Update log
- 4 November 2026: Added the statute box with Thai, English and French text and checked the page against the official text
You tap “confirm” on your banking app, and 31,000 baht disappears into a stranger’s account because one digit of the account number was wrong. It happens every day in Thailand, to Thais and to expats paying rent, sending money to a spouse, or settling a builder’s invoice. For years, banks routinely told the sender it was their problem: “we cannot reverse the transfer, contact the account holder yourself.” A recent Supreme Court decision, Dika No. 8557/2568, changes that conversation. The Court held that a bank must return money mistakenly transferred into a stranger’s account, where the funds had been frozen and the account holder never came forward, and that a bank cannot simply shrug and leave the victim to chase an unreachable stranger.
Table of Contents
This article explains what the Supreme Court decided, the legal rules behind mistaken transfers under the Thai Civil and Commercial Code, and the practical steps to take, in order, if you ever send money to the wrong account in Thailand.
Dika 8557/2568: the case in brief
The facts were painfully ordinary. In March 2020, a woman tried to transfer 31,000 baht from her bank account to her daughter. She mistyped a single digit of the account number. The money landed in the account of a Myanmar national who banked with the same bank, and to whom she had no connection of any kind. She reported the mistake the same day, the police issued an order freezing the 31,000 baht in that account, and she asked the bank to return her money. The bank refused, arguing it had no contract with her that required it to hand over money sitting in another customer’s account.
The trial court (sitting as a consumer case) ordered the bank to pay. The Court of Appeal reversed. The Supreme Court’s Consumer Cases Division restored the trial judgment: the bank had to return the 31,000 baht plus interest at 3% per year from the day after filing (the claim was filed on 7 June 2021) until payment.
The legal reasoning
The Supreme Court relied on several provisions of the Civil and Commercial Code (CCC):
- CCC Sections 657 and 665, a deposit of money with a bank is a contract of deposit, and the depositary must return the amount deposited. The money credited to the wrong account never truly became the recipient’s property in any meaningful sense; it was traceable to the sender’s mistake.
- CCC Section 672, with money deposits, the bank need not return the identical banknotes, only the equivalent amount, which is why tracing the value of the mistaken credit matters rather than specific notes.
- CCC Section 1336, an owner has the right to follow and recover their property from a person who has no right to retain it. The mistaken transfer did not give the account holder any lawful claim to the funds.
Because the dispute was heard as a consumer case, the Court also invoked Section 12 of the Consumer Case Procedure Act B.E. 2551 (2008), which requires a business operator to act in good faith and in line with fair commercial standards. A bank, a professional custodian of money and a business the public is required to trust, cannot hide behind formalities when it knows funds were credited by an obvious keying error into an account already frozen by the police at the sender’s report. The commercially honest response is to verify the claim and return the money, not to force a consumer into years of litigation against a foreign account holder who cannot be found.
The law behind this page
English
Section 1336
An owner can use, dispose of, and take the income from their property, and can demand its return from anyone holding it without right. This is the bedrock right of ownership in Thai property law.
Full text
Within the limits of the law, the owner of property has the right to use and dispose of his property and to acquire its fruits; he has the right to follow and recover his property from any person who has no right to retain it, and the right to prevent any unlawful interference with such property.
ThaiLawOnline translation
Section 406
English translation of this section is being verified. The Thai text is authoritative.
Section 419
English translation of this section is being verified. The Thai text is authoritative.
Section 665
Full text
The depositary must return the property deposited to the depositor, or to the person in whose name it was deposited, or to the person he has been lawfully directed to return it to. Where the depositor has died, the property must be returned to his heirs.
ThaiLawOnline translation
Section 672
Full text
Where money is deposited, it is presumed that the depositary is not bound to return the identical money deposited, but must return the same amount. The depositary may use the money deposited, but must return the same amount even if the money deposited has been lost by force majeure.
ThaiLawOnline translation
Section 12 Consumer Case Procedure Act B.E. 2551
Full text
In exercising its rights and in performing its obligations, a business operator must act in good faith, having regard to appropriate commercial standards under a fair business system.
