The Bank of Thailand has agreed to fast-track the procedures required to unlock frozen bank accounts of innocent customers, who had been erroneously suspected of having connections with scammers, within four hours of receiving their complaints, said Daranee Saeju, the central bank’s assistant governor for Payment Systems Policy and Financial Consumer Protection Group.
The central bank and relevant agencies, including commercial banks and the Cybercrime Investigation Bureau, held an urgent meeting today aimed at improving procedures regarding the freezing and unfreezing of suspect bank accounts, after many complaints were posted on social media platforms by innocent bank customers, mostly retailers, claiming that their accounts had been frozen without prior warning.
Daranee said innocent customers can file complaints to unlock their accounts by calling the 1441 hotline and pressing No 2. They will then have to provide their bank account numbers and ID card numbers to the phone operators.
She explained that the system will automatically assess the complainants’ information, make the decision and inform the complainants electronically at 11am, 3pm and 7pm on a daily basis.
For those whose accounts have been frozen for more than seven days, the unlocking process may take about a week and the affected customers need not file complaints via the hotline.
Daranee also said that the outcome of the meeting today will be used to update the procedures used in determining which bank accounts are regarded as suspected mule accounts. The three key outcomes are that:
· Customers will be notified that only the suspect amount of money will be frozen
· Only actual mule accounts will be frozen
· Frozen accounts of innocent customers will be unlocked quickly
