Thailand Primed: CBDC, 📲digital ID🔜, problem-reaction-solution
More businesses are going cashless (boycott them). Most businesses rarely have sufficient change for customers across various goods and services. In Bangkok, QR code direct bank transfers reign supreme. Everyone thinks it’s cool.
Some businesses are still cash only (support them).
Unofficially official cashless society
The lady in my local minimart was wearing a red t-shirt with a giant QR code recently. I jokingly asked her if that was the QR code to scan, in order to pay for goods. She giggled and said “no, it’s fashion!” Right…ok then.
I’ve resorted to getting a chunk of cash changed into lower denomination bills at the actual physical bank (whaaaat?!?) at the start of each month, so that I have exact change in as many situations as possible. Try it.
I often take on the role of a human 🏧, when friends’ banking apps aren’t working, or when tellers’ card machines aren’t working, or when the establishment only accepts cash.
Have you noticed such bank app ‘errors’ becoming increasingly frequent?
I noticed it loads when I was in the UK over Christmas. I had to wait around for ages in lots of places because friends and family insisted on paying by card, and the friggin’ machine was ‘broken.’
I paid with cash, then just relaxed with my 🍺 and watched the poor bar manager getting all flustered as a queue of cashless card holders unleashed a torrent of abuse on the poor chap.
But one friend keeps telling me how ‘cash sucks.’ 💵🤯
Is it a bug or a feature?
My local bank here in the land of masks smiles, is Kasikorn. I felt like they ‘rug-pulled’ me twice in the past six weeks, the naughty little great-resetters that they are!
When I went to pay for a food delivery, the banking app crashed on me. I was all drained of cash, because of being the human ATM the night before for friends. Don’t worry, they paid me back…with QR code bank transfers🙄.
Here’s the joyous little message I got on my slave-phone:
I had to break open the minion and spend every last coin I’d horded just to pay the delivery driver, who had to wait patiently for me to double back to the Creed dungeon (he got a good tip of coins too).
More recently, I’d treated myself to another food delivery and for the first time in a while, found myself cashless again.
I pulled out the slave-device whilst taking the lift down to the lobby, and got blindsided by a long-winded, time-consuming bank app update. Reams of terms and conditions. Highly unusual. After getting back to my hovel, I noticed they’d also emailed me a copy.
Let’s have a gander at the most ominous terminology they’ve sneaked in there:
Hmm, remember the error message I got? This seems to lay the foundation of the bank being able to blame the customers for when the network crashes (whether for real or by design).
You stupid customer, what are you playing at making transactions? You should be owning nothing and being happy!
Ah, the biometric malarkey. Will they be chipping me with Elon’s neuralink next?
Or will I have to do a Tiktok dance to prove I am a human being in motion, to verify my digital ID? Know-your-customer (KYC) is getting weirder and weirder with the hoops one needs to jump through (for both banks and centralised crypto exchanges).
Interesting how they went with ‘user may open the biometrics function.’
Thin edge of the wedge before mandatory fingerprint and facial scanning?
This is all reminiscent of operation chokepoint in the United States. For those that don’t know about operation chokepoint, it was an attempt to debank “disfavoured individuals,” and it seems to be happening again now, as we head towards a cashless society.
I’d highly recommend James Corbett’s recent podcast on this topic to learn more about it.
Problem-reaction-solution
An interestingly suspect series of articles graced the Bangkok Post recently. I smell propaganda and agendas at play.
…problems like poverty and inequality have arguably worsened, even though the government has forked out huge sums on populist schemes. The number of welfare card users continues to soar. It is now reported that 22 million people -- almost one-third of the population -- have registered for this card.
We see the populist schemes mentioned and a whopping one third of the country’s population registered for the welfare cards.
Let’s visit the prequel piece along the timeline:
Police are closing in on the hacker who threatened to release data stolen in an alleged security breach affecting 55 million Thais, said Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn.
Woah. This hacker has some serious skills to obtain all that glorious data. According the worldometers.info, Thailand’s population consists of 69,799,978 people.
