The new law to battle the use of mule bank accounts by scammers and call-center gangs has officially gone into effect in Thailand.

 

From now on, individuals involved in facilitating the acquisition of bank accounts, electronic cards, e-wallets, or SIM cards for criminals will be subjected to 3-year imprisonment and a fine of up to 300,000 baht or both, the new law stipulates.

 

The law further permits financial institutions, business operators, and telecom service operators to share information in case of suspected criminal activities. Additionally, banks are authorized to take swift action and temporarily suspend bank accounts for seven days if they are believed to be linked to suspicious transactions, such as money laundering.

 

Full Story: https://thepattayanews.com/2023/03/17/law-targetting-mule-bank-accounts-officially-goes-into-effect-in-thailand/

 

-- © Copyright The Pattaya News 2023-03-17

 

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biased against mules and donkeys

Seems all the  Thai AMLO and banking reps attending international anti money laundering training  and conference sessions which is being implemented in the Thai financial system.

 

Expect to see a lot of innocent people getting frozen out of their bank accounts for suspicious activity (no access to their money) whilst the banks conduct due diligence.

 

2 hours ago, userabcd said:

Expect to see a lot of innocent people getting frozen out of their bank accounts for suspicious activity (no access to their money) whilst the banks conduct due diligence.

 

This is no different to what has been happening in the UK (and other countries) for years.

Back in the early 2000's I had my HSBC account in Bangkok and my Nat West account in Jersey closed because of my connection to a friend who was murdered by a guy who was wanted for money laundering back in the USA.

 

It took me six months to prove my innocence. (With banks, you are guilty until you prove your innocence.)

Six months without access to my salary and savings.

Edited March 17, 20233 yr by Tropicalevo

Another tool to block your bank account without court order ... How many innocents will be blocked by 'mistake'?

Cash is King.

Edited March 17, 20233 yr by Henk Langeweg

8 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

This is no different to what has been happening in the UK (and other countries) for years.

Back in the early 2000's I had my HSBC account in Bangkok and my Nat West account in Jersey closed because of my connection to a friend who was murdered by a guy who was wanted for money laundering back in the USA.

 

It took me six months to prove my innocence. (With banks, you are guilty until you prove your innocence.)

Six months without access to my salary and savings.

That's disgraceful, did you get any compensation ?

Just like the anti-terrorism security charade at airports , A ridiculous situation where normal  peoples lives will no doubt  be inconvenienced further in the name of crime prevention. whilst the real criminals have already found a way around any new regulations and are laughing at us all

Is having to keep 800,000 in a Thai bank mulish?

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Additionally, banks are authorized to take swift action and temporarily suspend bank accounts for seven days if they are believed to be linked to suspicious transactions, such as money laundering

I'm guessing that'll be the lower ranks only?

56 minutes ago, mikebell said:

Is having to keep 800,000 in a Thai bank mulish?

There is an alternative that most don't take advantage of...don't need to go that route whatsoever.

14 hours ago, 3NUMBAS said:

biased against mules and donkeys

Biased against 60-70% of the girls in Pattaya these days then

14 hours ago, userabcd said:

Seems all the  Thai AMLO and banking reps attending international anti money laundering training  and conference sessions which is being implemented in the Thai financial system.

 

Expect to see a lot of innocent people getting frozen out of their bank accounts for suspicious activity (no access to their money) whilst the banks conduct due diligence.

 

Innocent and suspicious in the same sentence ???

14 hours ago, 3NUMBAS said:

biased against mules and donkeys

Indeed. My maid was involved in such a scheme several years ago. Minimal education. No idea what she was getting involved with. Sucked in by a scammer telling her some <deleted> story about starting a company in Thailand and promising to be her boyfriend. She got arrested, carted off to Bangkok, incarcerated for a night and charged. Fortunately, when she turned up to court to hear her case, several weeks later, the charge had been dropped. 
Of course, all of this background merely goes to mitigation. There is no question she was guilty, but it seems pointless to pursue such naive, vulnerable, ignorant people who get sucked into a scam by unscrupulous operators who are the real culprits. 