ThaiLawOnline translation
Section 352
Misappropriation is committed by a person who already holds property belonging to another, or jointly owned with another, and dishonestly takes it for himself or a third party. The punishment is imprisonment up to three years, a fine up to sixty thousand baht, or both, and only one half of that where the property came into the offender's hands because someone delivered it to him by mistake, or where it is lost property that he found.
Full text
Whoever, being in possession of property belonging to another person, or of which another person is a co-owner, dishonestly converts that property to himself or to a third person, commits the offence of misappropriation and shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years, or a fine not exceeding sixty thousand baht, or both. If the property came into the possession of the offender because another person delivered it by mistake of any kind, or if it is lost property which the offender has found, the offender shall be liable to only one half of that punishment.
ThaiLawOnline translation
ไทย
มาตรา 1336
ข้อความเต็ม
ภายในบังคับแห่งกฎหมาย เจ้าของทรัพย์สินมีสิทธิใช้สอยและจำหน่ายทรัพย์สินของตนและได้ซึ่งดอกผลแห่งทรัพย์สินนั้น กับทั้งมีสิทธิติดตามและเอาคืนซึ่งทรัพย์สินของตนจากบุคคลผู้ไม่มีสิทธิจะยึดถือไว้ และมีสิทธิขัดขวางมิให้ผู้อื่นสอดเข้าเกี่ยวข้องกับทรัพย์สินนั้นโดยมิชอบด้วยกฎหมาย
ตรงตามข้อความในราชกิจจานุเบกษา / สำนักงานคณะกรรมการกฤษฎีกา (Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State)
มาตรา 406
ข้อความเต็ม
บุคคลใดได้มาซึ่งทรัพย์สิ่งใดเพราะการที่บุคคลอีกคนหนึ่งกระทำเพื่อชำระหนี้ก็ดี หรือได้มาด้วยประการอื่นก็ดี โดยปราศจากมูลอันจะอ้างกฎหมายได้ และเป็นทางให้บุคคลอีกคนหนึ่งนั้นเสียเปรียบไซร้ ท่านว่าบุคคลนั้นจำต้องคืนทรัพย์ให้แก่เขา อนึ่ง การรับสภาพหนี้สินว่ามีอยู่หรือหาไม่นั้น ท่านก็ให้ถือว่าเป็นการกระทำเพื่อชำระหนี้ด้วยบทบัญญัติอันนี้ท่านให้ใช้บังคับตลอดถึงกรณีที่ได้ทรัพย์มาเพราะเหตุอย่างใดอย่างหนึ่งซึ่งมิได้มีได้เป็นขึ้น หรือเป็นเหตุที่ได้สิ้นสุดไปเสียก่อนแล้วนั้นด้วย
ตรงตามข้อความในราชกิจจานุเบกษา / สำนักงานคณะกรรมการกฤษฎีกา (Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State)
มาตรา 419
ข้อความเต็ม
ในเรื่องลาภมิควรได้นั้น ท่านห้ามมิให้ฟ้องคดีเมื่อพ้นกำหนดปีหนึ่งนับแต่เวลาที่ฝ่ายผู้เสียหายรู้ว่าตนมีสิทธิเรียกคืน หรือเมื่อพ้นสิบปีนับแต่เวลาที่สิทธินั้นได้มีขึ้น
ตรงตามข้อความในราชกิจจานุเบกษา / สำนักงานคณะกรรมการกฤษฎีกา (Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State)
มาตรา 665
ข้อความเต็ม
ผู้รับฝากจำต้องคืนทรัพย์สินซึ่งรับฝากไว้นั้นให้แก่ผู้ฝาก หรือทรัพย์สินนั้นฝากในนามของผู้ใด คืนให้แก่ผู้นั้น หรือผู้รับฝากได้รับคำสั่งโดยชอบให้คืนทรัพย์สินนั้นไปแก่ผู้ใด คืนให้แก่ผู้นั้นแต่หากผู้ฝากทรัพย์ตาย ท่านให้คืนทรัพย์สินนั้นให้แก่ทายาท
ตรงตามข้อความในราชกิจจานุเบกษา / สำนักงานคณะกรรมการกฤษฎีกา (Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State)
