Finance Thailand Tightens Mobile Banking to Curb Scams

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The Bank of Thailand has announced strict new mobile banking transfer limits to combat rising financial fraud, capping daily transfers at 50,000 baht for children under 15 and seniors over 65 opening new accounts.

 

Daranee Saeju, the assistant governor for payment systems policy, stated the measure aims to protect vulnerable customers by introducing a customer profiling system that sets transfer limits based on risk.

 

Users are divided into three groups: suspected fraudsters, general users, and vulnerable customers, with limits categorised into three tiers: under 50,000 baht, under 200,000 baht, and above 200,000 baht.

 

The new policy is already in effect for new mobile banking applicants. Existing users will need to comply by year-end, though banks will individually determine risk classifications.

 

Customers with positive financial histories remain unaffected, and those needing higher limits can request upgrades. Special precautions will still apply to those considered vulnerable to fraud due to their increased susceptibility, reported the Bangkok Post.

 

Currently, Thailand has about 12 million mobile banking users. Existing controls limit mobile banking transfers to 50,000 baht per transaction, with facial recognition, and 200,000 baht per day.

 

However, financial fraud is a serious concern, with June alone documenting 24,500 scam cases linked to money transfers, resulting in losses totalling 2.8 billion baht. On average, each fraudulent case resulted in 114,000 baht lost, with the largest single scam taking 4.9 million baht.

 

Regionally, 22% of fraud cases involve transactions exceeding 50,000 baht sent to mule accounts, yet they account for a staggering 76% of the overall losses.

 

Alarmingly, it takes scammers only three minutes to drain half the stolen funds, whereas victims generally take between 19 and 25 hours to report the crime. In the first half of the year, 78,468 scam cases involved children, while those over 65 were victims in 416,453 cases.

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from Bangkok Post 2025-08-20