Section 337: Extortion
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดข่มขืนใจผู้อื่นให้ยอมให้หรือยอมจะให้ตนหรือผู้อื่นได้ประโยชน์ในลักษณะที่เป็นทรัพย์สิน โดยใช้กำลังประทุษร้าย หรือโดยขู่เข็ญว่าจะทำอันตรายต่อชีวิต ร่างกาย เสรีภาพ ชื่อเสียงหรือทรัพย์สินของผู้ถูกขู่เข็ญหรือของบุคคลที่สาม จนผู้ถูกข่มขืนใจยอมเช่นว่านั้น ผู้นั้นกระทำความผิดฐานกรรโชก ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินห้าปี และปรับไม่เกินหนึ่งแสนบาท ถ้าความผิดฐานกรรโชกได้กระทำโดย (๑) ขู่ว่าจะฆ่า ขู่ว่าจะทำร้ายร่างกายให้ผู้ถูกข่มขืนใจ หรือผู้อื่นให้ได้รับอันตรายสาหัส หรือขู่ว่าจะทำให้เกิดเพลิงไหม้แก่ทรัพย์ของผู้ถูกข่มขืนใจหรือผู้อื่น หรือ (๒) มีอาวุธติดตัวมาขู่เข็ญ ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่หกเดือนถึงเจ็ดปี และปรับตั้งแต่หนึ่งหมื่นบาทถึงหนึ่งแสนสี่หมื่นบาท หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever compels another person to give, or to agree to give, a benefit in the nature of property to himself or to another person, by violence or by threatening to injure the life, body, liberty, reputation or property of the person threatened or of a third person, so that the person compelled submits, commits the offence of extortion and shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand baht.
Where the offence of extortion is committed:
(1) by threatening to kill, to cause grievous bodily harm to the person compelled or to another person, or to set fire to the property of the person compelled or of another person; or
(2) while carrying a weapon with which to threaten,
the offender shall be liable to imprisonment from six months to seven years and a fine from ten thousand to one hundred and forty thousand baht.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Extortion under Section 337 sits in the chapter on extortion, blackmail, robbery and gang-robbery. Its elements are a threat to injure life, body, liberty, reputation or property of the victim or a third person, plus a resulting consent by the victim to give property or a benefit. The threat is the defining element: where there is no genuine coercive threat, the conduct does not amount to extortion. It is distinguished from robbery under Section 339, which requires the immediate use of, or threat to use, force to take property on the spot, whereas extortion works through a threat that induces the victim to hand over property or benefit. Blackmail under Section 338 is the special variant where the threat is to disclose a damaging secret.
Why this matters in practice
Exposure runs up to five years imprisonment plus a fine, and the statute uses "and" for the fine, so both can be imposed. A recurring defence, accepted by the courts, is that the alleged conduct was not in fact a threat: if the demand does not carry a coercive threat of harm, the complaint lacks an essential element and cannot stand. In practice the line between lawful hard bargaining or debt collection and criminal extortion turns on the presence and nature of the threat. Attempted extortion is also chargeable where the victim never yields. Anyone accused should preserve the exact wording of the alleged threat and its context. Learn more about criminal law in Thailand.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 3123/2564 (2021)
A genuine threat is an essential element of extortion. Where the accused's conduct is not a threat, the charge lacks the element of extortion under Section 337 paragraph one and the complaint is unlawful.
The court found the accused had not threatened the victim with prosecution, and the conduct was only to avoid inspection of the shop. Because the act was not a threat, the complaint lacked the essential element of extortion and was held unlawful.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 2966/2568 (2025)
Extortion under Section 337 must be distinguished from robbery under Section 339 on the facts, since the defence may contest whether taking property amounted to extortion rather than robbery.
The defendant argued that the conduct amounted only to extortion under Section 337, together with other offences, and not to robbery under Section 339. The decision illustrates how the two property offences are separated by whether the taking rested on a threat or on force used to seize property.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 159 Supreme Court decisions (1959 to 2025)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 3123/2564 (2021)
- Decision 3116/2558 (2015)
- Decision 12789/2556 (2013)
- Decision 2273/2556 (2013)
- Decision 22746/2555 (2012)
- Decision 2385-2387/2554 (2011)
- Decision 15718/2553 (2010)
- Decision 10843/2553 (2010)
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 83 90
- Section 91 65
- Section 90 49
- Section 78 43
- Section 80 40
- Section 148 33
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 penalty for extortion in Thailand?
Under Section 337, extortion carries imprisonment not exceeding five years and a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand baht.
What is the difference between extortion and robbery?
Extortion under Section 337 uses a threat to make the victim give property or a benefit, while robbery under Section 339 involves force or an immediate threat of force to take the property on the spot.
Is a demand for money always extortion?
No. The offence requires a threat to harm life, body, liberty, reputation or property. Where there is no coercive threat, the conduct is not extortion under Section 337.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 337 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 337. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-337/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 337 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-337/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-337/"><p>Whoever compels another person to give, or to agree to give, a benefit in the nature of property to himself or to another person, by violence or by threatening to injure the life, body, liberty, reputation or property of the person threatened or of a…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 337 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-337/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.