Thailand

Almost two thirds of the victims who complained to police in 2025 were women, and people aged 31 to 40 were the largest age group. Facebook is the channel scammers use most: the digital ministry counts 126,672 cases and 2.81 billion baht lost there, ahead of call centres (32,000 cases and 2.66 billion baht), websites and TikTok. Call-centre gangs phone people posing as officials and frighten them into moving money: in one case in March 2026, officers stopped a 78-year-old woman who had been pushed to withdraw 2 million baht in cash.

Investment scams are run through LINE accounts and fake trading platforms. For 2026 the ministry warned of fake payment links sent by SMS and LINE, cloned voices and fake video calls, bogus crypto and stock schemes, and fake profiles used for romance scams, shops and hotel bookings. Much of this is run from scam compounds across the border: the government identified more than 60 clusters in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, and 1,862 Thais were brought home from them in the nine months to June 2026.

Most of the money now leaves by the victim's own hand. The Bank of Thailand says thefts by criminals taking control of banking apps fell to zero in 2025, while people tricked into transferring money themselves lost 5.65 billion baht in the second quarter of 2025 alone. The money goes into mule accounts opened or rented for the purpose: by August 2026 the central bank counted 4.4 million accounts flagged as mules.

Bank rules are built to slow this down. Banks may not put links in SMS or email. A banking app works on one phone only, and the name on the SIM card must match the name on the bank account. A face scan is needed for any transfer of 50,000 baht or more, and again when transfers pass 200,000 baht in a day. Each customer has a daily limit set by risk.

Since 30 August 2025 phone companies must check every link in an SMS before delivering it, use only registered sender names, and suspend a number within 24 hours of the regulator's order. Calls from abroad carry the prefix +697 or +698.

Police counted 380,378 online crime cases in 2025 with losses of 25.2 billion baht, about 1,045 cases and 69 million baht a day. The count covers complaints made through the police online system, the 1441 hotline and police stations, so scams that are not reported are left out.

Most cases are small purchases that never arrive: goods and services fraud was 53% of cases in 2025. Most of the money goes in investment scams. Between 2022 and 2024 investment fraud cost 28.8 billion baht across 51,881 cases, task or side-job scams 18.8 billion baht and call-centre gangs 10.8 billion baht, while 362,075 goods fraud cases cost 5 billion baht. In January to April 2026 investment-type fraud was 80.2% of losses, an average of 166,449 baht a case, against 15,727 baht for goods and services fraud.

Losses are falling. The Bank of Thailand said people tricked into transferring money lost 5.65 billion baht in the second quarter of 2025, against 8.59 billion baht a year earlier. Losses reported to the government's scam hotline fell 15.4% between February to September 2025 and October 2025 to May 2026. In the first four months of 2026, 121,921 cases cost 7.48 billion baht.

Bank refunds are limited to the bank's own failings: the central bank makes banks bear losses caused by their own shortcomings. Since April 2025 a bank, payment firm, phone company or social media platform shares the loss unless it proves it met the standards its regulator set. Most money is now paid over by the victims themselves.

Money can be stopped in mule accounts, but getting it back is slow. Between 2022 and 2024 police asked for 45.1 billion baht to be frozen and 8.78 billion baht was, under a fifth. In the nine months to June 2026 more than 3.6 billion baht was frozen, about 24% of reported losses. By August 2026 about 4 billion baht sat in suspended accounts waiting to be returned.

A regulation in force since 12 August 2026 lets this be paid back without waiting for a court. Banks and police report suspended accounts to the Anti-Money Laundering Office, which publishes them, and victims have 90 days to apply with their police complaint as proof. The office's committee orders a full refund where the money trail is clear and a proportional share where money from several victims is mixed. Only money still in its original form qualifies; assets it was turned into go through prosecutors and the courts. Unclaimed money is kept for ten years.

In the Armidale 2026 survey, 45.8% of victims of the last 12 months told the police and 75.0% reported to some institution, such as the police, a bank or a platform. Police recorded 380,378 online crime complaints in 2025, more than in 2024, with losses of 25,196 million baht.

They come in through the police online system, police stations and the digital ministry's Anti Online Scam Operation Centre, where an officer takes the report, bank staff joining the conversation hold the money for seven days, and the case is passed into the police system. A bank hold lapses unless a police complaint follows within 72 hours. The centre took 966,125 calls and 362,472 account suspension reports from October 2025 to May 2026, up from 851,495 and 355,381 in February to September 2025, while the losses reported to it fell 15.38%, from 14,366 million baht to 12,156 million.

Banks recorded 39,039 cases of people tricked into transferring money themselves in the fourth quarter of 2025, over 5,443 million baht, down from 46,923 cases and over 8,590 million baht in the second quarter of 2024. The central bank's contact centre advised 151,651 people in 2025, and 3% of the matters concerned financial threats. The electronic transactions agency's online complaint centre took 39,112 complaints in 2025, up 10.62% from 35,358 in 2024, and 23,525 from January to August 2026, down 14.06% from 27,375 a year earlier, while complaints about platforms rose 42.95% to 4,034.

Police count complaints of technology crime made online, through 1441 or at a station, in 14 categories. In 2025, 53% were about goods or services that were paid for and never came, 15% were transfers made to claim a prize, 9% offers of paid tasks, 6% loans, 5% investments and 4% threatening calls from call-centre gangs. Scams that are never reported are not counted.

Opening or lending a bank account or SIM card for someone else's use carries up to three years in prison, and recruiting others to do so two to five years. In a nine-month crackdown to June 2026 the government reported 29,233 arrests, 351,884 mule accounts closed, 23,341 criminal phone numbers suspended and more than 122,840 fraudulent web addresses blocked, 108,517 of them on Facebook. The police Anti-Cyber Scam Centre publishes the complaint figures every week and works with banks to stop transfers in progress: in the first week of March 2026 it stopped payments for 24 victims.

By number, fake sales dominate: 85,215 of the 121,921 complaints in the first four months of 2026 were about goods or services, with an average loss of 15,727 baht. By money, investment scams dominate: they took 6.0 billion baht in the same four months, four fifths of all losses, at an average of 166,449 baht a case.

The same pattern holds over the longer run. From 2022 to 2024 goods and services fraud brought about 362,000 complaints and 5 billion baht of losses, while about 52,000 investment complaints accounted for 28.8 billion baht.

Task scams, in which victims are paid small sums for simple online jobs and then asked to deposit money to carry on, were second by number of complaints. Call-centre gangs, who pose as officials, accounted for about 52,000 complaints and 10.8 billion baht.

Thailand has put shared responsibility into law. Since April 2025 banks, phone companies and social media platforms share responsibility for a victim's loss unless they can prove they met the standards their regulators set, and an institution that fails to suspend a listed account can be fined. The 1441 centre puts the police, the central bank, the Anti-Money Laundering Office and the telecoms regulator in one place, and a Central Fraud Registry links banks and e-money firms, so that when one account is tied to fraud the same person's accounts elsewhere are suspended and checked. The government reports results: for the nine months to June 2026 it says cases fell 69% and losses 87%.

The police complaint figures are less dramatic: 121,921 complaints in the first four months of 2026 is about 1,000 a day, the same daily rate as in 2025. Three weaknesses stand out. Only about a quarter of reported losses is frozen. Little has reached victims: about 4 billion baht was still waiting in suspended accounts when the refund rules took effect in August 2026. And the hold system catches innocent people: about 10,000 accounts a week were being caught in money trails in 2025, which forced a faster release process.

Platforms are inside the liability rule but not inside the centre, and in mid-2026 the Thailand Consumers Council sued 17 defendants, among them Meta, LINE and banks.