The Finance Ministry, which operates the “Khon La Khrueng Plus” co-payment scheme, has employed a data analytics system to analyse suspicious transactions and identify activities that do not comply with the programme’s conditions.
According to Vinit Visessuvanapoom, director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO), from the first day of the project’s launch on Oct 29 authorities detected and took action against several fraudulent merchants, resulting in the suspension of 6-7 participating stores.
Mr Vinit said the data analytics system can detect suspicious patterns of behaviour, such as a participating store recording a sales transaction in one location, and just a few minutes later another transaction is made hundreds of kilometres away from the first one.
He said the system monitors transactions in the programme to ensure it serves its intended purpose — to stimulate domestic consumption.
According to the ministry, as of 10am on Oct 30 total accumulated spending via the co-payment scheme reached 2.26 billion baht, consisting of 1.14 billion baht in spending by consumers and 1.12 billion in government contributions.
A total of 8.7 million people have used their rights under the programme, accounting for 14.9 million transactions. There are 540,000 shops that have conducted transactions, and 690,000 shops participating in the project.
The Northeast had the highest share of participating stores, accounting for 20% of all registered merchants, while other regions each tallied about 14-15% on average. The province with the most participating shops is Bangkok.
Mr Vinit reiterated that the co-payment scheme is intended solely to stimulate economic activity, not to serve as a tax collection tool.
He said the Revenue Department already has mechanisms to verify tax compliance, regardless of the programme, and will focus on auditing individuals and businesses with tax-paying capacity.