ตรวจสอบโดย ThaiLawOnline สำนักงานกฎหมายไทยที่ได้รับใบอนุญาตและดำเนินกิจการในประเทศไทยตั้งแต่ปี พ.ศ. 2549 ทนายความผู้รับผิดชอบสำนวน: วิชุดา อรรถเมธากุล, น.ม., ใบอนุญาตเนติบัณฑิตไทย เลขที่ 3149/2556.
อัปเดตล่าสุดเมื่อ 5 กันยายน 2569
Money laundering (การฟอกเงิน, fok ngoen; the enforcing agency is ปปง., อัมโล, the Anti-Money Laundering Office) is the offence under the Anti-Money Laundering Act B.E. 2542 (1999) of transferring, receiving, converting or concealing assets connected with a listed predicate offence in order to hide their origin. The Act does two separate things: it creates the crime, and it gives AMLO a civil power to freeze and forfeit assets to the state without a criminal conviction. Foreigners meet it most often through a frozen bank account after a scam transfer passed through their name.
สารบัญ
The offence, the predicate list and the penalty
Laundering only exists if there is a predicate offence. Section 3 of the Act lists them, and the list has grown to more than 20 categories: narcotics, human trafficking and sexual exploitation, public การฉ้อโกง and fraud by financial institution staff, corruption, extortion, customs evasion, terrorism, gambling, tax evasion above set thresholds, and transnational organised crime. Laundering the proceeds of an ordinary private fraud or a debt is not within the Act.
The criminal penalty under Section 60 is imprisonment of 1 to 10 years, a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 baht, or both, for an individual; a company is fined 200,000 to 1,000,000 baht, and its directors are liable unless they show they had no part in it. The Emergency Decree on Technology Crime of 2023 added a related offence for account mules: opening or lending a bank account or SIM card for use in crime carries up to 3 years and 300,000 baht.
AMLO powers and how foreigners get caught up
Banks, insurers, securities firms, land offices, gold shops and car dealers must identify customers, report cash transactions of 2 million baht or more, and report any suspicious transaction whatever its size. On a report, AMLO’s Transaction Committee can restrain a transaction for up to 10 working days and order assets seized or frozen for up to 90 days while it investigates. Its secretary-general can then ask the อัยการ to apply to the Civil Court for forfeiture to the state, and the burden shifts to the owner to prove the assets came from a lawful source.
A foreigner’s account is frozen most often because a scam victim’s money, or a mule chain, passed through it, or because a Thai bank cannot match the account’s activity to the visa and stated occupation. The common mistake is to ignore the AMLO letter: the owner has a short window, stated in the notice, to file an objection and evidence of source with the Transaction Committee or the Civil Court, and silence leads to forfeiture. Keep transfer records, sale contracts and tax returns that trace every large sum brought into Thailand.
Money laundering, the predicate crime and tax evasion compared
The predicate crime is the fraud, the trafficking or the drug sale; laundering is what is done with the proceeds afterwards, and both can be charged against the same person. A scam victim who unknowingly received and forwarded funds is not a launderer, because intent to conceal is an element, but the funds in the account are still liable to freezing and forfeiture. Tax evasion is a predicate offence only above the thresholds in the Revenue Code amendments of 2017, so an unpaid personal tax bill does not by itself bring AMLO into play; the tax evasion guide explains the overlap.
คำถามที่พบบ่อย
What is the penalty for money laundering in Thailand?
Under Section 60 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act an individual faces 1 to 10 years in prison, a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 baht, or both. A company faces a fine of 200,000 to 1,000,000 baht and its responsible directors can be prosecuted personally. Assets connected to the predicate offence can also be forfeited to the state in a separate civil proceeding, with or without a conviction.
Why has AMLO frozen my bank account in Thailand?
Usually because funds linked to a scam, gambling or another predicate offence passed through the account, or because a bank filed a suspicious transaction report. The Transaction Committee can freeze assets for up to 90 days while it investigates. The owner must file an objection with documents showing the lawful source of the money within the deadline in the AMLO notice, otherwise the funds can be forfeited.
Can a foreigner be charged with money laundering for receiving a scam transfer?
Not without intent. Laundering requires knowledge that the assets came from a predicate offence and an intention to conceal their origin. A person who was tricked into receiving and forwarding money is a victim or a witness, but the money in the account can still be frozen, and lending an account to others knowingly is a separate offence carrying up to 3 years.
ดูเพิ่มเติม: การฉ้อโกง, ผู้ได้รับการเสนอชื่อ, พระราชบัญญัติอาชญากรรมทางคอมพิวเตอร์, tax resident, and the guides การหลีกเลี่ยงภาษีและการฟอกเงินในประเทศไทย และ opening a bank account in Thailand.
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