Thais giving out bank account numbers

[matta330]

Coming from the US, this seems like a real shock to me...my wife is always giving out her bank account number for people to transfer funds into (she occasionally sells stuff on line). When I asked her if there was any other way of receiving the money, I just got a blank look. I understand a new payment system is coming to Thailand at some point, but aren't there security issues with this? I have only seen a couple of checks in all my time here, so I just assume that there isn't a great check clearing house system in Thailand either.

[maewang99]

it's all a strange system and in flux... everywhere in the world... and so no surprise in Thailand as well. if you a non-Thai national with a Thai bank account, and this is relatively new, you will fill out a many paged form detailing things such as post office boxes and powers of attorney which is official and legally required by US law (visavis sanctions on the bank.... not the customer, that's how they get this new system to work) and that is on top of FBAR requirements for US citizens over a certain amount (the 90.221 form). but if you are Thai and open a US bank account.... any Thai security you buy, sell or hold is automatically kept secret, without even for the asking, through the use of Thai nominees. hmmmm... "foreigners" are good at big movements in the local bourse... hmmmm. or alternatively, the last time I looked into it, the Pizza Company guys at Minor file Thai SEC insider reports in reams of endless paperwork... the big boss is a farlang.. who lives in Thailand....but if you look at the corresponding number of the same reports on Thai big caps... there is hardly any reporting. hmmmmm. but this may change, with US leadership. this is all also why Kim Jung Un is increasingly upset, he has more and more difficulty moving foreign exchange funds around to buy baubles for the 1st and 2nd level cadre there. the international focus now will be on "beneficial ownership" which is the technical goobledegook terminology for "no nominees". a big change for the Land of Nominees. and smiles. for banks it's a big deal, a headache and they face staff shortages already in dealing with all of the new international "know your customer" requirements.

Edited April 21, 2016 by maewang99

[bubba1]

Coming from the US, this seems like a real shock to me...my wife is always giving out her bank account number for people to transfer funds into (she occasionally sells stuff on line). When I asked her if there was any other way of receiving the money, I just got a blank look. I understand a new payment system is coming to Thailand at some point, but aren't there security issues with this? I have only seen a couple of checks in all my time here, so I just assume that there isn't a great check clearing house system in Thailand either.

Most of Europe operates the same way. For example to pay your rent you transfer the money or pay cash at a bank into the owners account by account number.

Also in the US when you write a check the account number is on the bottom of the check... So it's no secret

Edited April 21, 2016 by bubba1

[roblam]

I can't agree more. I'm not sure why Americans (they in particular) are extremely paranoid about the giving-out-your-bank-account-number thing. I lived in Europe for years and Kontonummer, account number, numero de compte, numero de cuenta etc are not state secrets. Sharing them fulfills one of the very purposes of such accounts-- to send and receive money.

I bought something from an American a few months ago. To pay him I asked him for his bank account number. He was immediately aggressive to the point of being extremely accusative. "In your dreams, dude! I'm not giving you my bank account number! You thought I would make it easy for you to steal from me, you m*****f*****! I'm reporting you to the FBI now!"

Huh??

Only in the United States of America.

Edited April 22, 2016 by roblam

[manfredtillmann]

even back in the '70 when i worked in germany bank account number and bank id number were like a part of your name and address. no number, no pay. there just was no other option to receive wages but by fund transfers from account to account.

for years now every invoice i sent out - and every one i receive - in australia carries bank transfer details. i pay my invoices with internet funds transfer in seconds.

what could someone possibly do to defraud another by knowing his bank account details?

[4evermaat]

In the usa, if someone has your checking acct #, (maybe savings too), it is easy to forge checks or even make an ACH withdraw.

Plus the war on cash continues. Chase bank discontinued cash deposits to 3rd parties. Paranoia is an understatement

In thailand, that's impossible with savings acct. You can literally post your acct #, province it was opened, etc on website, facebook, etc and wait for payment. Between that and post office, paying someone in thailand is very efficient and hassle-free.

