Thailand’s Office of Insurance Commission (OIC) has revoked the life insurance agent licence of Ms Janket Thapboon, an agent of Thai Life Insurance Public Company Limited, after an investigation found she intentionally deceived policyholders into paying premiums to her and did not remit the money to the insurer. The case, which the OIC said it had been investigating before it circulated on social media, was reported as involving more than THB 100 million. The OIC found the agent persuaded customers to pay premiums in advance by offering a 15% premium discount or gold as an incentive, with an initial 12 victims identified. The regulator also cited a failure to appear to explain the facts or respond to allegations as non-compliance with an officer’s order under the Life Insurance Act, and said the conduct constituted offences under the Act, leading the Registrar to revoke the licence. The OIC has instructed officials to provide evidence to Thailand’s Economic Crime Suppression Division to pursue an insurance fraud case under the Life Insurance Act, with investigators in the process of issuing a summons. Supervisory actions have also been taken with the insurer, including instructions to assess impact, identify internal control weaknesses, remediate without affecting policyholder rights, and put in place prevention measures, while reiterating that insurers should require premiums to be paid directly to the company account and, where cash is collected via agents, be transferred to the insurer’s account by the next business day.

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