Thailand\u2019s online gamblers are being warned that their personal data may have been breached after transacting with internationally licensed gambling operators.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the state-run Thailand Computer Security Coordination Center (ThaiCERT)\u00a0issued a warning<\/strong>that around 3.3m Thai citizens\u2019 personal information had been discovered in \u201cforeign database systems which overlap with gambling websites.\u201d<\/p>\n ThaiCERT claimed to have examined a \u2018leaked\u2019 database that contained personal data belonging to around 41m individuals, of which 3.3m were Thai nationals. The data in question includes names, birth dates, government identification numbers, phone numbers and banking information.<\/p>\n While ThaiCERT says it\u2019s coordinating a response with the government\u2019s Electronic Transactions Development Agency, it also urges Thai citizens to be suitably wary of any individuals that might contact them by phone, email or social media.<\/p>\n The country\u2019s central bank chimed in by suggesting that Thais who have patronized gambling sites change their online banking or credit card passwords. But if they really want to be safe, Thais should cancel their existing debit\/credit cards and request replacements.<\/p>\n Thailand\u2019s population is currently just under 70m, which would mean around 4.6% of the country\u2019s residents \u2013 and an even larger slice of its adult population \u2013 have opened up online gambling accounts. ThaiCERT didn\u2019t specify whether the 3.3m instances of Thais\u2019 personal info included duplicate entries, i.e. if certain Thais had opened online accounts with multiple gambling operators.<\/p>\n Thailand\u2019s government tolerates no gambling within its borders, with the exception of the\u00a0state-run lottery<\/strong>, which is viewed as so unexciting that so-called\u00a0\u2018underground lotteries\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0are far more popular with local residents. There\u2019s also a network of\u00a0land-based casinos<\/strong>\u00a0across the border in Cambodia that rely on Thai gamblers to keep their operations humming.<\/p>\n Thai authorities occasionally announce busts of\u00a0unauthorized online gambling operations<\/strong>, including those that utilize so-called\u00a0\u2018net pretties\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0aka social media hotties who\u00a0promote international gambling sites<\/strong>\u00a0by writing URLs on their breasts.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n