The Senate’s Economic, Finance and Banking Committee, together with the Legal and Justice Committee, held a press conference yesterday (Sept 15) to address rising concerns over the freezing of bank accounts linked to crackdowns on so-called mule accounts, reports the Bangkok Post.
Senator Palawat Tansiri, spokesperson for the economic committee, acknowledged that efforts to combat online fraud and dismantle mule accounts were necessary, but warned that innocent citizens and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were being severely affected.
He noted that complex financial transactions, common among small traders, were increasingly caught in sweeping freezes.
“While freezing accounts quickly may disrupt illegal transfers, in many cases it traps the accounts of innocent people, causing serious disruptions to trade and cash flow,” Mr Palawat said.
He cited lengthy and complicated procedures to unfreeze accounts, inconsistent enforcement standards among officials, and rising uncertainty as obstacles.
The committees proposed short-, medium-, and long-term solutions.
In the short term, clear, standardised criteria should be established nationwide to identify mule accounts - not based solely on the number of accounts or frequency of transfers. In the medium term, it is important to strengthen cooperation between state agencies and private sector stakeholders. In the long term, a centralised platform should be created for reporting and verifying mule accounts.
The panels also called for a unified database to be built of suspicious accounts, with a system designed to enable affected individuals to file appeals and provide explanations.
In Khon Kaen, local vendors expressed growing concerns that any money transfers to their bank accounts, which authorities deem irregular, could result in an immediate freeze, despite the accounts being used solely for customer transactions.
A durian and seafood vendor reported that 70–80% of daily sales are paid via bank transfers, making cash-only sales nearly impossible.
“If my account is frozen, I won’t be able to buy stock. The business would collapse,” she said, urging the government to “fix the problem at its root, not just patch over it.”
In Uthai Thani, some small shops have already put up signs refusing bank transfers, with an electronics store owner stating that she has suspended QR payments to avoid being dragged into fraud cases: “We can’t know which customer is genuine or not.”
In Nakhon Ratchasima, a chicken-rice restaurant posted a sign reading: “Temporarily suspending transfers and QR payments until further notice.” The owner said that with customers coming from across the province and beyond, he could not guarantee that incoming transfers were clean.
Separately, a government hospital doctor in Bangkok filed a complaint with the Campaign for Justice Foundation after nine of his bank accounts, including his salary accounts, were frozen. He said a fraud gang had used his ID number to open a TrueMoney Wallet account, which had received illicit transfers.