มาตรา 672
ข้อความเต็ม
ถ้าฝากเงิน ท่านให้สันนิษฐานไว้ก่อนว่าผู้รับฝากไม่พึงต้องส่งคืนเป็นเงินทองตราอันเดียวกันกับที่ฝาก แต่จะต้องคืนเงินให้ครบจำนวนอนึ่ง ผู้รับฝากจะเอาเงินซึ่งฝากนั้นออกใช้ก็ได้ แต่หากจำต้องคืนเงินให้ครบจำนวนเท่านั้น แม้ว่าเงินซึ่งฝากนั้นจะได้สูญหายไปด้วยเหตุสุดวิสัยก็ตาม ผู้รับฝากก็จำต้องคืนเงินเป็นจำนวนดังว่านั้น
ตรงตามข้อความในราชกิจจานุเบกษา / สำนักงานคณะกรรมการกฤษฎีกา (Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State)
มาตรา 12 พระราชบัญญัติวิธีพิจารณาคดีผู้บริโภค พ.ศ. 2551
ข้อความเต็ม
ในการใช้สิทธิแห่งตนก็ดี ในการชำระหนี้ก็ดี ผู้ประกอบธุรกิจต้องกระทำด้วยความสุจริตโดยคำนึงถึงมาตรฐานทางการค้าที่เหมาะสมภายใต้ระบบธุรกิจที่เป็นธรรม
ตรงตามข้อความในราชกิจจานุเบกษา / สำนักงานคณะกรรมการกฤษฎีกา (Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State)
มาตรา 352
ข้อความเต็ม
ผู้ใดครอบครองทรัพย์ซึ่งเป็นของผู้อื่น หรือซึ่งผู้อื่นเป็นเจ้าของรวมอยู่ด้วย เบียดบังเอาทรัพย์นั้นเป็นของตนหรือบุคคลที่สามโดยทุจริต ผู้นั้นกระทำความผิดฐานยักยอก ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินสามปี หรือปรับไม่เกินหกหมื่นบาทหรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ ถ้าทรัพย์นั้นได้ตกมาอยู่ในความครอบครองของผู้กระทำความผิด เพราะผู้อื่นส่งมอบให้โดยสำคัญผิดไปด้วยประการใด หรือเป็นทรัพย์สินหายซึ่งผู้กระทำความผิดเก็บได้ ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษแต่เพียงกึ่งหนึ่ง หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
ตรงตามข้อความในราชกิจจานุเบกษา / สำนักงานคณะกรรมการกฤษฎีกา (Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State)
Français
Article 1336
Sous réserve de la loi, le propriétaire a le droit d'user et de disposer de son bien et d'en percevoir les fruits, de le revendiquer et de le reprendre à toute personne qui n'a pas le droit de le détenir, et d'empêcher toute ingérence illégale d'autrui dans ce bien.
résumé non officiel
Article 406
Quiconque reçoit un bien par la prestation d'autrui en exécution d'une obligation, ou de toute autre manière, sans cause juridique et au détriment de cette autre personne, est tenu de le lui restituer. La reconnaissance de l'existence ou de l'inexistence d'une dette est assimilée à une prestation en exécution d'une obligation. La règle s'applique aussi lorsque le bien a été reçu en raison d'une cause qui ne s'est pas réalisée ou qui a déjà cessé d'exister.
résumé non officiel
Article 419
L'action en enrichissement sans cause se prescrit par un an à compter du jour où la partie appauvrie a connu son droit à restitution, ou par dix ans à compter de la naissance de ce droit.
résumé non officiel
Article 665
Le dépositaire doit restituer le bien déposé au déposant, ou à la personne au nom de laquelle le dépôt a été fait, ou à la personne à qui il a reçu l'ordre régulier de le restituer. Si le déposant décède, le bien est restitué à ses héritiers.
