Nicha’s scam nightmare spurs security scare
Legal action against banks urged in stolen ID card saga, writes Wassayos Ngamkham
What happens when your ID card is lost? Previously, many people would just forget about it and acquire a new one in their own time. Yet the case of Nicha Kiartthanapaiboon, a 24-year-old creative officer who was jailed for three days after her ID card was stolen by a call centre gang and used for a scam, might spur a lot of people to guard their ID cards with more care.
Her case also raised questions on the security standards of commercial banks in handling and verifying customers’ personal information.
The drama started when Ms Nicha’s purse was stolen last October while she was riding on public transport from Nonthaburi to the Lak Song area of Bangkok’s Bang Khae district.
She called her banks to suspend her ATM cards and later applied for a new ID card. However, her ID card was later used by a call centre gang to open up to nine bank accounts with seven commercial banks. Police later found those accounts being used for receiving and transferring hundreds of thousands of baht.
On Dec 28, police issued an arrest warrant against Ms Nicha as she was suspected of being involved in the money transferring scam.
Intent on proving her innocence, Ms Nicha turned herself in to the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) on Jan 6.
The CSD charged her on the counts indicated in her arrest warrant and handed her over to Tak police for further investigation. She spent two nights behind bars and was released on bail a day after, on Jan 8. After walking out of jail, she went to lodge a complaint with the CSD seeking legal action against the seven banks.
On Jan 9, Ms Nicha and her older sister, Punyada Kokmas, 33, provided a video clip taken from a security camera of Krungthai Bank’s Lat Phrao branch.
The video, which became a crucial piece of evidence, showed a suspect wearing a surgical mask while using Ms Nicha’s ID card to open a new bank account.
The video clip raised questions as to how commercial banks deal with ID cards or customers. The Interior Ministry’s Department of Provincial Administration, which handles citizen ID cards, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with banks about collecting ID information, which can be used by banks to verify their customers.
If banks want further information, they must have a card-reading device or computer software which link to the ministry. The department had signed MoUs with 56 organisations, including 10 commercial banks. The database service has been provided since 2015.
Most Thai banks do not use this channel to verify their customers. Only foreign banks in Thailand use this system, Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda said.
“The system has been in place for a long time but you can find out how many Thai banks access it to verify customer identities,” Gen Anupong said.
A police investigation found her ID card had also been used to register four new mobile phone numbers at CentralPlaza WestGate, a matter which is now being investigated.
As well as Ms Nicha, two more people’s names were used by the call centre gang to receive over 1.3 million baht in money transfers, said Pol Gen Wirachai Songmetta, deputy national police chief in his capacity as spokesman for the Royal Thai Police.
Former Supreme Court judge Chuchart Srisaeng wrote on his Facebook page that Ms Nicha has every right to seek compensation from those banks. He suggested she use Section 425 of the Civil Code to gain
The bank has the right to reject any account application if a customer refuses to cooperate in verifying their identity. CHUCHART SRISAENG EX-SUPREME COURT JUDGE
compensation from the seven banks over the damage done to her for them issuing bank accounts in her name to criminals.
It doesn’t make any sense for one bank executive to claim that his bank cannot simply force a customer to take off his or her surgical mask.
“The bank has the right to reject any account application if a customer refuses to cooperate with the bank in verifying their identity,” Mr Chuchart wrote.
Mr Chuchart also raised questions on the police handling of the case.
There had been media reports saying police recorded in their case investigation file that Ms Nicha was arrested at her home, despite the fact that she turned herself in to the CSD authorities.
If these media reports are true, those police officers involved in recording such false information may later be probed for providing a false statement to the court, he said.
Police, however, did not come forward to clarify the allegations.