Central bank to cap mobile banking transfers to 50,000 baht per day

To protect bank customers, particularly the elderly and minors, from being duped by online scammers, the Bank of Thailand will introduce a new regulation to cap the amount of money transferrable through mobile banking to just 50,000 baht per day.

According to Daranee Saeju, assistant governor of the central bank in charge of Payment Systems Policy and Financial Consumer Protection Group, bank customers will be separated into:

• Those who are suspected scammers or affiliated with scammers, such as “mule account” holders, for whom the daily online transfer limit will be 50,000 baht.

• Ordinary customers choose to cap the daily transfer amount at 50,000 baht.

• Vulnerable customers, such as the elderly and minors, who will receive an electronic warning from the bank if it is believed that they are undertaking a risky transaction.

Oramon Chanthaphan, director of the payment system regulatory office, says that, after having assessed the backgrounds of each customer, the banks will inform their customers of the maximum amount of money that they can transfer using the mobile banking system. In case of an emergency, customers can ask for a higher amount of money and the bank will reply within an hour.

This new measure is expected to come into effect within this month for new customers and existing mobile banking customers.

According to the central bank, 2.8 billion baht was lost to scammers through mobile banking scams in June alone, with the worst victim having lost five million baht in one transfer.

Records since 2022 show that the most vulnerable victims targeted by the online scam gangs are minors under 15 and those who are over 60. The average loss for each victim is over 400,000 baht, claims the bank.