"We've narrowed down the potential suspects but I think we'd better leave it to police," said the minister.
He said security vulnerabilities could occur when state agencies that provide public services want to make it easy for people to get their services, adding people may soon find accessing services more complicated but it is for the sake of data security.
Well yeah, I should bloody well think so. Quick! Someone take away all my liberties. Protect me. Save me. Surveil me. No, wait, what? What services will get complicated to access? 😰
It’s for our own good, isn’t it?
Wisit Wisitsora-At, DES permanent secretary, said the meeting was to establish facts surrounding the incident, to ask state agencies to assess their security risks and raise awareness about the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA).
Oh, crikey.
Mr Wisit said the meeting also discussed how to promote a wider use of digital ID and push for development of digital identity verification system to tackle fraudulent online transactions.
I knew it! I told you so!
[Tells normie friend about the Bangkok Post articles and waits for their reaction]🦻
“It’s obviously necessary, Nicholas. We live in a digital world that needs digital solutions to keep us safe, so stop espousing all your paranoid conspiracy theories, you nutcase.”
The government must put in place better measures to improve personal data protection and make the issue national agenda as the country transits into the digital economy, according to the TCC.
Who’s going to be up CBDC creek with a crypto, cash, or gold paddle?🕵🏼♂️
Onwards we march towards the political party cash giveaway, wahooo!…
The Pheu Thai Party insisted yesterday its policy to give away 10,000 baht to everyone aged 16 and older can be implemented as soon as Jan 1 next year to replace the current state welfare card if it becomes the new government.
Sounds absolutely amazing, if you are a Thai national and over 16 years old. What’s the catch?
The 10,000 baht of money is aimed primarily at stimulating spending in communities in the first six months, with the help of blockchain technology that will ensure the money given is spent within a 4-kilometre radius to spur economic activity, he said.
Blockchain? That’s all about crypto stuff, right? Crypto is the same as CBDC, isn’t it [sarcasm]? Spend it within a 4km radius? Kinda like a 15 minute city🤔.
It sounds very convenient. Anyway, what is the catch?
Upon the implementation of the 10,000-baht project, every Thai who is 16 years of age and older will have a new savings bank account and a digital wallet which will be automatically connected to his or her ID, said Paopoom Rojanasakul, deputy secretary-general of Pheu Thai.
Jakkapong Sangmanee, the registrar of Pheu Thai, said the party wouldn't terminate the existing state welfare project for low-income people but, when the digital wallet project begins, most Thais will no longer want to use the state welfare card.
It sounds perfectly innocuous [sarcasm] and no doubt the masses will embrace it without a second thought.
Onwards to the latest piece in our riveting franchise series:
The army has yet to find a way to contact a sergeant, a driver at its transport department, suspected of hacking the personal data of 55 million Thais, according to the army spokeswoman.
Eh? Could they message him in LINE app or tag him in a Facebook post or something? He must be seriously off-grid, this sergeant; a master of disguise and evasion.
The arrest warrant stated the sergeant major was wanted on a charge of disseminating information under the computer crime law.
Uh-oh, that instills fear into the hearts of all men to go out of their way to not fall foul the broadly interpretable ‘computer crimes act.’
The suspect, using the pseudonym "9Near" posted on Breach Forum that he held the personal data of 55 million Thais, including names, surnames, addresses, birthdates, ID card numbers and telephone numbers.
The hacker threatened to expose the information if the government agency allegedly involved in the data breach failed to meet a ransom demand last week.
The suspense. It’s like a crime caper movie.
Reports said the suspect's wife is a nurse who is now on the run with her husband. She reportedly gained access to the Mor Prom app, a health service portal of the Public Health Ministry that contained the personal data of most of the Thai population.
Wifey is on the run now too, whatever will happen next?! *Do they even exist?*🤫
An interesting comment posted under this article sums up the state of affairs in a thought provokingly concise way:
Edit: 14th April 2023
Justice is served! Isn’t it? We have SM2 Khemarat Boonchuai apprehended by the authorities.
