Warning: State Welfare Card Holders Beware of Street Vendors—Your Benefits May Be Fraudulently Used
Welfare cardholders are losing benefits to fraud when street vendors photograph their ID cards and PIN codes, then share the information with merchants in other provinces to drain their accounts.
Warning: State Welfare Card Holders Beware of Street Vendors—Your Benefits May Be Fraudulently Used. Never give your ID card or 6-digit PIN code to unreliable vendors or street cart operators.
On May 19, 2025, Thanachoke Rungthipanont, Deputy Director-General of the Bureau of the Royal Household and official spokesperson, revealed that the Bureau has received numerous complaints from welfare card holders unable to access their benefits because their card privileges were fraudulently used at merchants in other provinces—places they never visited.
Investigations uncovered that some registered welfare program merchants operating mobile carts in various areas have been accepting payment through the Bag application for Blue Flag stores and cooking gas discounts. They lure cardholders with promises of cheap goods or product exchanges like eggs and cooking oil. These fraudsters photograph ID cards, record the 6-digit PIN codes, then share this information with other Blue Flag and cooking gas merchants, who subsequently drain the welfare card balance in the following month, leaving legitimate cardholders unable to use their benefits.
When cardholders contact the State Welfare Card Call Center at 0-2109-2345 to investigate, they discover their benefits were used at merchants in provinces they never visited.
Therefore, welfare card holders must exercise extreme caution and absolutely never provide their ID card or 6-digit PIN code to unreliable vendors or street cart operators.
If your benefits have been fraudulently used, immediately change your 6-digit PIN code. You can do this yourself at Bangkok Bank ATMs. If you forgot your 6-digit PIN code, visit a Bangkok Bank branch to verify your identity and set a new code.
Cardholders can file complaints about Blue Flag stores fraudulently using their welfare benefits at the Internal Trade Department's hotline: 1569. For complaints about cooking gas vendors, contact the Department of Energy Business at 0-2794-4307 or 0-2794-4111. Provide the name and address of the merchant that fraudulently used your benefits. For further inquiries, call the Bureau of the Royal Household Call Center at 0-2270-6400 during business hours.
