BOT caps youth transfers after 70% rise in mule accounts

The Bank of Thailand will introduce age-based daily limits of between 3,000 and 10,000 baht on digital transfers and payments from accounts held by children and teenagers after the number of youth mule accounts rose by 70.3%.

The measures will apply to mobile-banking transactions from deposit accounts and to e-money accounts, with limits varying according to the customer’s age and account type.

Banks must complete implementation by September 2026, while e-money providers have until October.

Young account holders or their parents will be able to request higher limits where there is a genuine need, as the central bank seeks to protect customers without unnecessarily restricting ordinary transactions.

Youth mule accounts rise by 70.3%

Chayawadee Chai-anant, assistant governor for corporate relations and spokesperson for the Bank of Thailand, said data reviewed with law-enforcement agencies showed that criminal groups were increasingly using accounts belonging to children and teenagers.

The number of youth mule accounts increased from 3,371 in January 2025 to 5,741 in March 2026, a rise of 70.3%.

The accounts were linked to online cases involving total reported losses of more than 185 million baht, according to Thai Police Online data covering October 2025 to May 2026.

The central bank said some young people had been persuaded to open accounts or allow other people to use them without knowing that the accounts would later be used for financial crime.

Opening an account or allowing another person to use it in connection with an offence may carry penalties under the Emergency Decree on Measures for the Prevention and Suppression of Technology Crime B.E. 2566 (2023), as amended.

The restrictions were developed jointly by the Bank of Thailand, the Thai Bankers’ Association and e-money providers.

They are based on customer profiling and the typical transaction behaviour of different age groups, with the aim of reducing financial-crime risks and preventing young people from becoming involved in offences without fully understanding the consequences.

Limits vary by age and account type

The new daily limits for digital transfers and payments are:

• Aged 10 to under 12: e-money transactions capped at 3,000 baht a day. No specific limit has been set for mobile-banking transactions from deposit accounts held by children under 12.
• Aged 12 to under 15: e-money and mobile-banking transactions capped at 5,000 baht a day.
• Aged 15 to under 18: e-money and mobile-banking transactions capped at 10,000 baht a day.

For customers aged 10 to under 12, the measure will therefore apply only to e-money accounts.

Low-risk transactions will not count towards the limits. These include transfers between a customer’s own accounts within the same mobile application.

The Bank of Thailand said the limits were based on young customers’ actual usage patterns and were expected to leave more than 97% of customers unaffected.

It expects the restrictions to reduce opportunities for criminal groups to use youth accounts to receive or transfer illicit funds.

Higher limits available on request

Young customers or their parents may apply for a higher daily limit when their actual financial needs exceed the standard cap.

Requests may be submitted through:

• The mobile application of the bank or e-money provider
• A bank or service-provider branch
• A call centre

Banks and e-money providers will consider each application according to the customer’s genuine transaction needs.

Providers must notify customers before rollout

Financial service providers may begin introducing the measures immediately.

Banks must complete the rollout for deposit accounts by September 2026, while e-money providers must implement the restrictions by October.

Before the limits take effect, banks and e-money providers must notify affected customers in advance and provide channels for those seeking an increase.

The central bank also urged parents to explain the risks of opening an account for another person or allowing someone else to use a child’s account.

Young account holders could face legal consequences even when they did not directly commit the underlying crime, it warned.

The Bank of Thailand will continue monitoring changes in criminal behaviour and adjust its measures to keep pace with evolving forms of technology-related crime.