Thai mobile operators to introduce fingerprint ID system

Amid rise in fraud cases through mobile banking apps over the past several months, Thai authorities today said all mobile operators will have to introduce an online fingerprint ID system for new prepaid and postpaid mobile SIM card registration.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), asked all existing mobile users to put their fingerprints in the system on a voluntary basis for their own security benefit.
"We urge all mobile users to participate in the system to ensure greater security of the mobile banking channel and prevent the risk of fraud, which is likely to increase in a cashless society," said NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith.

Thailand has 103 million mobile subscribers, 14 million of whom use mobile banking services, he said.
Through a fingerprint enrolment process, mobile operators will scan each person's fingerprints and store the records on the NBTC's secure database server, Takorn was quoted as saying by Bangkok Post.
The NBTC's telecom committee approved the plan to use a fingerprint registration system in September.
Banks and mobile operators have increasingly been urged to boost the standards for customer authentication systems in a bid to prevent fraud through mobile banking activities -- currently one of the most popular mobile services.
The concern follows several cases of fraud committed through mobile banking apps over the past several months, the paper said.