The Thailand Consumers Council (TCC) has proposed six measures to build on the Bangkok Blueprint, including a right to reimbursement for victims of online fraud, an interim relief fund, and a government action plan to be completed within 90 days after the 2026 IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings.
The Thailand Consumers Council (TCC) has proposed six measures to build on the Bangkok Blueprint, including a right to reimbursement for victims of online fraud, an interim relief fund, and a government action plan to be completed within 90 days after the 2026 IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings.
On 15 October 2026, TCC stated the Bangkok Blueprint for Fraud-Resilient Financial Services, which was launched a day earlier at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group hosted by Thailand. TCC supports a coordinated, system-wide approach to digital financial fraud and has put forward six measures aimed at turning fraud prevention and consumer redress into practical and effective protections.
The statement notes that, as the statutory representative of consumers under the Establishment of the Consumer Organization Council Act B.E. 2562 (2019), TCC considers digital financial fraud to be a shared responsibility across advertising platforms, communications channels, financial institutions and relevant public authorities. Consumers who fall victim to fraud should not be held solely responsible for their losses simply because they initiated the transaction themselves. Public education must be accompanied by providers’ duties to prevent harm and provide redress.
The Bangkok Blueprint remains a framework that each country must further develop and put into practice. TCC therefore proposes six measures to make the process of assisting victims clearer, including which agencies are responsible, what evidence victims are expected to provide, who must reimburse losses, and how quickly redress must be provided.
1. Establish reimbursement rights and reduce the burden of proof on victims
TCC proposes that the law establish a right to reimbursement for qualifying fraudulent transactions, covering both transactions made without the victim’s authorization and transactions initiated by victims themselves as a result of deception or manipulation, such as being tricked into transferring money. Clear time limits should also be set for determining claims and making payment.
Victims should be required to provide only the evidence available to them. Service providers, meanwhile, must disclose relevant technical information and explain the reasons for any refusal, so that victims are not required to prove how systems operate when they have no access to those systems. An effective dispute-resolution mechanism must also be available, and victims should not have to wait for businesses to agree among themselves on how liability should be shared before receiving reimbursement.
2. Establish an interim relief fund while liability is being determined
TCC calls on the Government to urgently establish the legal basis and funding arrangements for an interim relief fund, with businesses contributing in proportion to their respective roles and risk exposure. The fund would provide assistance to victims whose losses affect their ability to meet essential living expenses while responsibility for the loss is still being determined.
Receiving assistance from the fund must not affect a victim’s right to claim any remaining damages. The fund must also be able to recover, from parties legally responsible, the amount it has paid. This is intended to ensure that victims or the public do not bear the full cost of failures by service providers.
3. Clearly define the duties of digital platforms, telecommunications providers and app stores
TCC proposes that the law impose preventive duties before harm occurs. Digital platforms must verify advertisers and sellers before allowing advertisements to be published or goods and services to be offered, with enhanced scrutiny for financial services and other activities carrying a high risk of fraud.
Platforms must retain advertising records for subsequent review, remove fraudulent advertisements, prevent them from being republished, and be held accountable where their acts or omissions contribute to consumer losses. Telecommunications providers and app stores must likewise have clear duties to prevent impersonation and the misuse of their services as channels for fraud. Multinational service providers must also maintain effective channels for accountability and cooperation that can operate in practice in Thailand.
4. Provide a single complaint channel with responsibility through to resolution
TCC proposes that victims be able to report a case through a single point of contact, use one case reference number, and have a designated party responsible for following the case through to resolution. Information from reporting centers should be linked with relevant authorities so that agencies can transfer information and evidence on behalf of victims, while providing direct updates on case progress and any entitlement to reimbursement.
Assistance and reimbursement should not depend on the outcome of criminal proceedings. Victims in cases involving cross-border transfers should be able to pursue their rights through a domestic channel. At the same time, good-faith users whose transactions or funds are erroneously suspended or frozen must have access to a prompt process for review, correction of information and remediation, subject to the legal conditions governing each type of suspension or freeze.
5. Detect high-risk transactions before losses occur
TCC proposes that financial service providers make the detection and prevention of high-risk transactions an integral part of their services. Measures should include monitoring unusual transactions, verifying payees, issuing warnings appropriate to the circumstances, and delaying transactions or conducting additional checks when a high level of risk is detected.
These measures must be capable of preventing or stopping losses in practice. They should not amount merely to presenting a warning for the consumer to acknowledge and then treating the provider as released from responsibility. Consumers should not have to pay additional fees to receive baseline fraud protection.
6. Prepare an action plan within 90 days and publish quarterly results
TCC calls on the Government to prepare an action plan within 90 days after the 2026 IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings. The plan should clearly identify the responsible agencies, the laws that need to be amended, how budgets will be allocated, and the timetable for implementation. TCC and representatives of fraud victims should also be involved in shaping the rules and monitoring progress.
Implementation results should be published every quarter, including the amounts actually received by victims, the time taken to make payments, reasons for rejected claims, and the impact of erroneous transaction suspensions. The IMF and the World Bank Group should also support minimum standards for consumer rights and joint evaluation with consumer organizations so that protections remain effective even when service providers or the movement of funds cross national borders.
The statement also notes that the Bangkok Blueprint, prepared by staff of the IMF and the World Bank Group, contains 12 key considerations under five pillars. These cover strategic and legal foundations, fraud mitigation across the full life cycle, the use of existing risk-mitigation and enforcement frameworks, domestic and cross-border cooperation, and consumer protection and resilience. TCC believes that the framework can help reduce harm to consumers in Thailand and around the world.
