ATM Transfers To Gangsters 'Can Be Cancelled'

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ATM transfers 'can be cancelled'
By The Nation
2011-03-10

Thirty-nine financial institutions agreed yesterday to let customers duped into wiring money to gangsters via ATMs to contact their call centres to cancel the transfers.

Seehanat Prayoonrat, chief of the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), said after meeting with the institutions' representatives that the victims often realised they were fooled right after they had transferred the money, while the con artists would take 10-15 minutes to withdraw the money. If the banks were alerted and suspended the transfers in time, the gangs would have less chance of carrying out their criminal deeds, he said.
Police also would investigate how the perpetrators managed to obtain the victims' information.

Police said 205 victims were deceived by people falsely claiming to be AMLO officials, and 56 unwittingly sent Bt15 million to the impostors.

Bangkok Bank and Kasikornbank have reportedly seen the most such transfers, he said, adding that AMLO would interview the victims to get details for prevention and suppression measures so others would not fall prey to the same scams.