Report Thailand to Verify 700,000 Foreigner-Registered Phone Numbers for Mobile Banking Use

[wensiensheng]

This isn’t new. It’s been ongoing for at least the last year. In fact, I recall it from many years back when phones were being used to detonate bombs in Yala.

 

But don’t let that get in the way of a sensationalized headline and first paragraph.

[wensiensheng]

2 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

About a year ago the Bangkok Bank was locked and I got a text message to come to a local branch. I had to birng in my passport and have my face registered.   I guess I am now in compliance? 

I think this is a separate thing.

 

I believe that the face recognition thing was so that you could do transfer of over 50k by mobile app.

 

This is a security measure to do with money laundering…I think. And if your phone and bank accounts are in the same name, there is no need to do anything. They match already.

 

Might be wrong so don’t crucify me.

[orchidfan]

6 hours ago, lordgrinz said:

Still haven't gotten any warning from SCB bank, and my wife contacted True and they told her not to worry if the number was registered before a few years ago. The number is registered in my wife's name. Have had this sim/number on my phone for probably 7-8 years now. We got it as part of our True cable and internet package. I'm just going to wait it out, not worth stressing out over.

 

6 hours ago, lordgrinz said:

Still haven't gotten any warning from SCB bank, and my wife contacted True and they told her not to worry if the number was registered before a few years ago. The number is registered in my wife's name. Have had this sim/number on my phone for probably 7-8 years now. We got it as part of our True cable and internet package. I'm just going to wait it out, not worth stressing out over.

I was in the same.position as you UNTIL BBL mobile App suddenly would not work on my "old" phone operating system. It now requires android 10 or above.

(Yes, can buy a new phone!)

 

** had been using this mobile number for about 15yrs, so known to many people and agencies (Immigration ,hospitals, airlines etc)

 

So, in the interim , I decided to 'install' BBL Internet banking (iBanking) and use that.....

 

The sim card /billing was all still in my wife's name.

 

So very nice BBL staff pointed.out that due to the new law, the sim card (and same number) must be in my name (as per my bank acc) or no go with the mobile app OR ibanking !

 

I did ask,pointlessly, why I had not recieved any notification to this effect from the bank?

Shrugged shoulders !

 

Luckily AIS shop is opposite this BBL Branch in Future Park.

So over I go.

After a long time they came up with a plan to clear any outstanding bill to that date, and pay them B100.

BUT, then the new bill would not show my name until the next billing cycle!

 

Finally it was agreed.that they (AIS)would issue the B100 receipt in my name and showing the original mobile sim card number.

 

Back over to BBL (no new queue number or waiting) who were satisfied and corrected their records and set up the ibanking!

 

All in all about 4hrs+ to complete.

 

Be warned!!!

 

[Surasak]

6 hours ago, Pouatchee said:

 

I'm in my country right now. You try calling a thai bank and talking to the people in english... lemme know how it goes

Whichever Thai bank you use, if you phone the head office, NOT the local bank, you can ALWAYS talk to someone in English.

[sqwakvfr]

1 hour ago, wensiensheng said:

I think this is a separate thing.

 

I believe that the face recognition thing was so that you could do transfer of over 50k by mobile app.

 

This is a security measure to do with money laundering…I think. And if your phone and bank accounts are in the same name, there is no need to do anything. They match already.

 

Might be wrong so don’t crucify me.

I think you are correct.  But i have had the same number with True for almost 8 years with the samd Passport and I have never been contacted about coming in for this. 

[Chris Daley]

Clearly putting a great strain on the networks.  Send those foreigners home.

[Spamhead]

4 hours ago, Drumbuie said:

Had a message from Bangkok Bank last week. I'm in the queue at my branch right now to show them that the bill is aid by my son ( but you can do it at any bra

Surely whoever pays the bill is irrelevant. They are looking to verify the name registered  to the SIM is identical to that of the bank account holder.

[GroveHillWanderer]

6 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

I registered my Thai sim over 20 years ago and was in my ex-gf's name. About 5 years ago I went to DTAC with her and swapped it over to my name. It is the number that I have used for 20 years for WhatsApp, mobile banking etc.

 

Just in case I went to True/DTAC over the weekend and lucky I did, as it wasn't properly registered and needed to go through some process again. At least now I have peace of mind that it is done correctly.

 

This wouldn't have applied to you - it's only for numbers registered since January 1, 2022, at least according to the OP.

