago Design Hotel, which focussed on how to conduct secure transactions online.
Present to lead the training was Praparat Chaiyos, head of the ETDA’s online help and problem management center, known by its hotline moniker “1212 ETDA”.
Ms Praparat said the ETDA under the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society is tasked with operating the online Help and Resolution Center (1212 ETDA), in conjunction with relevant partner agencies.
The center is also tasked with conducting public awareness and training sessions to educate the public about online security threats to private data.
“The 1212 ETDA or Online Fraud and Complaint Center has been created to solve online transaction problems and we have brought experts from many sectors involved to do field training and raise awareness about online transactions problem prevention and management,” Ms Praparat explained.
“The training aims to give knowledge and make understanding of how to make a safe online transaction through an easy learning method for organisations and people,” she added.
The ETDA is also working together with an alliance of government agencies and organisations to extend the network in order to more easily receive complaints to prevent online fraud and create trust about online transactions, she added.
The target group of the training includes 2,000 people from local government officials, regional officials, community leaders, and people who are interested in the program, with training sessions being held in 10 provinces: Rayong, Chonburi, Chiang Mai, Phitsanulok, Lopburi, Ubon Ratchathani, Nakhon Ratchasima, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phuket, and Bangkok.
The series of seminars comes as government agencies carry out public awareness campaigns warning that people face up to three years in jail or a fine of up to B300,000, or both, if they are found to be providing “mule” accounts for online scams.
Earlier this week people were warned against a scam aiming to lure people to click to receive a B2,500 rebate from the Social Security Fund. Clicking the link allows the scam operators to access private information and even functions on the mobile phone, officials warned.
