CHIANG MAI, Thailand – A court in northern Thailand has sentenced three defendants to prison terms of 10 years each and fined a company 500,000 baht over a scheme that used children’s personal information to register thousands of mobile SIM cards later sold to online scam gangs. The Fang Provincial Court delivered its verdicts in the case, which involved activities presented to schoolchildren in Mae Ai district, Chiang Mai, as lessons on online threats offering free internet SIM cards for education.
Investigators found that children’s identity card details and facial images were used to register large numbers of SIM cards without their knowledge or their parents’ consent. The unused SIM cards were allegedly sold to scammers for use in online fraud.
According to Pol Col Ekkasit Pansitha, superintendent of Crime Suppression Division Subdivision 4, the court ruled on October 8, 2026, against four defendants. A company was fined 1 million baht, reduced to 500,000 baht after a guilty plea. Two women, identified as Ji and Ben, were each sentenced to 20 years in prison, reduced to 10 years after admitting guilt.
The fourth defendant, a mobile-phone company sales employee identified as Por, denied the charges. The court sentenced him to 20 years in prison, finding that he had initiated the scheme and brought children to the activities.
The investigation began after the Anti-Online Scam Center (ACSC) and Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), through the Crime Suppression Division, conducted searches at eight locations across four provinces under an operation named “SAFE Doi BOY.” Three suspects were initially arrested.
Authorities seized more than 2,160 SIM cards, two mobile phones and related documents. Investigators found that phone numbers linked to multiple online fraud cases had been registered using details belonging to children aged 15 or younger. Initial reported losses exceeded 300,000 baht. The case highlights the risks of seemingly educational activities being used to obtain children’s personal data for criminal purposes.