résumé non officiel
Article 672
En cas de dépôt d'argent, le dépositaire est présumé ne pas devoir restituer les mêmes espèces, mais seulement une somme équivalente. Il peut utiliser l'argent déposé, mais doit alors restituer la même somme, même si l'argent déposé a été perdu par force majeure.
résumé non officiel
Article 12 Consumer Case Procedure Act B.E. 2551
Dans l'exercice de ses droits comme dans l'exécution de ses obligations, le professionnel doit agir de bonne foi, en tenant compte des normes commerciales appropriées dans un système d'affaires équitable.
résumé non officiel
Article 352
Quiconque, ayant en sa possession un bien appartenant à autrui ou dont autrui est copropriétaire, se l'approprie frauduleusement pour lui-même ou pour un tiers commet un abus de confiance (détournement), puni d'un emprisonnement de trois ans au plus, d'une amende de soixante mille bahts au plus, ou des deux. Si le bien est parvenu en sa possession parce qu'autrui le lui a remis par erreur de quelque manière que ce soit, ou s'il s'agit d'un bien perdu qu'il a trouvé, la peine est réduite de moitié.
résumé non officiel
Sources
- Civil and Commercial Code, Office of the Council of State, retrieved 31 October 2026
- Consumer Case Procedure Act B.E. 2551, retrieved 4 November 2026
- Penal Code, Office of the Council of State, retrieved 31 October 2026
What Thai law says about money sent to the wrong account
Three sets of rules interact in a mistaken-transfer case:
| Legal basis | Who you claim against | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Undue enrichment, CCC Sections 406 and following | The person who received the money | The recipient must return money received without legal ground. Keeping or spending money you know is not yours can also amount to a criminal offence. |
| Owner’s right to follow property, CCC Section 1336 | Whoever holds the funds without right (as applied in Dika 8557/2568, the bank) | Recovery of the funds themselves, without a limitation period based on undue enrichment rules. |
| Consumer Case Procedure Act B.E. 2551, Section 12 | The bank, in consumer litigation | Banks must act in good faith and to professional standards; consumer cases are faster and low-cost for the claimant. |
Before Dika 8557/2568, the practical weakness was always enforcement: the recipient may be unreachable, abroad, or a money mule with an empty account by the time you sue. The significance of this decision is that, in the right circumstances, a clear mistake, a prompt report, funds still in the account and frozen, the bank itself can be ordered to return the money. That is a claim against a defendant who can always pay.
Step-by-step: what to do if you transferred money to the wrong account
1. Contact your bank immediately
Call your bank’s hotline the moment you notice the error, then follow up at a branch with your transfer slip or app screenshot. Under Bank of Thailand guidance, your bank must coordinate with the receiving bank to contact the unintended recipient and request a return. If the recipient consents, the money comes back without litigation, this resolves a large share of genuine accidents.
2. Report to the police
If the recipient refuses, cannot be contacted, or the account looks suspicious (newly opened, linked to scam reports), file a police report at once. A police report was decisive in Dika 8557/2568: it triggered the freeze that kept the money in the account. If the recipient knowingly keeps money that is not theirs, that can support criminal charges, which adds real pressure to settle.
3. Send a formal demand letter
A lawyer’s demand letter to the recipient (and to the bank, where the funds are frozen) citing CCC Sections 406 and 1336 often produces a return without a court case. This is the same first step we use in ordinary debt collection in Thailand.
4. Sue, as a consumer case where possible
If demand fails, a claim can be filed against the recipient for undue enrichment, and, following Dika 8557/2568, against the bank where it has failed to act in good faith on a clear, documented mistake. Consumer cases benefit from simplified procedure and no court fees for the consumer at filing. See our guide to civil litigation in Thailand for how Thai court proceedings actually unfold.
Why this matters for expats
Expats are over-represented in mistaken-transfer problems for mundane reasons: unfamiliar account-number formats, Thai-language banking apps, frequent large one-off transfers (deposits on condos, sinsod, car purchases), and heavy use of PromptPay identifiers they did not set up themselves. Worse, wrong-account cases in Thailand increasingly overlap with scam cases, and, as in Dika 8557/2568, the recipient is often a stranger to the sender and never came forward to claim the money. If you were induced to transfer money by deception rather than by your own typing error, different and additional remedies apply, see our guide to fraud and scam laws in Thailand.