But yes, its hippocritical because usa checks have acct #, routing #, and address.

Safer to use billpay to cut checks....will use the banks billpay corprate acct to handle everything.

[Langsuan Man]

Sometimes the paranoia in the US is really funny

For instance, many are loathe to give out their credit card details to an online retailer but have no problem giving out that same information on the phone to a customer service representative who in all likelyhood is a prisoner working for a call center behind bars

[Pib]

Bank transfers to pay bills (with bank account info on the bill as to where to send money) very common in the world, such as Thailand, but in the U.S. the check system become dominant.

With a bank transfer to pay a bill/make a payment the sender needs have the actual funds to complete the transfer...no bouncing check(i.e., insufficient funds) days or weeks later to worry about.

Having a person's Thai bank account number doesn't allow anyone to pull money from your account; only send money to it.

[Nowisee]

I can't agree more. I'm not sure why Americans (they in particular) are extremely paranoid about the giving-out-your-bank-account-number thing. I lived in Europe for years and Kontonummer, account number, numero de compte, numero de cuenta etc are not state secrets. Sharing them fulfills one of the very purposes of such accounts-- to send and receive money.

I bought something from an American a few months ago. To pay him I asked him for his bank account number. He was immediately aggressive to the point of being extremely accusative. "In your dreams, dude! I'm not giving you my bank account number! You thought I would make it easy for you to steal from me, you m*****f*****! I'm reporting you to the FBI now!"

Huh??

Only in the United States of America.

Clearly an uninformed individual. As an American (I sometimes hide this fact) my fellow countrymen can be a bit jumpy....5555

In the usa, if someone has your checking acct #, (maybe savings too), it is easy to forge checks or even make an ACH withdraw.

Plus the war on cash continues. Chase bank discontinued cash deposits to 3rd parties. Paranoia is an understatement

In thailand, that's impossible with savings acct. You can literally post your acct #, province it was opened, etc on website, facebook, etc and wait for payment. Between that and post office, paying someone in thailand is very efficient and hassle-free.

But yes, its hippocritical because usa checks have acct #, routing #, and address.

Safer to use billpay to cut checks....will use the banks billpay corprate acct to handle everything.

Not true regarding the USA comment making an ACH withdraw.

Sometimes the paranoia in the US is really funny

For instance, many are loathe to give out their credit card details to an online retailer but have no problem giving out that same information on the phone to a customer service representative who in all likelyhood is a prisoner working for a call center behind bars

Those workers are probably some of the most trust worthy. Odd as that sounds.

Edited April 22, 2016 by Nowisee

[scorecard]

If the wife is giving out an account number for customers to transfer payments to her then why not have a separate account just for this and on receipt quickly transfer the funds to a main account.

All very easy to set up new account with an SMS alert when funds are deposited, then easy and fast to transfer to main account by internet banking facility.

Good way also to have an accounting trail.

[johng]

How could anyone transfer money into a bank account without the account number ??? would take quite a few billion random guesses to get the correct account

also how does someone nefariously transfer money out of someone else's account with just the account number ?

[laochef]

Owner of Minor Group (Owner of Pizza Company, etc., etc., etc.), Bill Heinecke, actually has Thai Citizen ship

[ozyjon]

You need,,

Beneficiary’s Bank Details

Beneficiary’s Bank Number,,,,, 0450

Swift BIC Address,,,,, BKKBTHBK

Beneficiary’s Bank Name,,,,,, Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited

Beneficiary’s Bank Address,,,,,,, 333, Silom Road

City,,,,,, Bangkok

Country,,,,,, Thailand

Yibba da yibbada, dats all folks

[seancbk]

Coming from the US, this seems like a real shock to me...my wife is always giving out her bank account number for people to transfer funds into (she occasionally sells stuff on line). When I asked her if there was any other way of receiving the money, I just got a blank look. I understand a new payment system is coming to Thailand at some point, but aren't there security issues with this? I have only seen a couple of checks in all my time here, so I just assume that there isn't a great check clearing house system in Thailand either.

