Student, 16, lost 500K from bank account in one day - she never used banking app or had call center contact

[webfact]

Daily News Thai Caption: 500K went missing

 

Daily News reported that a 16 year old secondary school student in southern Thailand went to the press after an investigation into a mysterious set of withdrawals from her bank account went cold.

 

Kanokwan Reuangrit, a M4 student at Satree Pak Phanang school in Nakhon Sri Thammarat, had reported her loss to the bank (unnamed in this story) and the local police three months ago.

 

She had got the money after her parents were killed in an accident and it was to be used for her future education.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

The bank had told her that the money was transferred to a woman by the name of Waraporn Wichalek. This appeared to be an account used by criminals known as "maa" in Thai.

 

Kanokwan said that in one day her account was emptied of 511,100 baht. She was left with 800 baht after 14 withdrawals that started with 300 baht and got progressively more.

 

She said that though she had a banking app on her phone she had never used it, had not clicked on any suspicious links, did not play online games and had never received any contact from a call center.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

She was completely perplexed as to how she had been targeted.

 

She had informed the police and the bank but everything had gone quiet.

 

Her uncle Preecha said the bank claimed that it was an inside job within the family, a notion they all dismissed.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

The account holder was in the north.

 

He suspects an inside job at the bank and wants the so called "cyber cops" who handle tech matters in Thailand to take up the case.

 

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[Gottfrid]

23 minutes ago, webfact said:

He suspects an inside job at the bank and wants the so called "cyber cops" who handle tech matters in Thailand to take up the case.

Cyber cops in Thailand! Hahahaha! They don´t do their job!

[lkn]

25 minutes ago, webfact said:

The bank had told her that the money was transferred to a woman by the name of Waraporn Wichalek.

Sounds like it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out how the money was transferred and some more information about the owner of the receiving account.

 

I guess the real story here is that nobody takes crime serious in Thailand.

 

Only the prospect of collecting a fine, seems to motivate the police to do anything.

[jacko45k]

4 minutes ago, lkn said:

I guess the real story here is that nobody takes crime serious in Thailand.

In cases like this they all start pointing, away!

[Henryford]

So if they know who stole the money what's the problem?

[BananaStrong]

Please, here’s 800,000 for retirement !

 

or not………

[seajae]

all too often we see bank staff involved with  stealing other peoples money with the banks denying any responsibility, why wasnt she notified about these transactions when they happened, the bank has a lot of explaining to do and needs to replace all the stolen money.

 

[KannikaP]

I get a message & email from my Bkk Bank every time a transaction, in or out, is done. 

Unless it is a payee already saved in my phone app or PC, I must receive an OTP before I can send to anyone, and the name of the payee shows before I confirm the transaction.

What went wrong here?

[vandeventer]

52 minutes ago, Celsius said:

Yep. Thai banks are safe and great

Maybe it's time to stick our money under our mattress again as the banks are losing the war on crooks.

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

She was completely perplexed as to how she had been targeted.

She had informed the police and the bank but everything had gone quiet.

Didn't think minors were allowed access to bank accounts (even when in their name).

[ikke1959]

That is why I keep most of my money outside Thailand

[brianburi]

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

That is why I keep most of my money outside Thailand

long way to travel to get your money then!    No Thai banking involvement at all??

[Jerno]

Wonder if any expats have lost some of their $400K or $800K deposits for marriage or retirement visas in similar crime?

[racket]

I wonder which bank that was. Could have been an underground or unregulated bank that yielded high interest.

[Lorry]

Just now, racket said:

I wonder which bank that was. Could have been an underground or unregulated bank that yielded high interest.

These don't have a banking app

[GroveHillWanderer]

2 hours ago, Henryford said:

So if they know who stole the money what's the problem?

I would hazard a guess that it's a fake name and the real owner will be untraceable.

[Lorry]

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

Unless it is a payee already saved in my phone app or PC, I must receive an OTP before I can send

Not if the transfer is done at an ATM or in a branch.

 

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

I get a message & email from my Bkk Bank every time a transaction, in or out, is done

You have to set it up this way. Not everybody does.

[racket]

16 minutes ago, Lorry said:

These don't have a banking app

That’s true, but it could still have been a high yielding savings account not covered by FDIC equivalent, and obviously skimmed by hackers taking advantage of a loophole in the system. 

[thaibeachlovers]

When I was in LOS the bank book had to be updated every time I withdrew money. Is that no longer in effect?

I didn't do anything on line etc.

[ThomasThBKK]

5 minutes ago, racket said:

That’s true, but it could still have been a high yielding savings account not covered by FDIC equivalent, and obviously skimmed by hackers taking advantage of a loophole in the system. 

You can see the bank on the transfer slip. It's a major one.

 

 

[Lorry]

29 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

You can see the bank on the transfer slip. It's a major one.

 

 

How can she have a transfer slip if the transfer wasn't done using the app? At my bank, you get them only if you use mobile banking.

 

[it is what it is]

 

to get things in perspective, scammers targeting people and their bank accounts has been going on for years in western countries, looks like thailand is just catching up.

 

if the quality of the back end security of the banking apps and websites is the same as the front end user interface then it's worrying.

 

my home bank website and app make the thai equivalent look like they were designed and built by high school students.

[SpanishExpat]

Poor girl ???????? 

thats the exact reason, why I keep 95% of my Money overseas and use WIse month by month. I don’t trust Thai banks and Thailand in such issues. If they refuse to help their own citizens, guess how it would turn out for an western expat.

[Dart12]

an example of defamation laws working against everyone.  This bank needs to be outted.

[watchcat]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

When I was in LOS the bank book had to be updated every time I withdrew money. Is that no longer in effect?

I didn't do anything on line etc.

That's what I do, have to go inside the bank with the bankbook, as I don't use plastic cards (don't have any).

[Tubulat]

13 minutes ago, watchcat said:

That's what I do, have to go inside the bank with the bankbook, as I don't use plastic cards (don't have any).

How do you book for example an flight?

[watchcat]

5 minutes ago, Tubulat said:

How do you book for example an flight?

Ever heard of cash?

[sadeghsep]

I really don't understand why everyone are suspicious thai banks which i think they are pretty safe , this obviously happened by a family member which is happens a lot , someone can access her stuffs and knew she had money ????????????????

[Tarteso]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

She had got the money after her parents were killed in an accident and it was to be used for her future education.

OMG ????

[Cricky]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Student, 16, lost 500K from bank account, mysterious

It's mysterious how a 16yo student would have 500K baht.