Section 145: Impersonating an official
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดแสดงตนเป็นเจ้าพนักงาน และกระทำการเป็นเจ้าพนักงาน โดยตนเองมิได้เป็นเจ้าพนักงานที่มีอำนาจกระทำการนั้น ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินหนึ่งปี หรือปรับไม่เกินสองหมื่นบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ เจ้าพนักงานผู้ใดได้รับคำสั่งมิให้ปฏิบัติการตามตำแหน่งหน้าที่ต่อไปแล้ว ยังฝ่าฝืนกระทำการใด ๆ ในตำแหน่งหน้าที่นั้น ต้องระวางโทษตามที่กำหนดไว้ในวรรคแรกดุจกัน หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever holds himself out as an official and acts as an official, without being an official having authority to do so, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding one year, or a fine not exceeding twenty thousand baht, or both.
An official who, having been ordered to cease performing the duties of his office, nevertheless performs any act in that office, shall be liable to the punishment provided in paragraph one.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
The first paragraph has two elements that must both be present: (1) holding oneself out as an official and (2) actually performing an act as an official, without having the authority. Merely claiming the title is not enough; there must be an act done in the assumed capacity. The second paragraph covers a real official who continues to exercise the functions of an office after being ordered to cease. The provision sits in the Chapter on Offences against Officials and often appears alongside property or fraud offences when the impersonation is a means to deceive a victim, for example pretending to be a police officer in order to enter premises or take property.
Why this matters in practice
The exposure under this section alone is modest, up to one year, but impersonating an official is rarely charged in isolation: it usually accompanies theft, extortion or fraud carrying much heavier penalties, and the courts treat those as separate or concurrent offences. Because the maximum term is one year, the limitation period is five years. This is a public offence, not compoundable. If you are facing a charge that bundles impersonation with a property offence, the heavier count usually drives the outcome, so Thai criminal law advice on the full set of charges matters more than the impersonation count.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
-
Supreme Court Judgment No. 1664/2565 (2022)
Falsely presenting oneself as an official in order to enter a dwelling and take property supports a charge under Section 145 alongside the theft; the court characterized the act as joint theft in a dwelling at night by deceiving that the offenders were officials, rather than armed robbery.
The court held the conduct was joint theft in a dwelling at night, committed by deceiving the victims into believing the offenders were officials and while carrying a firearm, and reclassified it away from armed robbery. The impersonation of officials was charged under Section 145 together with the theft counts.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 57 Supreme Court decisions (1959 to 2025)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 875/2568 (2025)
- Decision 246/2567 (2024)
- Decision 226/2567 (2024)
- Decision 2979/2566 (2023)
- Decision 2176/2554 (2011)
- Decision 2385-2387/2554 (2011)
- Decision 6390/2544 (2001)
- Decision 5096/2540 (1997)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
- Section 91 39
- Section 90 37
- Section 83 30
- Section 78 29
- Section 29 26
- Section 30 25
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
Is it enough just to claim to be a police officer?
No. Section 145 requires both holding oneself out as an official and actually performing an act in that capacity without authority.
What if impersonation is used to commit theft?
The impersonation under Section 145 is charged alongside the theft offence, and the heavier property offence normally governs the sentence.
What is the penalty under Section 145?
Imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to 20,000 baht, or both.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 145 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 145. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-145/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 145 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-145/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-145/"><p>Whoever holds himself out as an official and acts as an official, without being an official having authority to do so, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding one year, or a fine not exceeding twenty thousand baht, or both. An official who, having been…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 145 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-145/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.