[Pouatchee]

7 hours ago, PJ71 said:

BKK help line in English is actually very good, if you'd bother to try.

 

stupid condescending comment. how can i use it if i dont know about it. would be way better if you introduced me to it in a friendly manner rather than in a jackass way

[Pouatchee]

2 hours ago, Surasak said:

Whichever Thai bank you use, if you phone the head office, NOT the local bank, you can ALWAYS talk to someone in English.

 

and i also have to pay the long distance which will take a while until someone figures out what i am trying to do

[kuzmabruk]

just need to go in to their bank and check that the phone number connected to the account is in the same name as the name on the account.
 

wrong!!!!!

 

the bank has been instructed to do this with the carriers (AIS, True, etc.)

 

they will contact you, nothing to be done until they contact you.  

[Upnotover]

4 minutes ago, Pouatchee said:

 

and i also have to pay the long distance which will take a while until someone figures out what i am trying to do

Out of interest, do you actually know if the name registered on your SIM is the same or not as that on your bank account?

[3NUMBAS]

Online banking ,Amazon an eBay use phone number for ID so no big deal ,

along with email addy

[CallumWK]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

Banks have been instructed to communicate directly with customers whose numbers don’t match up, urging them to update their registration information promptly.

 

Those who don't receive such outreach can continue with their banking activities without worry.

 

My phone number is a post paid number registered to my name for much longer than since 2022, and that is also the number my banks have.

Yet I receive almost weekly a message from the banks and from True regrading this.

I have asked the Kasikorn call center about this and they said they just send it to everyone.

[gk10012001]

While I am one of the most above the board rule followers, I prefer to avoid as much imperial involvement as possible.  I typically do pick up a cheap Thai phone and data plan while there and just use that for local Thai communications where it does come in handy.  I do not do any banking of any importance or purchase anything using my regular USA phone and I plan to continue in that vain.

[jesimps]

11 hours ago, Pouatchee said:

 

I'm in my country right now. You try calling a thai bank and talking to the people in english... lemme know how it goes

Don't encourage him, he's the resident goody goody. Used to be the teachers pet I should imagine, snitching on his mates at every opportunity.

[Hellfire]

You are not going to produce a tourist heaven by constantly harassing foreigners !  You cannot eat cake and have it at the same time!

[Jimjim1]

14 hours ago, webfact said:

registered since January 1, 2022.

Why is everybody jumping at this?

just read the first sentence which says REGISTERED SINCE JANUARY 2022.

It does not say anything about BEFORE 2022

[advancebooking]

10 hours ago, BritManToo said:

The bank have no idea about the name holder of the SIM.

They want you to go to your SIM provider, pay for a certificate stating the SIM owner, an then taking the certificate to the bank.

incorrect. you dont have to pay. its a free service. do it or the bank potentially blocks your banking app. its a no brainer. 

[Lorry]

13 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

How hard is it to understand. They have been talking about this for about a year now. There is no Geez, what do I do. By now everybody must know they just need to go in to their bank and check that the phone number connected to the account is in the same name as the name on the account. That´s the only thing they ask for. There is no need to make it complicated.

Instead, I say Geez, haven´t you fixed this yet? Just fix it and everything will be ok.

 

Like everything digital in Thailand,  things went really smooth.

The AIS shop refused to register my SIM.

In a second AIS shop, a very helpful girl registered my SIM. In the process,  she broke my phone. 

Samsung Service Center told me, it couldn't be fixed,  so did a no-name repair shop. Must buy a new phone. 

So, now I have a brandnew phone! Isn't life beautiful?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I ran into this some weeks back and it was a nightmare involving SCB....

 

Almost 20 years ago, when I first opened my SCB account here, some lady staffer who handled the process for some reason listed my account name as "MISTER Tallguy John," even though obviously there wasn't then and never was any "Mister" in the name shown on my passport.

 

That never mattered for almost 20 years until recently.... when I discovered, SCB had cut me off from even being able to call and speak with their Customer Service Call Center, and I knew this because when I called on some misc. other matter, I got a recording on the phone saying the registered name of the mobile account caller did NOT match the name of the SCB account holder, and then basically cut me off.  And no way for me to get thru to them via the phone to fix that....or even ask for an explanation of what the heck was going on....

