Moves to curb youth account misuse

PUBLISHED : 8 May 2026 at 05:50

NEWSPAPER SECTION: Business

WRITER: Komsan Tortermvasana

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Relevant agencies and authorities are tackling the trend of young people's bank accounts being used as mule accounts for illegal transactions.

Around 6,500 accounts belonging to young people have been identified as mule accounts. Agencies aim to crack down on financial crime, mule accounts, and scam networks.

Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaichanok Chidchob on Thursday chaired a meeting of the Committee on Prevention and Suppression of Technology Crime, established under Section 13 of the amended Emergency Decree on Prevention and Suppression of Technology Crime of 2023.

Attendees included authorities and financial regulators working to dismantle call centre gangs, mule account networks, nominee shareholding structures, and cross-border money-laundering operations.

Mr Chaichanok said authorities had identified 246,000 individuals linked to roughly 3.56 million mule accounts as of March.

The breakdown includes 829,200 black accounts, 75,800 dark grey accounts, 465,800 light grey accounts, and 1,119,800 brown accounts.

To enhance the efficiency of freezing illicit funds, authorities categorised suspicious bank accounts into four groups.

Black accounts are confirmed to be involved in criminal activity and are subject to legal prosecution.

Dark grey accounts are under investigation, with a clearly identified suspicious money trail.

Light grey accounts are being reviewed to confirm their links to criminal networks.

Brown accounts are a proactive category: although no formal complaint has been filed by a victim, bank and police monitoring of transactions indicates potential involvement in scam or fraud networks.

Concerns over young people's bank accounts have been raised, even though the number of youth accounts classified as mule accounts remains a very small proportion of 3.56 million mule accounts overall.

"Using youth bank accounts as proxies for illegal transactions is a growing trend, and we want to address this vulnerability with an upcoming measure," said Mr Chaichanok.

A representative from the Bank of Thailand noted that children aged 12 or younger can have savings accounts opened by their parents, while teenagers can open accounts themselves. Many find it useful to open accounts, as banks also provide services at schools.

The most practical approach is to regulate spending limits or the number of transactions per day or month, even though many banks already have measures in place to help control spending from young people's accounts.

However, this approach must be implemented carefully to avoid adversely affecting the savings environment.

Mr Chaichanok said the government is expanding its information-sharing network to include all financial institutions, cryptocurrency exchanges, and gold shops, noting that criminals are adapting their methods as traditional banking measures tighten.

Furthermore, a new legal framework is being finalised to allow authorities to track and process all digital asset transactions step by step.

In the telecom sector, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission has introduced mandatory biometric and facial recognition checks for all new SIM card registrations.

Stringent Know Your Customer protocols are also being extended to other services, such as the purchase of SMS packages, to prevent their use in phishing scams.

Service providers are now subject to a three-tier disciplinary process --warning, fine, and service termination -- if they fail to comply with these security standards.

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- KEYWORDS

- Mule accounts

- Financial crime prevention

- Digital economy and society ministry

- Cybercrime suppression

- Money laundering

- Bank account security

- Technology crime