Court Orders Thai Bank to Compensate Beauty Queen Charllotte

A Thai court has ordered Kasikornbank to jointly compensate Charllotte Austin, a renowned beauty queen and actress, after she lost over 4 million baht to scammers. The court determined that the second and third fund transfers totaling 2 million baht were abnormal transactions conducted after midnight.

Charllotte Austin became a victim of a call center fraud gang that impersonated cyber police officers, deceiving her into believing she was implicated in a money laundering case. She lost more than 4 million baht and was forced to remain on video call for 24 hours due to panic attacks.

Her attorney James posted that on July 8, 2025, at 1:00 PM, the civil court scheduled the verdict hearing in case 3955/2568, Miss Charllotte Company versus Kasikornbank. Charllotte's company sued the bank for breach of deposit contract concerning 4 million baht in damages.

Charllotte's company claimed she made three transfers totaling 4 million baht to fraudsters, constituting abnormal high-risk transactions that the bank failed to detect or warn about, resulting in her loss. The bank contested the claim, arguing the transactions were normal and that it had systems in place to detect and prevent abnormal transactions.

The court ruled that the first transfer of 2 million baht was a normal transaction the bank could not reasonably have identified as high-risk. However, the second and third transfers totaling 2 million baht were abnormal due to the after-midnight timing. Since Charllotte also bore some negligence for the 2 million baht loss, the court held both parties equally liable.

The court ordered the bank to pay Charllotte 1 million baht in compensation plus 5% annual interest from December 8, 2024, until full settlement, court costs based on the amount awarded, and 20,000 baht in attorney fees.