The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has issued a new set of measures, to be implemented by commercial banks, in an effort to deal with mobile banking scams, including biometric identity verification for transfers of more than 50,000 baht, a ban on the sending of SMSs containing URLs and daily limits on money transfers.
BoT Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput said today (Thursday) that the new measures are necessary in the wake of increased online banking scams, which have caused bank customers heavy losses and affected their confidence in digital banking.
One of the measures requires all commercial banks to stop sending short messages (SMS) or e-mails with links requesting their personal information, such as usernames, passwords or ID card numbers, said the BoT governor.
Another measure is for all commercial banks to limit mobile banking usernames for customers and the bank must notify their mobile banking users every time they undertake a transaction.
Banks are required to strengthen their identity verification through the use of biometrics, such facial recognition, when a customer wants to make online transfer of more than 50,000 baht or to increase the daily transfer limit to above 50,000 baht.
Banks are required to report any suspicious online transactions to the Anti-Money Laundering Office and to be equipped with a system that can detect suspicious transactions around the clock, so that they can immediately take action.
Additionally, Sethaput said that all commercial banks must have an emergency channel through which their customers can contact the bank when they suspect that their accounts have been breached by scammers.
He said that he expects all the measures introduced by the central bank to be implemented by commercial banks this month.