Most of Europe operates the same way. For example to pay your rent you transfer the money or pay cash at a bank into the owners account by account number.

Also in the US when you write a check the account number is on the bottom of the check... So it's no secret

Same everywhere I've been.

My bank account number is no big secret, if anyone wants to put money in it they can have the details.

[csabo]

I do it here everyday. I do it in the states as well. Never done a direct transfer or used a service like Quickpay in the US? Always requires account numbers yes? Is your money still made of shells and round rocks?

[4evermaat]

In the usa, if someone has your checking acct #, (maybe savings too), it is easy to forge checks or even make an ACH withdraw.

Plus the war on cash continues. Chase bank discontinued cash deposits to 3rd parties. Paranoia is an understatement

In thailand, that's impossible with savings acct. You can literally post your acct #, province it was opened, etc on website, facebook, etc and wait for payment. Between that and post office, paying someone in thailand is very efficient and hassle-free.

But yes, its hippocritical because usa checks have acct #, routing #, and address.

Safer to use billpay to cut checks....will use the banks billpay corprate acct to handle everything.

Not true regarding the USA comment making an ACH withdraw.

If you have access to a payment processor that can initiate ACH transfers. it can be done. Technically you are supposed to have authorization, etc, so it is a little more involved than forging checks.

http://www.networkworld.com/article/2216359/security/ach-fraud--why-criminals-love-this-con.html

It will get more bold in Sept 2016, which is when ACH will implement same-day clearing, which will compete with wire transfers.

It is safer to use your bank's billpay feature whenever possible, only giving out your acct # to individuals you trust the most AND have a need to know .

[wump]

Now to worry the op even more:

Did you know you can go to any cash deposit machine, input a random bank account number for the recipient and the machine will display this person's real name?

Shocking, right?

[csabo]

Bank transfers to pay bills (with bank account info on the bill as to where to send money) very common in the world, such as Thailand, but in the U.S. the check system become dominant.

With a bank transfer to pay a bill/make a payment the sender needs have the actual funds to complete the transfer...no bouncing check(i.e., insufficient funds) days or weeks later to worry about.

Having a person's Thai bank account number doesn't allow anyone to pull money from your account; only send money to it.

I don't know what "U.S." you are talking about but I write a grand total of about 2 checks a year in the United States of America and have been doing that for at least 10 years. One of those checks is to pay my federal income tax as the United States Government lacks the technology to get paid electronically. They can bomb a hospital in Syria from a basement in Virginia though so I guess they will get up to speed eventually.

[laolover88]

Yes and you can go to an ATM in Thailand and transfer money from your account to pretty much anyone. It is called efficient. Imagine trying to do that in the UK, where all you can do is top up your phone.

[marcusd]

Coming from Australia I think Cheques (or checks if you are from the USA) are OUTDATED and WAY behind. Costly ineffective no one checks (correct spelling people from USA please note and a very slow and tedious thing.

Electronic funds transfer is faster more efficient and no waiting to see if the cheque clears or bounces!

[joebrown]

Whilst the OP doesn't say his wife is Thai, I'll reply on the assumption she is, I can't understand why she hasn't used Western Union (WU)to send/receive monies. I'd never heard of WU before I arrived in LOS many years ago, but noticed it was in general use by some of the Thais I knew. I've sent money to family in Europe and the procedure is very quick and efficient.

Edited April 22, 2016 by joebrown

[Langsuan Man]

Bank transfers to pay bills (with bank account info on the bill as to where to send money) very common in the world, such as Thailand, but in the U.S. the check system become dominant.

With a bank transfer to pay a bill/make a payment the sender needs have the actual funds to complete the transfer...no bouncing check(i.e., insufficient funds) days or weeks later to worry about.

Having a person's Thai bank account number doesn't allow anyone to pull money from your account; only send money to it.

