The central bank and banks are preparing to tighten controls and scrutinize money transfer behavior to curb "grey money" and "money mule accounts."

The Bank of Thailand and the Thai Bankers' Association are stepping up controls on illegal transactions, preparing to use a profiling system to analyze money transfer behavior and crack down on dummy accounts and grey funds used via PromptPay and e-wallets.

January 9, 2569. Mr. Piti Tantakasem, Chief Executive Officer of TMBThanachart (TTB), as a representative from...Thai Bankers Association It was revealed in a press conference following the first meeting of the Sub-Committee on Financial Data Linkage to Enhance the Monitoring of Suspicious Financial Transactions in 2026, held at the Ministry of Finance, regarding the solution to illegal transactions entering Thailand through the use of financial innovations to evade scrutiny of suspicious transactions:

"The reason Thailand has become a haven for illicit money is because it is a convenient and open country, surrounded by sources that could lead to scams and various forms of fraud. This makes it relatively easy for assets generated from corruption to flow into and out of Thailand."

Mr. Piti further stated that the forms of money have changed significantly, including digital assets, money in bank accounts, cash (not just the Thai baht), various currencies, e-wallets, and gold. However, these can be easily converted into other forms, which Thailand can freely do, transforming them into illegal money.

While Thailand's highly efficient financial ecosystem is a double-edged sword, coupled with relatively fragmented regulatory bodies, collaboration is essential.

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has instructed commercial banks to work together on the requirement that bank account opening include Know Your Customer (KYC) verification to prevent fraud, and Know Your Merchant (KYM) to verify the identity of businesses providing electronic payment services.

The concept might involve creating profiling profiles—in-depth data analysis of individual behavior on digital money transfers. For example, customers with low incomes should be able to transfer smaller amounts, because without limits, fraudsters could turn these individuals into 'mock accounts' to transfer large sums of money.

Profiling involves three axes that look for inconsistencies in an individual: 1. Identity consistency, 2. Behavior consistency, and 3. Quantitative consistency.

For example, Mr. A opens bank accounts at various institutions but provides inconsistent occupation information. His regular salary is 10,000 baht, yet he has dozens of bank accounts and additional e-wallet accounts. Furthermore, if Mr. A states a monthly salary, why are there daily transfers into his accounts? This constitutes inconsistent behavior. Finally, there's inconsistency in the amount of money transferred; for instance, Mr. A claims a salary in the tens of thousands of baht, but why are there transfers of hundreds of thousands or even millions of baht into his accounts?

"Previously, commercial banks lacked the tools to do this. Today, under the supervision of the Bank of Thailand, commercial banks are urged to quickly implement these guidelines on PromptPay because money flows in and out rapidly. However, the system is not yet perfect because there are no regulations specifying how much each individual can withdraw."

The regulatory focus will primarily be on scrutinizing customer data to verify its consistency with transactions, including occupation, behavior, and the amount of money transferred. This will support stricter KYC/KYM (Know Your Customer/Know Your Transaction) processes.

If KYC/KYM procedures don't improve the situation, it will harm honest citizens while criminals can still escape. Therefore, it's a double-edged sword: if it's too strict, honest citizens might suffer; if it's too lax, criminals will slip through. This isn't a one-size-fits-all solution; continuous learning and study are necessary to protect against fraud.

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