More people could face frozen bank accounts as authorities widen investigations into transfers linked to mule accounts, in an effort to recover money for scam victims, the Bank of Thailand (BoT) has warned.

Numerous accounts had already been frozen as the Anti-Online Scam Operation Centre (AOC), together with commercial banks, intensified operations to trace and return stolen funds.

“Only accounts that received money from mule accounts have been frozen. The AOC and commercial banks are expanding their probe into financial transactions to retrieve funds connected with mule accounts and return as much money as possible to affected victims,” a BoT employee explained.

The Bank of Thailand has discussed the issue with the AOC and commercial banks, and they have tentatively agreed to adjust procedures for freezing and unfreezing accounts in order to reduce the impact on innocent account holders. 

Two issues have arisen: the first involved a technical error on Sept 1 when some banks failed to update end-of-day transactions, leaving some accounts showing outdated balances.

This was corrected the following day.

The second occurred after police ordered banks to freeze suspected accounts linked to scams.

In some cases, the amount to be frozen exceeded the actual balance, causing the system to show negative figures.

The banks were asked to clarify such cases directly with customers.

The BoT said customers can call its 1213 hotline for help if their problem was not resolved by their banks.