Pattaya sees rise in independent Chinese tourists amid decline in group tours

[JimGant]

Bangkok Bank has an SMS authentication procedure used with their Internet banking, whereby they send a One Time Password (OTP) via text message to your Thai cell phone. You then have 5 minutes to enter this password on-line into the application/change process you've begun (and which initiated the sending of the OTP). Slick. If you're in Thailand....

I recently received this message from BB iBanking when I logged into my account:

After you have added a new account to your Third Party List and are about to make your first funds transfer to that account, the bank will request an additional One Time Password (OTP) by sending an SMS to your registered phone. Please check the account number in the SMS carefully and only proceed to enter the OTP when you are sure that the information in the SMS matches your intended recipient...

Now I've never opted for "SMS authentication," which is something I could do on-line, if I wanted to. Instead, the "deactivate SMS authentication" option is greyed-out on my screen -- presumably because I don't participate in SMS authentication... And I don't participate because...when in the States, it won't work. And when in Thailand, it's just as easy to fill out the paperwork to register third party recipients, or make changes to my profile, and submit to my local Bangkok Bank. And this is what I did for several third parties, for contingency purposes should I be stuck in the States longer than anticipated -- and the payroll came due.

I'm now stuck in the States, and the payroll has come due.

So, per the message I got, will I be required to enter an OTP the first time I send money to these third parties (even tho' I didn't register these accounts on-line, but in person)? Obviously, I cannot receive an SMS on my Thai cell phone in my current location.

Anyone have any practical knowledge on this? Or, Ian, the real skinny?

(Tried to use iBanking's Bank Mail, but was told I was using illegal symbols...even after I removed every period, comma, and other punctuation... )

[givenall]

Ii enabled roaming on my Thai cell so I was able to get the SMS while I was in US just like in Bangkok so I could get OTP and enter while I was using internet banking

[samran]

I've just kept my Thai mobile number active...using a cheap 200 baht/month plan with AIS.

Worth the money when you are on the road!

In your case, I'd just call up your mobile phone service provider in Thailand and ask that you have global roaming activated.

[ianguygil]

Jim,

Please PM me with your contact details. I will get somebody on the Operations side to get in touch with you and to sort this out. We will call you.

We currently do not offer SMS to international phones because of the costs of the SMS and the fact that we do not charge for iBanking. That is something we are looking at. An International SMS costs about 30 times as much as a domestic SMS we purchase in bulk. So the ideas of others to use a local phone with roaming on a very cheap plan is a good on for this time while we sort out a workable solution for people like you. We definitely want to provide a rich service which meets your needs, it just takes time to work through the alternatives and come up with the right approach.

I will look for your PM. I will also give you my email so you can contact me directly at the Bank.

I have no idea about the Bank Mail problem. Please logoff, close your browser, go back in and try again. I am assuming you have nothing unusual on your PC. FYI, we block special characters to prevent a certain type of hack like a SQL Injection. Security always has to be first. But I understand you say you did not enter any special characters.

Thanks

Ian

Edited November 11, 2010 by ianguygil

[Tywais]

But I understand you say you did not enter any special characters.

It may be possible he has his browser Character Encoding wrong such as UTF-8 or Thai. Needs to check to see if it is set to Western and see if that makes a difference.

[ianguygil]

But I understand you say you did not enter any special characters.

It may be possible he has his browser Character Encoding wrong such as UTF-8 or Thai. Needs to check to see if it is set to Western and see if that makes a difference.

I agree we need to check the browser setting. But please note that iBanking is fully Thai compliant and has been since the launch 9 years ago.

[Tywais]

I agree we need to check the browser setting. But please note that iBanking is fully Thai compliant and has been since the launch 9 years ago.

In hindsight I realized it has to be since it is a Thai bank. Variety of Thai encodings such as TIS-620, ISO-8859-11 and Windows-874. Then there is UTF-8. I use Western ISO-8859-1 with BB with no problem also.

