A new survey of fraud-management, anti-money laundering (AML), and compliance team leaders at Thai banks finds uncovering and closing networks of money mule accounts spread across multiple institutions remains a major operational challenge in Thailand. Nearly all of those surveyed (87%) admitted their bank struggled to identify mules, while 78% of C-suite respondents reported increasing fraud losses.
“Of the 12 geographies we surveyed, the scale of fraud losses reported in Thailand stands out,” BioCatch Director of Global Fraud Intelligence Thomas Peacock said. “Four in five Thai banking leaders say their organization loses more than $5 million (155 million baht) to fraud every year. That’s well above other countries surveyed in the region and exceeds the global average. All C-level executives surveyed in Thailand placed their bank’s annual fraud losses above this threshold, and 55% reported annual fraud losses of greater than $10 million (310 million baht).”
The survey was commissioned by BioCatch, which prevents fraud and financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior. Almost two-fifths (39%) of Thai respondents failed to rate their existing fraud controls as very effective, scoring them a 5 out of 10 or worse. More positively, while just 10% of those surveyed said their bank was actively upgrading its fraud defenses, 85% said it was at least exploring new solutions to deploy.
“Thailand is facing a level of coordinated fraud, scams, and inter-bank mule activity we simply haven’t seen before,” said Madee Santichaianan, Sales Account Director, Thailand APAC at BioCatch. “Instant transfers, remote-access scams, and criminal networks operating across borders have compressed the time we have to protect customers to just seconds. This survey shows what many of us feel every day: The risk is bigger than any single bank, and solving it will require earlier detection, stronger collaboration, and a more unified approach across the entire Thai financial ecosystem.”
Other key findings:
- Real-time payment risk: An overwhelmingly 92% of those surveyed recognize in instant payments a very high or moderate risk for fraud.
- Behavior valued: Thai banking leaders recognize behavioral solutions as highly valuable, with 76% of respondents indicating their bank is either actively using a behavioral solution or evaluating the possibility of incorporating one.
- Investigations take time: Fewer than a quarter (24%) of those surveyed said their bank fully investigates fraud cases within one day.
- Reputation over finances: Nearly three-fourths (73%) ranked the reputational risk of fraud and scams as a greater concern than any financial impact.
