Legal Director of the BoT, Weerachart Sriboonma, said that illegal loaning was once again on the rise with the help of mobile messaging technology which allowed loaners to more easily communicate with debtors. The bank has initiated coordination with the ministry to implement control over the situation.

Apart from the problem of illegal loans, the BoT has also found a rash of credit card forgeries and attempts at identity theft through a variety of methods. Perpetrators of the crimes span both domestic and international criminals and many have been reported to use aggressive debt collection tactics. The central bank reminds that illegal loaning is punishable with 2 to 5 year prison sentences and 100,000 to 500,000 baht fines.

The Ministry of Justice is currently pushing for a new act controlling credit card businesses to come into effect in the next 6 months, in the hope of providing more authority to officials to counteract transgressions.