I don't know what "U.S." you are talking about but I write a grand total of about 2 checks a year in the United States of America and have been doing that for at least 10 years. One of those checks is to pay my federal income tax as the United States Government lacks the technology to get paid electronically. They can bomb a hospital in Syria from a basement in Virginia though so I guess they will get up to speed eventually.

Really, I pay my annual US tax bill in March and 4 estimated payments quarterly using EFTS from my US bank account

See EFTPS.gov

[bokningar]

So checks / cheques still exist?

I didn't think you could get them any more. I can't even keep track of all the ways to move money using your smartphone paypal and so on.

Checks REALLY????

[AlQaholic]

Sooo, tell me how you gain access to someones funds if you have their account number only? You just waltz into a bank office somewhere with a fake passport, falsify the signature on a withdrawal form and then you get the funds?

[gyrosman]

I can't agree more. I'm not sure why Americans (they in particular) are extremely paranoid about the giving-out-your-bank-account-number thing. I lived in Europe for years and Kontonummer, account number, numero de compte, numero de cuenta etc are not state secrets. Sharing them fulfills one of the very purposes of such accounts-- to send and receive money.

I bought something from an American a few months ago. To pay him I asked him for his bank account number. He was immediately aggressive to the point of being extremely accusative. "In your dreams, dude! I'm not giving you my bank account number! You thought I would make it easy for you to steal from me, you m*****f*****! I'm reporting you to the FBI now!"

Huh??

Only in the United States of America.

you don't have enough money to worry about. CHILDREN spending mom's and dad's money, grow-up.

[landslide]

Bank transfers to pay bills (with bank account info on the bill as to where to send money) very common in the world, such as Thailand, but in the U.S. the check system become dominant.

With a bank transfer to pay a bill/make a payment the sender needs have the actual funds to complete the transfer...no bouncing check(i.e., insufficient funds) days or weeks later to worry about.

Having a person's Thai bank account number doesn't allow anyone to pull money from your account; only send money to it.

I don't know what "U.S." you are talking about but I write a grand total of about 2 checks a year in the United States of America and have been doing that for at least 10 years. One of those checks is to pay my federal income tax as the United States Government lacks the technology to get paid electronically. They can bomb a hospital in Syria from a basement in Virginia though so I guess they will get up to speed eventually.

I use TurboTax to complete and pay my income taxes. I utilize electronic transfers for payments, no problems. They will even issue tax refunds electronically, if you wish.

[soc]

So checks / cheques still exist?

I didn't think you could get them any more. I can't even keep track of all the ways to move money using your smartphone paypal and so on.

Checks REALLY????

l use them a lot.

They still exist, but for how much longer?

l've read that Sweden is going to go cashless soon.

No doubt other countries will follow.

Damn, what am l going to do with the shoeboxes full of banknotes that are under my bed?

[ThaiKneeTim]

UK banks wanted to phase out cheques but there were too many people making a fuss about it. For the banks it's about cutting costs, for some customers, which includes a good friend, they don't feel comfortable with using electronic payments.

There are still a lot of people who need to feel the cash in their hands, I can't get over the sight of people withdrawing cash from the ATM outside a supermarket and then going inside to spend it. Why not use the card to pay?

My mother was one of those people, and when I asked her why she didn't just use the debit card to pay she said it didn't feel as though the money had come out of her account until she'd felt the bank noted in her hand.

It's a strange old world.

Edited April 22, 2016 by ThaiKneeTim

[matta330]

To answer a couple of questions...yes my wife is Thai. And when in the US i write less than 1 check a month but use electronic bill pay for everything. I guess the banks in the US build up the paranoia in us, but it still seems very "foreign" to me just to randomly give my account number out.

[LivinLOS]

Yes and you can go to an ATM in Thailand and transfer money from your account to pretty much anyone. It is called efficient. Imagine trying to do that in the UK, where all you can do is top up your phone.

For the UK (and Thailand) I wouldnt even go to the ATM.. Just open my phone app..