Section 342: Aggravated fraud
Statutory text (Thai original)
ถ้าในการกระทำความผิดฐานฉ้อโกง ผู้กระทำ (๑) แสดงตนเป็นคนอื่น หรือ (๒) อาศัยความเบาปัญญาของผู้ถูกหลอกลวงซึ่งเป็นเด็ก หรืออาศัยความอ่อนแอแห่งจิตของผู้ถูกหลอกลวง ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินห้าปี หรือปรับไม่เกินหนึ่งแสนบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Where, in committing the offence of cheating and fraud, the offender:
(1) impersonates another person; or
(2) takes advantage of the lack of intelligence of the person deceived, being a child, or of the weakness of mind of the person deceived,the offender shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding five years, or a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand baht, or both.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 342 is an aggravated form of the base fraud offence under Section 341. It applies where the fraud is carried out by impersonating another person, or by exploiting a particularly vulnerable victim, namely a child whose feeble-mindedness is taken advantage of, or a person whose mental weakness is exploited. Establishing the offence requires proving the elements of Section 341 plus one of these aggravating circumstances. The impersonation limb frequently appears in identity-based scams, and it is also the element that separates ordinary fraud from public fraud committed by impersonation. The heavier penalty, up to five years, reflects the added culpability of deceit through a false identity or the targeting of the vulnerable.
Why this matters in practice
Exposure rises to five years compared with three years for basic fraud, so charging the aggravated form materially changes sentencing risk. As with the base offence, fraud under Section 342 falls within the compoundable range under Section 348, so a genuine settlement may end the case; however, if the same facts are charged as public fraud, that is a state offence and is not compoundable. A key line of defence is contesting the aggravating element itself, for example whether the accused genuinely impersonated another person or whether the victim's vulnerability was actually exploited. See our guide to fraud and scam laws in Thailand.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 89/2567 (2024)
Where unauthorised access to protected computer data, altering another's computer data, entering false data into a computer system, fraud by impersonation under Section 342 (1), forgery and the use of a forged document are all directed at the single aim of deceiving the victim into transferring the price of goods, they are one act breaching several laws under Section 90, not several offences under Section 91. Punishment then follows the heaviest provision, which here was section 9 of the Computer Crime Act B.E. 2550.
Although the charge set the acts out separately and asked for punishment under Section 91, and the defendant pleaded guilty to all of them, the Supreme Court held that he and his associates had a single aim: to deceive the third injured person into transferring the price of the goods ordered. The computer offences, the fraud by impersonation under Section 342 (1), the forgery and the use of the forged document were linked and formed one act breaching several laws under Section 90. Punishment was imposed under section 9 of the Computer Crime Act B.E. 2550 as the heaviest provision, not under Section 342 (1). The prosecution's argument that the sentence should have been heavier was not considered, since it had not been raised on appeal.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 4920/2567 (2024)
A person who provides a bank account that helps offenders benefit from a public fraud committed by impersonation can be liable as a supporter of that offence.
The court found the defendant's account was used to help offenders benefit before and during a joint public fraud by impersonation, making the defendant a supporter of the offence, which was charged with reference to the impersonation element in Section 342.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 72 Supreme Court decisions (1957 to 2025)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 37/2565 (2022)
- Decision 38/2565 (2022)
- Decision 4893-4895/2565 (2022)
- Decision 20/2546 (2003)
- Decision 3309/2543 (2000)
- Decision 3839/2526 (1983)
- Decision 115/2511 (1968)
- Decision 1230/2502 (1959)
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 341 67
- Section 83 47
- Section 91 39
- Section 90 34
- Section 78 34
- Section 268 30
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 makes fraud aggravated under Section 342?
Fraud becomes aggravated when it is committed by impersonating another person, or by exploiting the feeble-mindedness of a child victim or the mental weakness of the person deceived.
What is the penalty for aggravated fraud?
Section 342 sets imprisonment not exceeding five years, or a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand baht, or both, higher than basic fraud under Section 341.
Is aggravated fraud compoundable?
Yes. Section 348 makes the offences in the fraud chapter compoundable except public fraud under Section 343, so a Section 342 charge can be settled. But if the same facts are charged as public fraud under Section 343, that is a State offence and is not compoundable.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 342 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 342. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-342/ (accessed 21 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 342 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-342/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-342/"><p>Where, in committing the offence of cheating and fraud, the offender: (1) impersonates another person; or (2) takes advantage of the lack of intelligence of the person deceived, being a child, or of the weakness of mind of the person deceived, the offender shall be…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 342 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-342/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.