Section 241: Altering currency to inflate its apparent value
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดแปลงเงินตรา ไม่ว่าจะเป็นเหรียญกระษาปณ์ ธนบัตรหรือสิ่งอื่นใด ซึ่งรัฐบาลออกใช้หรือให้อำนาจให้ออกใช้ หรือแปลงพันธบัตรรัฐบาล หรือใบสำคัญสำหรับรับดอกเบี้ยพันธบัตรนั้น ๆ ให้ผิดไปจากเดิม เพื่อให้ผู้อื่นเชื่อว่ามีมูลค่าสูงกว่าจริง ผู้นั้นกระทำความผิดฐานแปลงเงินตรา ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตลอดชีวิต หรือจำคุกตั้งแต่ห้าปีถึงยี่สิบปี และปรับตั้งแต่หนึ่งแสนบาทถึงสี่แสนบาท หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever alters currency, whether a coin, a banknote, or anything else which the government issues or authorises to be issued, or alters a government bond or a coupon for interest on such a bond, so that it differs from the original, in order to make another person believe that it has a value higher than its true value, commits the offence of altering currency and shall be liable to imprisonment for life, or to imprisonment from five years to twenty years and a fine from one hundred thousand baht to four hundred thousand baht.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
This section covers altering, as opposed to counterfeiting, genuine currency: the offender starts with real money and changes it so that it differs from the genuine, typically to raise its apparent denomination. It is distinct from Section 240, which covers making counterfeit currency from scratch, and carries a somewhat lower penalty of one to fifteen years with a fine. The offence sits within the graded currency scheme, alongside importing under Section 242, possession for circulation under Section 243, and passing later-discovered counterfeits under Section 244. Foreign currency is dealt with separately under Section 247.
Why this matters in practice
Exposure is imprisonment for life, or five to twenty years with a fine of 100,000 to 400,000 baht, so this is a serious offence and not a technical one. The dividing line from counterfeiting under Section 240 matters: altering starts from genuine currency and changes it so that it appears worth more, while counterfeiting produces a fake outright, and Section 240 carries life or ten to twenty years with a fine of 200,000 to 400,000 baht. Note also Section 248: where the person who altered the currency also commits another offence in the chapter in relation to what they altered, they are punished under Section 241 alone. Holding altered currency in order to put it into use is Section 244, and passing it on after discovering it is Section 245.
Cited in 6 Supreme Court decisions (1978 to 2010)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 1472/2550 (2007)
- Decision 6126/2540 (1997)
- Decision 553/2536 (1993)
- Decision 2045/2553 (2010)
- Decision 92/2521 (1978)
- Decision 307/2536 (1993)
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 240 4
- Section 244 4
- Section 91 4
- Section 78 4
- Section 248 3
- Section 247 3
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
What is the difference between Sections 240 and 241?
Section 240 covers counterfeiting currency, making a fake outright, and carries life imprisonment, or ten to twenty years and a fine of 200,000 to 400,000 baht. Section 241 covers altering genuine currency so that it appears worth more, and carries life imprisonment, or five to twenty years and a fine of 100,000 to 400,000 baht.
What is the penalty for altering currency in Thailand?
Under Section 241, imprisonment for life, or from five to twenty years together with a fine from 100,000 to 400,000 baht.
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 241 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 241. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-241/ (accessed 21 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 241 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-241/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-241/"><p>Whoever alters currency, whether a coin, a banknote, or anything else which the government issues or authorises to be issued, or alters a government bond or a coupon for interest on such a bond, so that it differs from the original, in order to make…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 241 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-241/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.