Stranger and stranger this story becomes. Quoting from the latest article from the Bangkok Post…
He said he did not hack the data himself, he bought it from actual hackers, and it was 8 million data records, not 55 million.
CCIB commissioner Pol Lt Gen Worawat Watnakhonbancha said SM2 Khemarat had spent 8,000 baht to buy 8 million data records, not 55 million. He wrote about it online because he wanted attention.
Initially the suspect posted the claim online himself, but failed to draw the attention he craved. So he asked an online influencer he knew to post about it, and succeeded in getting widespread attention,...
SM2 Khemarat was charged with inputting false information into a computer system in a way that could undermine national security, and forwarding false information in breach of the Computer Crime Act, said...
This does seem a bit fishy. First off, paying a measly 8k THB for the data of pretty much the entire country, is suspect. Oh, wait, they’ve revised that down from 55 million to 8 million - if this is a false flag, or complete fabrication, then perhaps they decided that the data of 8 million people being stolen was more believable…?
The repeated line of Khermarat ‘doing it for fame and attention’ is a bizarre claim. Why didn’t the Bangkok Post journalists ask the government spokesperson tougher questions?
What was ‘SM2’ planning on doing with the data?
Who are the alleged hackers he bought the data from?
When will be he be tried in court and sentenced?
We can watch for further developments to this story. The comment embedded above from the 9th April dated article is looking more and more accurate.
Alright, that’ll do it for today. The post went on longer than I’d intended, probably due to my anecdotal ramblings - although perhaps you realise how that ties in with concerns over a cashless society, and digital dystopia.
You may also learn a great deal from a recent email interview by Graham Smith from bitcoin.com with James Corbett. Corbett discusses the role of crypto, governments using crises to push through CBDCs, and the parallels between the 1907 financial crisis and what we’re witnessing unfold now with SVB, Signature Bank, Credit Suisse, and others.
💧Happy Songkran💧สวัสดีปีใหม่💦🔫
Nicholas Creed is a Bangkok-based journalistic dissident. If you liked this content and wish to support the work, buy him a coffee or consider a crypto donation:
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I've been in Bangkok since August and getting small bills is one of the biggest hassles. ATMs only give out 1,000 baht notes.
One of the places to get change from is a toll road booth, but if you are riding with Thai people who also desperately need small bills, then a farang will never be fast enough to pay the toll first.
I started buying a few bags of cashews from 7-11, paying with a 1,000 baht bill, and getting lots of small bills back. Sometimes I'd even get lucky and instead of a 500, they would give me all 100s. It worked for a while, but then someone I live with figured out what I was doing and started buying cashews too, and I got sick of eating them.
We finally were able to set up a bank account, so I announced I would go to Bangkok Bank and change some 1,000 baht bills from the ATM into 20s, 50s and 100s. I've never heard such a blunt response: "Thais don't do that".
I'm American. The new approach works, but the bank clearly doesn't like giving out the money and last week started to restrict it. I wanted 3,000 baht of 100s, but they said they only had enough for 2,000 baht. So I tried to get some extra 500s, and they didn't have enough of those, either.
What's funny is that I've used the same words as you - I've become the ATM that people go to for cash. No one disapproves. It's a widespread problem and people are even hoarding the smaller denominations to the extent they can which only makes things worse, but why is this even an issue?
People are easily encouraged or enticed but the flip side of that is , they are easily discouraged too. Adopt a slogan (everyone else has one!) "Resist fake money!" . I have had quite a few conversations with people about this and you make more of an impact if you call it "fake money" (which it is); try to separate real money from fake money ; it will make it harder for them to be duped. Rather surprisingly a few people are already smelling a rat. One person in a local store was saying that she went to the bank to check if her "social welfare" payments had come in . When she checked her account there was nothing but the teller pointed out that the money was "on her ID card". So , big discussion "why isn't it in my account" etc etc. So upon overhearing this I pointed out that it was "fake money"; that really put the cat among the pigeons. The Pheu Thai Party really did me a big favour when they proposed giving out a lump sum to digital wallets that would be geofenced and have an expiry date - they really made my job a lot easier (big thank you to them!).