11 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

This is no different to what has been happening in the UK (and other countries) for years.

Back in the early 2000's I had my HSBC account in Bangkok and my Nat West account in Jersey closed because of my connection to a friend who was murdered by a guy who was wanted for money laundering back in the USA.

 

It took me six months to prove my innocence. (With banks, you are guilty until you prove your innocence.)

Six months without access to my salary and savings.

I had a similar experience more recently with a UK bank. For 5 days I was locked out of my account there. The "fraud" department had completely misconstrued a deposit I was making to another UK bank. They were profuse in their apologies when I managed to untangle their web of suspicions. After 3 months I got £300 compo via the banking ombudsman.

4 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

That's disgraceful, did you get any compensation ?

Not a chance but NatWest happily opened a new account for me.

11 minutes ago, bradiston said:

I had a similar experience more recently with a UK bank. For 5 days I was locked out of my account there. The "fraud" department had completely misconstrued a deposit I was making to another UK bank. They were profuse in their apologies when I managed to untangle their web of suspicions. After 3 months I got £300 compo via the banking ombudsman.

I wish that I had thought of an ombudsman 20 years ago but I was living in Thailand by then.

Difficult to do by post?

Here we go more Thai bank theft ! they won't go after the crims ???????????? Only legal foreigner bank accounts will be taken reason never live Thailand 800k in bank for long-term visa Just appease bunch of criminals Thai banks have dirty name as it is !,unless you're scammer or CCP operating casino + pimp shows inside country no problems  + it will continue been scammed off banks myself in 2018 in fraud scam by Kasikorn in Pattaya lots of expats was on the news l was lucky recieved 50% of my money back  After that never trust Thai banks again leaving large amounts in Thai banks unless your Thai ! However read here even Thais are not safe ! recently was trickling small amounts of money into my account for future holiday  periodically ever 2 months only discover my bank locked umm???? still have valid ???? card last tested 2 weeks back pin no problem entered start to go withdrawal as test found out bank account locked worked fine 10 or 12 months back took small withdrawal out in Aussie l'vebeen travelling past 10 months Philippines Vietnam presently topping up via wise small amounts every 2 months Now l know who they target ????????????????

Edited March 18, 20233 yr by Mad mick

22 minutes ago, kennw said:

Innocent and suspicious in the same sentence ???

Yes, inncocent people making legitimate transfers of what they have earned and deposited in a bank account are then unilaterally determined many times suspicious by the banks.

 

Those many inncocent people are frozen out of the governments and banks acccount and refused access to what they thought was their earned money.

 

There are many cases of this and the banks will not even discuss or give reason why they have done this. Only several weeks or months down the line will the account be unfrozen.

 

I do not trust banks and their staff one little bit.

 

I was frozen out of my account for a few weeks and had to make a specific trip to London at great expense, loss of daily salary, flight and hotel expenses.

 

It was all because the bank information that they held on me when they were asking personal security info that they could not interpret between my mothers maiden name and my fathers family name all info they clearly had during our meeting.

 

12 minutes ago, userabcd said:

Yes, inncocent people making legitimate transfers of what they have earned and deposited in a bank account are then unilaterally determined many times suspicious by the banks.

 

Those many inncocent people are frozen out of the governments and banks acccount and refused access to what they thought was their earned money.

 

There are many cases of this and the banks will not even discuss or give reason why they have done this. Only several weeks or months down the line will the account be unfrozen.

 

I do not trust banks and their staff one little bit.

 

I was frozen out of my account for a few weeks and had to make a specific trip to London at great expense, loss of daily salary, flight and hotel expenses.

 

It was all because the bank information that they held on me when they were asking personal security info that they could not interpret between my mothers maiden name and my fathers family name all info they clearly had during our meeting.