 

So, I had to schlep down to my local SCB branch, where the CSRs had no clue of what was going on... Finally, it took a manager to get involved, and she said there was nothing she could do, but did get some security type at SCB HQ on the phone, who then told the branch people what they needed to do, which involved them processing a name change to remove the MISTER reference from my SCB account name, and then the SCB HQ having to report back to the Thai government to remove me from the "non complying" list that the government previously had forwarded to the banks....

 

I also along the way had to go to several of my Thai mobile providers, to get them to add my middle name to their account records, because even though that has always been listed on my passport, the mobile folks when setting up my accounts in the distant past had only used my regular first and last name, which was different than my passport and all my now updated bank records... And again... probably for almost 20 years, it never mattered until NOW!!!

 

[Hellfire]

From the marketing point of view: make Thailand different! Make people coming here feel different!  Don't copy those bloody Singaporean fascists and the likes. Make this place free. Thailand has a great tradition of something special, something else. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

13 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

Instead, I say Geez, haven´t you fixed this yet? Just fix it and everything will be ok.

 

Sadly, no, it's NOT that simple...

 

I needed to get SCB to remove an odd name reference (MISTER) that they had listed as part of my account name many years ago... I did that, and processed that name change at my local SCB branch so everything mobile and bank related matched exactly... But, a week after that, I was still cut off from being able to contact SCB by phone, and kept getting the recording about my bank account name not matching my mobile account name..

 

Went back to my SCB branch a second time, and as I reported above, they had no idea why their prior name change to my acccount hadn't fixed the problem. But ultimately, when they finally got a security guy at SCB HQ on the phone, he explained that SCB HQ also had to report back to the Thai government so the Thai government would remove me from their prior "not in compliance" list of accountholder names that the government had issued to the banks.  And the simple account name correction I'd done in the branch prior had not triggered those additional steps on SCB's part....

 

YEESH!!!

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

13 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

If no more messages or contacts, one would assume al is checked and ok.

 

I don't think I've ever had any direct contact from any of my Thai banks about this, thus far... I only found out when suddenly I discovered SCB some weeks back had cut me off from being able to contact their Customer Service call center because my name was on the government's "not in compliance" list that had been given to the banks sometime earlier this year...

 

And, I never have gotten any explanation of why SCB was enforcing that now, at least in terms of accessing their Call Center, when supposedly the government deadline for being in compliance isn't until April 30, and all my problems and dealings with them on this happened weeks prior to that.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

10 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

 

Did you yourself personally open your telephone SIM account under your name?  And that is the mobile number associated with your bank account(s)?   If so, you 'should' be fine.

 

 

The accountholder names on the bank accounts and the mobile service accounts need to match EXACTLY, right down to the smallest detail.....

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

9 hours ago, TigerandDog said:

this doesn't just apply to mobile phone numbers registered since 2022. My mobile was registered in 2014 when I moved to Thailand, and I received notification from Krungthai Bank a few months ago with regards to this. So just make sure that the data on both matches exactly, viz full name and the form of ID used to open the bank account and register the mobile number. If you've had a passport renewal and updated that info with the bank make sure you also update that info with the mobile service or the bank will restrict your online banking use until you do.

 

That's been my experience also in terms of older mobile accounts getting caught up in this...

 

My current mobile accounts were opened years back, and that didn't stop me from getting reported on the government's "not in compliance" list that was given to the banks.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

9 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

About a year ago the Bangkok Bank was locked and I got a text message to come to a local branch. I had to birng in my passport and have my face registered.   I guess I am now in compliance? 

 

That was a different regimen, AFAIK...

 

Now, you have to ensure that the name details on your mobile accounts and your bank accounts match exactly right down to the smallest detail.

 

Or, face the prospect of getting cut off from access to mobile banking and who knows what else...

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 hours ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

 

This wouldn't have applied to you - it's only for numbers registered since January 1, 2022, at least according to the OP.

That's not been my experience at all, and none of my current mobile numbers are post Jan. 2022.

 

[DangerRuss]

When it comes to the other way…thai govt allows 
 

Thai people to cheat foreigners , makes me mad as hell!!!

 

there is a group of Thai people scamming foreigners on FB offering drivers licenses and although they have scammed and been reported my hundreds of foreigners, they still continue to operate and nothing being done. 

[Kinok Farang]

15 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

So, you can´t call your bank, and check what phone number is connected, or maybe you know that. Most people do. Same do you know if the phone number is in your name? If not, can you call the phone company and check, or log in to app and see? If you know all is okay, you don´t have to do anything. They check, and if ok you will pass.

There you go again,lecturing people.you must be a delight to live with.