The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is failing to adequately monitor firms offering new investment schemes, says Minister for Digital Economy and Society, Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn.
The lack of oversight has led to billions of baht in losses, he said.
"In my opinion, the SEC didn't do its job properly, allowing [fraudulent] firms to be founded, which in turn caused losses of over 10 billion baht," Mr Chaiwut told reporters on Sunday.
He said while the ministry is concerned about the get-rich-quick schemes mushrooming across social media, it does not have the authority to block websites or individual accounts without a request from other agencies, which must be backed by evidence.
In other words, he said, the onus is on the SEC to provide the ministry with the evidence before it can act on an individual site or social media account.
As such, Mr Chaiwut urged the SEC to carry out its primary task, which he said should include running a thorough background check of an investment company's credentials and financial position to prevent scams in the future.
In the meantime, the ministry will review the Computer Act to empower the ministry to to shut down such websites, he said.
Meanwhile, Department of Special Investigation (DSI) will summon six more suspects who they believe are associated with the Forex-3D case later this week.
Acting Sub Lt Thanakrit Jitareerat, secretary to Justice Minister, said the DSI will review all evidence on Wednesday, before summoning the six other suspects to acknowledge investment scam-related charges about 3–5 days later.
While the DSI did not disclose the identities of the six suspects they plan to summon this week, Act Sub Lt Thanakrit said the suspects' financial transaction records have tied them up to the scheme's mastermind.
In addition, the DSI is planning to summon two actors, Khunnarong "Krating" Pratesrat and Kamman "Ball" Klomkaew, for questioning this week. A string of celebrities has been linked to the scams.
Investigators will also review statements given by victims to see if any of them ever mentioned the two actors and their supposed involvement in the fraud.
