Finance Ministry clarifies foreigner eligibility for Let’s Go Halves Plus
Online posts claiming foreign nationals could use the scheme prompted the Ministry of Finance to issue a clarification and restate the eligibility rules.
- The Ministry of Finance has confirmed that claims of foreigners being eligible for the ‘Let’s Go Halves Plus’ scheme are false.
- Eligibility for the scheme is strictly limited to Thai nationals.
- Participants must be at least 16 years old and possess a Thai national ID card.
- A mandatory identity verification process using the national ID card is required to prevent fraudulent claims and impersonation.
Wetang Phuangsup, spokesperson for the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES), reported the monitoring results and fake-news reports handled by the Anti-Fake News Centre Thailand (AFNC) on January 26.
AFNC reviewed a total of 159,929 messages.
Of these, 4,528 messages required verification.
The channel with the most leads was Social Listening (4,521 messages), followed by the Line Official channel (7 messages).
In total, 33 issues required verification, and 10 issues had already received verification results from the relevant agencies.
Top 7 most-discussed items
3 true items, 3 fake items, and 1 misleading item
- (Fake): Foreigners can fraudulently claim rights under the Let’s Go Halves Plus scheme
- (True): Tongue colour can indicate illness
- (True): Nipah virus is severe and has a higher fatality rate than Covid-19; there is no vaccine; it can spread from animals to humans and from person to person via bodily fluids
- (Misleading): The Ministry of Transport has ordered a 100% traffic closure under the Rama II expressway
- (Fake): Facebook account, Suwara Saelim, is legally recruiting fruit pickers to work in Australia through the Ministry of Labour
- (Fake): The Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has added a new contact channel with LINE ID: @010hfcw
- (True): During January 26–30, upper Thailand will become warmer by 1–2°C
For No. 1, the fake news claim that “foreigners can fraudulently claim rights under the Let’s Go Halves Plus scheme”, the DES Ministry coordinated with the Ministry of Finance to confirm that it is “fake news”.
This is because the Let’s Go Halves Plus scheme clearly sets out participant qualifications as follows:
- Must be a Thai national
- Must be 16 years old or above on the registration date
- Must have a Thai national ID card
- Must not be a holder of a state welfare card, based on the Ministry of Finance database as of 1 October 1, 2025
- Must not be a person whose rights were suspended by the FPO or who was required to repay funds under Let’s Go Halves Plus phases 1–5
In addition, entitled participants must complete identity verification using their national ID card via channels specified by Krungthai Bank Public Company Limited, to prevent impersonation (except for those who have previously completed ID-card verification under other government schemes/measures, or via Krungthai Bank channels).
Only then can they use the scheme entitlement through the Paotang application.
