Thai-Brit Actress Awarded B1m in KBank Scam Case

The Civil Court has ordered Kasikornbank (KBank) to pay 1 million baht in compensation after ruling that the bank failed to detect suspicious late-night transactions linked to a scam that cost Thai-British actress Charlotte Austin 4 million baht in 2024.

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The judgment, delivered on Wednesday, relates to a lawsuit filed by Miss Charlotte Co Ltd, the company that manages the Phuket-born actress’s assets and financial interests. The court found that while the bank could not have identified the first transfer as suspicious, it should have recognised two consecutive transfers made after midnight as unusual and implemented stronger safeguards.

Charlotte Austin, then aged 25 and the fifth runner-up in Miss Grand Thailand 2022, became one of Thailand’s first high-profile victims of organised scam gangs. On 7 December 2024, she received a video call from a man claiming to be an official from the Department of Special Investigation, who falsely accused her of involvement in money laundering connected to the Stark Corporation scandal.

The scammer instructed her to transfer 4 million baht so authorities could verify her innocence. While being kept on a continuous video call, she completed three transfers through the KBank mobile banking application, including two after midnight.

In May last year, the Criminal Court sentenced four people involved in the scam to prison terms ranging from six to seven years.

Miss Charlotte Co Ltd sought 4 million baht in damages, arguing that KBank had breached its obligations under its deposit agreement by failing to identify clearly unusual, high-risk transactions or issue warnings that could have prevented the losses.

Kasikornbank argued that its fraud prevention and transaction monitoring systems met industry standards and that the transfers were processed according to its normal detection criteria.

The court ruled that the initial 2 million baht transfer, made at 5pm, appeared to be a normal transaction and could not reasonably have been identified as fraudulent. However, it found that the second and third transfers, totalling 2 million baht and made consecutively after midnight, should have triggered stronger monitoring and intervention by the bank.

The court also concluded that Charlotte Austin had been negligent by transferring money to the scammers, and ruled that responsibility for the losses should be shared equally between the parties. As a result, KBank was ordered to pay 1 million baht in compensation, together with annual interest of 5% from 8 December 2024, reimburse court fees proportionate to the successful claim, and pay 20,000 baht in legal costs.

Manager Online reported that Lawyer Nitithorn “Lawyer James” Kaewto said the ruling establishes an important precedent for businesses in the entertainment industry and members of the public seeking to hold financial institutions accountable for their handling of suspicious transactions, particularly those occurring late at night. The judgment is also consistent with the amended emergency decree introduced in April 2025, which requires responsibility for financial fraud losses to be shared according to each party’s level of negligence.

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12 July 2026