Two practical lessons from the judgment stand out. First, speed is everything: the plaintiff won because she reported the error immediately and the funds were frozen before they could be withdrawn. Second, paper the file: transfer slips, the police report, and every communication with the bank became the evidence that carried the case through three levels of court.
Frequently asked questions
Can the bank simply reverse a wrong transfer?
No. Once a transfer clears, the bank cannot unilaterally debit the recipient’s account without consent or a court order. That is precisely why Dika 8557/2568 matters: it defines when the bank must nonetheless return the money to the sender, particularly where the funds are frozen and the mistake is documented.
What if the recipient has already withdrawn the money?
Your claim then lies against the recipient personally for undue enrichment under CCC Section 406, and knowingly keeping mistaken funds may expose them to criminal liability. Recovery depends on identifying them and on their assets, another reason to report and freeze quickly.
How long do I have to claim?
An undue enrichment claim must generally be brought within one year from when you knew you had a right to recover the money, and no later than ten years from when that right arose (CCC Section 419). A claim following your own property under CCC Section 1336 is not subject to that short prescription. Get advice early rather than testing the boundaries.
Does this apply to PromptPay and app transfers?
Yes. The legal analysis is the same whether the transfer went through a branch, an ATM, PromptPay, or a mobile app. App transfers actually help you, because the confirmation screens and history give instant documentary proof of the mistake.
What did the sender actually recover in Dika 8557/2568?
The full 31,000 baht plus interest at 3% per year from the day after the case was filed until payment, paid by the bank.
I’m a foreigner, can I use the consumer courts?
Yes. Consumer case procedure protects any consumer dealing with a business operator in Thailand, regardless of nationality. Proceedings are in Thai, so you will want a lawyer; a short online consultation with a Thai lawyer is usually enough to assess whether your case fits the Dika 8557/2568 pattern.
This article was written and reviewed by Sébastien Brousseau, LL.B., B.Sc., who has been based in Thailand since 2004 and has run ThaiLawOnline since 2006. If you have sent money to the wrong account, or a bank is refusing to help you recover a mistaken or fraud-induced transfer, contact ThaiLawOnline for practical, English-language assistance from Thai lawyers who handle these claims regularly.
Last reviewed: 7 September 2026. Dika 8557/2568 was read in Thai, to its disposition, and three corrections were made. The judgment supports almost everything this page says of it: 31,000 baht transferred on 17 March 2020 to the plaintiff’s daughter, one mistyped digit, a Myanmar national as the unintended recipient, an immediate police report and a police freeze order served on the bank, interest at 3 per cent a year running from the day after filing, the Court of First Instance for the plaintiff, the Court of Appeal reversing and the Supreme Court’s Consumer Cases Division reversing back, and Civil and Commercial Code sections 657, 665 and 672 leading to section 1336 as the decisive provision. What the judgment does not say is that the recipient’s account had been opened on the day of the transfer. It records only that he banked with the same bank; the words about that day belong to the plaintiff going to the police. That detail, and the inference drawn from it twice more, have been replaced by what the Court did find: no legal relationship between sender and recipient was shown, the money was already frozen, and the bank should by appropriate commercial standards have asked the account holder to identify himself or object rather than leave a consumer to chase the money alone. Not verified: the citation of section 12 of the Consumer Case Procedure Act. The judgment reasons in that Act’s language but does not print the section number, and the Act is not in our statute library, so it was neither confirmed nor refuted then. Confirmed on 6 October 2026 against the Act’s consolidated Thai text: section 12 requires a business operator, in exercising its rights and performing its obligations, to act in good faith with regard to appropriate commercial standards under a fair business system. Sections 406 and 419, and the point that a section 1336 claim is not subject to the short undue-enrichment prescription, were checked against the Code by an earlier review and are unchanged.
Disclaimer: this article is general information about Thai law, not legal advice. Every case turns on its facts; consult a lawyer about your specific situation.
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