 

Well said. They've got the wrong end of the stick. Won't discuss it, won't answer any questions. The people in the fraud department are thick as sxxx. Their flagging software is poorly written cxxx. And that's in a very major UK bank. Any complaints and you get referred to the 156 page Terms & Conditions "which you agreed to when you opened the account 15 years ago".

25 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

I wish that I had thought of an ombudsman 20 years ago but I was living in Thailand by then.

Difficult to do by post?

I did it by email, having had previous experience with them. I've won a small handout every time, but it never amounts to much. And you never get a proper answer from the bank about how it happened, how incompetent they are, or even an admission of guilt. I did get a verbal, on the phone, explanation as to why they blocked me. But they're under no obligation to explain anything or discuss anything. Fraud raises alarm bells every where, the shutters come down, because they've been so badly caught out in the past by the likes of Russian oligarchs etc. City of London, just a giant cesspool.

Not sure if this is relevant but on Friday I was locked out of my KBank shopping visa card. It still has 1 years validity to run. Only realized when my netflix payment was blocked also Lazada account blocked. It has also disappeared from my online banking account menu. Was informed to attend my branch on Monday in person.

Is there another source for this item apart from Pattaya News?

When India demonitised its currency the only way you could get value for notes over 500 rupees(US$7) was to open a bank account and deposit your notes. Deposits over 10k rupees or thereabouts got notified to the taxman.

Within hours there was a cottage industry providing individuals willing to open a bank account in their name into which you could put the money and then withdraw it in nice clean notes.

No one in power in India to my knowledge ever challenged the role of the banks in this charade

20 hours ago, userabcd said:

Seems all the  Thai AMLO and banking reps attending international anti money laundering training  and conference sessions which is being implemented in the Thai financial system.

 

Expect to see a lot of innocent people getting frozen out of their bank accounts for suspicious activity (no access to their money) whilst the banks conduct due diligence.

 

I had this happen to me. No fault of mine. A friend made a mistake. It took them weeks to unfreeze it.

6 hours ago, goatfarmer said:

Indeed. My maid was involved in such a scheme several years ago. Minimal education. No idea what she was getting involved with. Sucked in by a scammer telling her some <deleted> story about starting a company in Thailand and promising to be her boyfriend. She got arrested, carted off to Bangkok, incarcerated for a night and charged. Fortunately, when she turned up to court to hear her case, several weeks later, the charge had been dropped. 
Of course, all of this background merely goes to mitigation. There is no question she was guilty, but it seems pointless to pursue such naive, vulnerable, ignorant people who get sucked into a scam by unscrupulous operators who are the real culprits. 

A bit like the naive or vulnerable or ignorant  refugees crossing the English Channel in a rubber dinghy seeking a new life in England, being at risk due to war or persecution in their own country. UK government seeking new powers in the Illegal Migration Bill ( the irony of that title!) to arrest, detain and send them back, barring them re entry, barring them asylum, barring them the possibility of UK citizenship ever. It's not only contrary to International Law but how exactly will it work? How long detained at taxpayers expense? It's far too long already. Where to send them if their own country is " unsafe". I think the only one is Rwanda, only accepting a few and costing the taxpayer as Rwanda is being paid handsomely.

The UK government says it's to to target the criminal human traffickers who are the real culprits. Seems to me they are and always have targeted the refugee. It has closed down for all legal and safe routes to enter the UK, apart from from for a select few nationalities. Under UK law an asylum application can only be made once the seeker of asylum is in the UK.

 

But the policy is being lapped up by the media and voters of a certain mindset.

 

 

 

9 hours ago, zzaa09 said:

There is an alternative that most don't take advantage of...don't need to go that route whatsoever.

Live in another country.

Anyone who follows Jim Browning on YouTube where you goes after scammers particularly in India he stated last year nearly all the scammers bank accounts were located in Thailand and he had no idea why