Safety of 10-digit Thai bank accounts

[JackGats]

Bank account numbers like IBANs are between 22 and 34-digit long, against the puny 10 digits of my Thai number. This implies the Thai account number has few if any built-in redundancies and checksums to prevent mistyping. Is this any ground to worry when making substantial transfers? I mean one digit wrong and I might never see the money again.

Edited December 4, 2021 by JackGats

[Golden Triangle]

Where are you ? I assume Thailand, if making substantial transfers I would suggest taking everything to the bank, that way it minimises any potential problems that may arise if doing online.

 

Sorry, best I can think of at the moment.

[ThaIrish Sean]

If you're setting up a transfer, send a nominal amount make sure it gets to the recipient and then you'll be fine to send substantial transfers after that.

IBAN numbers international bank account number have to have a country code as well as the account number etc. That is why it is a longer number.

Edited December 4, 2021 by ThaIrish Sean

[Olav Seglem]

Normally, the last number in you account number is a control number.

You cant compare iban, which is for international, computerized transfers whith a need to identify the receiving bank with ordinary transfers

In norway account numbers are eleven digits and last is a control digit. As far as i have seen in my 42 years bank life, most countries it is much the same, swift is another issue.

 

[scubascuba3]

Definitely send a test amount first to ensure it gets there, then the payment details should save for next time.

 

If you send to wrong account start praying, not easy to get back.

 

Good thing about Thailand to Thailand transfers is you can check recipient name

Edited December 4, 2021 by scubascuba3

[Swiss1960]

Within Thailand, it is pretty easy. Every time you enter a bank account number in your banking system (app or website), it will display the name of the receiving party and you have to check before confirming.

 

When transferring internationally, you will enter the name of the receiver and the receiving bank should do the due diligence to ensure that the right person receives the money. However, if you make a mistake and the money would be transferred to a wrong person, even in Thailand the law says that this person can NOT keep the money and has to return it. It will be more complicated to enforce that option from outside the country, and the person might have cashed in and disappeared, but that is what the law is.

 

That said.. it is your responsibility to ensure, you enter the correct details, and I agree with @ThaIrish Sean about a test transfer with a small amount before sending millions.

[bradiston]

Where in the world are bank account numbers between 22 and 34 digits long? My UK one is a mere 8. If you include a sort code, it's 14. And how would having between 22 and 34 digits prevent mistyping? Built in redundancies and checksums? Checksums are computed separately to ensure data integrity, for example, for music files. And redundancies in a bank account number? Aren't you mixing up your technologies?

[kidneyw]

A few years ago I transferred money using SWIFT to my wife's bank account in Thailand.

The name in her bank account was spelt slightly different to the way I thought.

The money arrived okay, but the bank immediately withdrew it and cancelled the transaction and was shown on her bank book.

The money was returned to my account.

Looks like they do have checks.

This was with SCB.

[me4175]

When transferring using a local banking app, the recipient name is always displayed. So the chance for wrong transfers should be close to zero.

[3NUMBAS]

if doing big  tr ansfers they will send a confirmation code to your phone which you have to send back so no chance of fraud

[mrfill]

If you're fretting about getting a number wrong in a 10 digit number, I would suggest the likelihood of making a mistake with a 'safer' 22 or 34 digit number is an order of magnitude higher.

 

The account number length is of little concern. What matters is the security involved in getting further.

There will be a password and you should ideally have one of no less than 35 characters with a mix of upper case, lower case, numerics and symbols, not resembling any word and with no characters repeating. Secure, certainly. Easy to make a mistake? Well, that's the price of proper security.

[ianguygil]

Just a very quick note on this

 

An account number is an identifier. It is nothing to do with authentication. That is why account numbers are printed on checks (cheques), on credit cards, and why in Thailand you can even do a "reverse lookup" of the name of an account. 

 

Thai banks definitely use Check Digits to ensure there is no transposition of numbers. Otherwise the accounting would be an absolute disaster. That is why it is so easy for applications and websites to detect errors made when entering an account number. 

 

The length of an account number is nothing to do with security. It is either an indicator of the size of an institution, but more likely some "intelligence" is built into the account number which leads to it being longer. With an account number like a credit card / debit card, this is true because of the BIN which identifies the Bank and network. But for an internal account number this is less and less the case. For example, having the "branch" in the account number, which makes it longer, is no longer relevant in a largely digital world.

[digbeth]

The only real problem is that 10 digit collides perfectly with phone numbers, which through the promptpay can be linked with accounts to receive money as well, this is only a problem when transferring through Thailand domestically either via online app/website or at ATMs

 

granted, you'd have to select not only the wrong bank before entering the account/phone number but also the mode of transfer (bank account n# or promptpay) but the issue do pop up from time to time with accounts number that do look like phone numbers  

[bradiston]

3 hours ago, ianguygil said:

Just a very quick note on this

 

An account number is an identifier. It is nothing to do with authentication. That is why account numbers are printed on checks (cheques), on credit cards, and why in Thailand you can even do a "reverse lookup" of the name of an account. 

 

Thai banks definitely use Check Digits to ensure there is no transposition of numbers. Otherwise the accounting would be an absolute disaster. That is why it is so easy for applications and websites to detect errors made when entering an account number. 

 

The length of an account number is nothing to do with security. It is either an indicator of the size of an institution, but more likely some "intelligence" is built into the account number which leads to it being longer. With an account number like a credit card / debit card, this is true because of the BIN which identifies the Bank and network. But for an internal account number this is less and less the case. For example, having the "branch" in the account number, which makes it longer, is no longer relevant in a largely digital world.

Could you elaborate on the concept of "Check Digits"? And how they ensure there is no transposition of numbers, and how they facilitate error checking in account number entry?

[Swiss1960]

23 hours ago, bradiston said:

Where in the world are bank account numbers between 22 and 34 digits long? My UK one is a mere 8. If you include a sort code, it's 14. And how would having between 22 and 34 digits prevent mistyping? Built in redundancies and checksums? Checksums are computed separately to ensure data integrity, for example, for music files. And redundancies in a bank account number? Aren't you mixing up your technologies?

Many years ago, Switzerland stopped using the 12-digit account number standalone, now the Standard in Switzerland for account numbers is full IBAN, i.e CH31 8123 9000 0012 4568 9.

Checkdigits are included in the IBAN, it is the two digits on position 3 and 4, directly after the country code. 

[ianguygil]

8 hours ago, bradiston said:

Could you elaborate on the concept of "Check Digits"? And how they ensure there is no transposition of numbers, and how they facilitate error checking in account number entry?

Check digit - Wikipedia

 

Check Digits 101: How do you code a Check Digit algorithm for generating PRO numbers? (ibm.com)

 

 

[JackGats]

On 12/7/2021 at 1:27 AM, bradiston said:

Where in the world are bank account numbers between 22 and 34 digits long? My UK one is a mere 8. If you include a sort code, it's 14. And how would having between 22 and 34 digits prevent mistyping? Built in redundancies and checksums? Checksums are computed separately to ensure data integrity, for example, for music files. And redundancies in a bank account number? Aren't you mixing up your technologies?

Quite a few countries apparently: https://www.iban.com/structure