Thai police unveil international platform to combat fraud

BANGKOK, July 3. /TASS/. The Royal Thai Police has unveiled SHIELD, an international intelligence-sharing platform designed to combat transnational fraud and human trafficking. The platform was presented at Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The SHIELD (Scam and Human Trafficking Information Exchange and Linked Database) platform was developed by the Thai police to facilitate information sharing with law enforcement agencies in other countries aiming to eradicate scam centers, particularly those located in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. The initiative was supported by ten countries: Australia, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, the United States, and Vietnam.

"The Royal Thai Government has declared the fight against online fraud a national priority. A national executive committee chaired by the Prime Minister was established to coordinate interagency efforts to combat fraud centers. Achieving our goal through a state-level approach has led to a 50 percent reduction in new cases of fraud and deception targeting citizens. Thailand managed to achieve such progress not only through strong political will but also through the timely exchange of intelligence and operational cooperation with our partners. That is precisely why the Royal Thai Police developed an information-sharing system. It is the world’s first global platform dedicated to combating human trafficking and online fraud," Pinsuda Jayanama, Director-General of the ministry’s Department of International Organizations, said.

"Criminal networks operate across borders, combining human trafficking with online fraud; therefore, international cooperation is crucial. This platform reflects our commitment to combating these crimes, which affect people around the world. <...> It enables participating countries to securely exchange and analyze key information. Thus, any country possessing intelligence and information regarding the whereabouts of fraudsters can input this data into the system," Sanya Niempradit, deputy head of the Interpol office in Thailand, added.