Nearly two-thirds say fraud attempts against their customers are increasing
BANGKOK (March 11, 2026) — 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 rated their existing fraud controls as ineffective, 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,” BioCatch Thailand Country Manager Madee Santichaianan said. “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 behavior-centric 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.
Download the report to view the complete results.
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About BioCatch:
BioCatch prevents fraud and financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior, continuously collecting more than 3,000 anonymized data points – keystroke and mouse activity, touch screen behavior, physical device attributes, and more – as people interact with their digital banking platforms. With these inputs, BioCatch's AI and machine-learning models reveal patterns in user behavior and provide device intelligence that, together, distinguish the criminal from the legitimate. The company’s Customer Innovation Board – an industry-led initiative in partnership with American Express, Barclays, Citi Ventures, HSBC, Macquarie Bank, National Australia Bank, and others – collaborates to pioneer innovative ways of leveraging customer relationships for improved fraud detection. Today, more than 30 of the world's largest 100 banks and 340 total financial institutions deploy BioCatch solutions, analyzing 17 billion user sessions per month and protecting more than 660 million people on more than 1.6 billion devices around the world from fraud and financial crime.
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PR contact:
Mac King
BioCatch director of global marketing communications
Mac.King@BioCatch.com