DATA collected by Whoscall application shows that the number of scam phone calls and fake SMS messages Thais received in 2025 totalled 173 million, rising 3.16 percent year-on-year even as the global total of fraud calls dropped, PPTVHD36 said today (Mar. 18).
Gogolook (Thailand) Co., Ltd., provider of this useful app, mentioned new scam trends that consumers should beware of in its 2025 annual report.
Mr. Kasetthorn Jaijaem, managing director of Whoscall Thailand, said, “The 2025 data confirms that we are no longer dealing with a temporary threat, but rather with a permanently structured, industry-level fraudulent network.
“Although the global total is declining, the increase in Thailand indicates that these organisations are more focused on defrauding Thai people. The reality that must be accepted is that the personal information of millions of Thais is already in the hands of these criminals.”
Of the 173 million times Thai were targeted last year, 39 million were scam calls and 134 malicious fake texts.
December was the month when harassment by fraudsters was the highest while 27 percent of the phone calls and 52 percent of text messages were confirmed to have originated from unidentified phone numbers, including spam and scams.
Whoscall’s analysis also identified over 6 billion fraud calls and bogus text messages worldwide in 2025. Of these, 480 million were confirmed to be scam calls, representing approximately 8 percent of all global telecommunications.
As the total of 173 scam calls and text messages is an increase of 3.16 percent year-on-year this shows criminal organisations focused on Thais as a primary source of income for their operations.
Although the global total of bogus calls decreased from 540 million in 2024 to 480 million last year, Thailand continues to face the highest volume of scam calls among all Asian markets served by Whoscall, highlighting the urgent need to enhance digital security awareness. This contrasts with the significant declines in neighbouring markets like Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The 2025 report also reveals structural changes in the operational methods of these criminal networks. From being mere unsystematic hacker groups, their operations now clearly mimic legitimate business organisational structures. They have established work schedules, peak hours, and campaign strategies, with professional work timetables peaking on Thursdays and Fridays and significantly decreasing on Sundays.
It is evident that these criminals adapt their operations to their victims’ weekly schedules, operating with the same discipline as legitimate organisations. They employ manuals, call scripts, HR recruitment call procedures, and systematic business hours.
The report further highlights the structural flexibility of these criminal organisations. While government measures, such as cutting off electricity and internet access in border areas in February 2025, resulted in a 32 percent reduction in criminal activity, this was only a temporary impact.
Figures show a recovery in June as criminals adapted and relocated their infrastructure thus accessing the internet from other sources, indicating that even with law enforcement disruptions to their operations, they remain resilient with their criminal activity continuing to grow significantly.
Whoscall’s 2025 data also found that 94 percent of leaked numbers were linked to first and last names. Furthermore, 25 percent of this information included email addresses, 12 percent included passwords, 8 percent dates of birth, and 9 percent the victim’s address.
This information allows scammers to shift from random calls to more sophisticated, personalised psychological manipulation. In knowing the victims’ names, dates of birth, and addresses, scammers can bypass security checks, create believable stories, impersonate government officials or financial institution representatives, and even perform SIM card swaps that could lead to easily taking over accounts.
The 2025 report also highlights key changes in technical tactics, including:
– 37 percent of malicious links are connected to phishing websites designed to steal personal information, banking details, or OTP codes, while 32 percent are malware that continuously attempts to access devices to obtain OTPs and steal banking information.
– SMS filtering systems were evaded with 85 percent of fraudulent text messages, mostly related to gambling, having used emojis, special characters in multiple languages, and text obscuration to hide criminal intent from automated detection systems.
– Impersonating financial institutions and e-commerce platforms added up to 4 percent of total deceptions.
– Phishing and malware together totalled 69 percent of all fraudulent URLs, demonstrating that modern fraudsters are increasingly focusing on data theft and device hacking, rather than relying solely on traditional scam strategies.
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Graphic images of scammers. Above – Growtika on Unsplash, Front Page – Riki32 from Pixabay
Insert – Whoscall executives outlining their 2025 analysis. Photos – PPTVHD36
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