Thai Commerce Ministry Launches Five-Point Crackdown on 'Money Mules' and Nominee Firms
New regulations demand personal appearance for company registration, block fraud using State Welfare Card holders; Full enforcement by early 2026
- New regulations will require in-person appearances for company registration, particularly for state welfare card holders and registration agents, to verify identities and prevent fraud.
- The Department of Business Development (DBD) will screen registrants against lists of high-risk individuals and 13.4 million welfare card holders to block their use as nominees.
- The crackdown includes new systems to flag high-risk behaviors, such as multiple companies being registered to a single address, which will trigger enhanced scrutiny.
- Agents (e.g., lawyers, accountants) who handle registrations must now appear in person to sign before a DBD official, and violators will face prosecution and have their system access suspended.
New regulations require a personal appearance for company registration, blocking fraud by state welfare card holders; full enforcement is expected by early 2026.
Thailand’s Department of Business Development (DBD) has announced five stringent new measures aimed at blocking the illicit use of nominee shareholders and money mule accounts by criminal enterprises.
The regulatory push is a direct response to a rise in fraud, particularly schemes targeting low-income individuals, and is set to be fully implemented by the end of 2025.
Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director-general of the DBD, Ministry of Commerce, confirmed the measures will be submitted for discussion at the National Committee on Foreign Business Law Enforcement (NCFBLE) on 9 December.
Five Key Measures to Enhance Scrutiny
The measures are designed to tighten control at the point of business registration and involve enhanced data integration and personal verification:
Expanded High-Risk Verification: The DBD will expand its vetting of high-risk individuals (HR-03 list), having already identified 40 suspicious cases from a list of 90,000 names provided by collaborating agencies.
State Welfare Card Screening: The DBD is requesting access to the Ministry of Finance’s list of 13.4 million State Welfare Card holders. Individuals named on company registration forms will be required to personally appear and provide evidence of their financial status to prevent criminals from using or deceiving welfare recipients into acting as nominees.
Behavioural Risk Detection: New systems will flag high-risk behaviours, such as individuals registering or directing multiple companies from the same office address. New registrants must now appear in person, with scrutiny focused on single addresses housing five or more companies.
In-Person Agent Verification: To tackle the over 85% of registrations handled by agents (e.g., accountants and lawyers), the agent and the person certifying the signature must now personally appear and sign before a DBD official to verify their identities.
Suspension of Violating Users: The rights of the 80,000 registered system users who violate these new terms, particularly those in measure 4, will be suspended, and offenders will face prosecution and license revocation.
Poonpong stated that while some data checks, such as those involving welfare recipients, can start immediately, requirements for in-person appearance will undergo a 15-day public consultation period before becoming law.
Tackling National Crime at the Source
The director-general expressed confidence that implementing all five measures will significantly reduce the national problem of nominee and money mule accounts by "tackling them at the source."
The announcement follows an intensive two-month investigation which has already resulted in 72 nominee cases being forwarded for prosecution.
A further 448 large businesses—including numerous real estate firms that have seen substantial foreign investment—are currently undergoing in-depth investigation.