[aurelius]

The SMS doesn't seem to be required for transfers when the account has been set up at the branch; I think its only required for accounts which are set up online.

[siam2007]

Jim,

Please PM me with your contact details. I will get somebody on the Operations side to get in touch with you and to sort this out. We will call you.

We currently do not offer SMS to international phones because of the costs of the SMS and the fact that we do not charge for iBanking. That is something we are looking at. An International SMS costs about 30 times as much as a domestic SMS we purchase in bulk. So the ideas of others to use a local phone with roaming on a very cheap plan is a good on for this time while we sort out a workable solution for people like you. We definitely want to provide a rich service which meets your needs, it just takes time to work through the alternatives and come up with the right approach.

I will look for your PM. I will also give you my email so you can contact me directly at the Bank.

I have no idea about the Bank Mail problem. Please logoff, close your browser, go back in and try again. I am assuming you have nothing unusual on your PC. FYI, we block special characters to prevent a certain type of hack like a SQL Injection. Security always has to be first. But I understand you say you did not enter any special characters.

Thanks

Ian

it's cool to get a reply here from someone here who actually works for the Bank.

Ian, not that I want to hi-jack the topic, but what about the i-banking nowadays ?

my landlord helped me open a savings-account 4 years ago (she only could do so because even she is Taiwanese, not Thai, she is a very well-off customer of the local BB-branch)

we did not apply for i-banking that time. when she went to the same branch with me last year, the person in charge she knows very well was not there, and the old lady sitting in his seat just said the usual "Farang mai dai" after I told here I do not have a work permit (I never had, though I have a multiple non-Immi- B ) without elaborating further.

how is the situation now ? can every Branch still decide individually ? my account at BKK BANK is relatively useless, as I can not do any online-transactions, so basically I only use it to get my Electricity-Bills deducted from there every month.

thanks in advance for clarification

Edited November 12, 2010 by siam2007

[ianguygil]

Jim,

Please PM me with your contact details. I will get somebody on the Operations side to get in touch with you and to sort this out. We will call you.

We currently do not offer SMS to international phones because of the costs of the SMS and the fact that we do not charge for iBanking. That is something we are looking at. An International SMS costs about 30 times as much as a domestic SMS we purchase in bulk. So the ideas of others to use a local phone with roaming on a very cheap plan is a good on for this time while we sort out a workable solution for people like you. We definitely want to provide a rich service which meets your needs, it just takes time to work through the alternatives and come up with the right approach.

I will look for your PM. I will also give you my email so you can contact me directly at the Bank.

I have no idea about the Bank Mail problem. Please logoff, close your browser, go back in and try again. I am assuming you have nothing unusual on your PC. FYI, we block special characters to prevent a certain type of hack like a SQL Injection. Security always has to be first. But I understand you say you did not enter any special characters.

Thanks

Ian

it's cool to get a reply here from someone here who actually works for the Bank.

Ian, not that I want to hi-jack the topic, but what about the i-banking nowadays ?

my landlord helped me open a savings-account 4 years ago (she only could do so because even she is Taiwanese, not Thai, she is a very well-off customer of the local BB-branch)

we did not apply for i-banking that time. when she went to the same branch with me last year, the person in charge she knows very well was not there, and the old lady sitting in his seat just said the usual "Farang mai dai" after I told here I do not have a work permit (I never had, though I have a multiple non-Immi- B ) without elaborating further.

how is the situation now ? can every Branch still decide indivudually ? my account at BKK BANk is relatively useless, as I can not do any online-transactions, so basically I only use to get my Electricity-Bills deducted from there every month.

thanks in advance for clarification

Please PM me offlline.

We can deal with it securely they you can post whatever you feel is appropriate.

I will deal with this one on Monday, so please give me some time. I have to nip off somewhere in a few hours - even Bankers have families

Thanks

Ian