Thai Buddhist amulets draw China’s anxious youth — and laundering networks

(By Caixin journalist Wang Xiaoqing)

Young Chinese facing a bruising job market, income anxiety, romantic setbacks and difficult odds of starting a business are looking for quick ways to improve their fortunes.

That search has helped turn Thai Buddhist amulets — once largely folk religious tokens in Thailand’s Theravada Buddhist tradition — into a growing obsession among young people in China. 

But Thailand’s Immigration Bureau recently warned that the booming cross-border trade in amulets is being exploited by Chinese grey market capital networks as a money laundering channel. 

Proceeds from online gambling, telecom fraud and drug trafficking are being disguised as legitimate business revenue through amulet sales, sham auctions, temple space leases and peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transfers.

Choengron Rimpadee, deputy commissioner and spokesman for Thailand’s Immigration Bureau, told the Bangkok Post that legitimate dealers and believers should remain vigilant, verify customers’ identities and use formal bank channels for transactions. They should not hold assets for others or act as business agents on their behalf, he said.

Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office, Central Investigation Bureau, cyberpolice, Department of Business Development, Revenue Department and customs authorities have launched a joint crackdown.

2494 and ‘thang samor’

“How much did you pay to form an affinity with your 2494?” one social-media user, Xiao Lu, asked another collector, Xiao Wen.

“Thang samor. 30,000 RMB (US$4,437),” came the reply.

“2494” refers to a year in the Buddhist calendar. “Thang samor” is a type of amulet depicting a Buddha figure on a base with three tiers. “Forming an affinity” is the euphemism buyers use for paying to acquire an amulet.

On social media and e-commerce platforms including Douyin, Taobao, Xiaohongshu, X and WeChat, users routinely share stories about collecting and wearing amulets. 

Newcomers anxiously ask whether an amulet bought outside a Thai temple is a mass-produced commercial trinket or an authentic temple-made piece. More committed believers debate the purported benefits of different amulets: wealth, romance or career advancement.

The amulet trade also includes a category known as yin pai, or “dark amulets”. These are generally not made by temple monks but by folk ritual specialists known as ajarns. Their materials and consecration rituals differ sharply from those used for temple-sanctioned amulets. Some are rumoured to incorporate grave soil, cremation ashes or other unusual materials.

Merchants often promote dark amulets as faster-acting, emphasising unexpected wealth, social connections and shortcuts to career success. 

Anxious youth

Chinese demand has turned Buddhist amulets into a business built around spiritual consumption.

Xiao Qi, an amulet salesperson in Shanghai, said she is actively marketing one amulet to younger customers. Its purported powers: improving personal connections and financial luck, attracting customers and helping wearers close deals or meet sales targets.

Many young Chinese are struggling with uncertain employment prospects and unstable income.

China’s Education Ministry said in November 2025 that the class of 2026 would include 12.7 million college graduates, continuing a multiyear run of graduating classes above 10 million. Competition has intensified further with unemployed graduates from prior years and returning overseas students entering the job market.

At the same time, flexible employment is expanding, with many young people taking part-time jobs, freelancing or accepting online gig work. They are adjusting salary expectations downward even as living costs continue to erode their bank balances.

Thai authorities have taken note of the business’s appeal to Chinese youth. Rimpadee said many young Chinese amulet buyers face heavy social and economic pressure, leading some to seek spiritual support to improve their prospects in love, wealth and career development.

Exploitable vulnerabilities

Buddhist amulets began as small, portable Buddha images meant to remind the wearer to act with kindness and examine one’s conscience. “Buddhist amulets are part of Thailand’s cultural heritage and faith. They should not become tools for concealing criminal activity,” Rimpadee said.

Unlike gold, stocks or real estate, amulets and other sacred objects often have no fixed market price, he said. Their value depends on scarcity, reputation, history, craftsmanship and personal belief. “That makes them difficult to value objectively.”

Investigators say this creates four exploitable vulnerabilities.

First, valuation is difficult. A talisman tube worth only a few thousand Thai baht (about US$85) can be marketed as a rare object worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of baht.

Second, traceability is poor. Transactions are often completed in cash, cryptocurrency or informal payment systems that are difficult to monitor.

Third, prices can be manipulated. Criminal networks can invent stories around an item, stage auctions or use related parties to inflate its price.

Fourth, shell companies can provide cover. Amulet shops and leasing centres can serve as channels to move money and assets across borders while presenting themselves as legitimate businesses.

An ideal tool for laundering money 

The market has long operated in private and niche circles. Such buyers are often willing to pay more while remaining discreet, resisting real-name bank transfers and favouring cash, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transfers or intermediaries who collect funds on their behalf. That tendency to avoid banking records makes the trade more vulnerable to laundering.

Pricing for dark amulets also lacks broad consensus. Non-mass-produced dark amulets sell for about 50,000 to 300,000 Thai baht. So-called top-tier pieces marketed as containing special materials or possessing exceptional power can be privately quoted at several million baht.

Amulet laundering is possible largely because the market has no unified pricing standards, while the certification system itself is part of a sizable commercial ecosystem.

Samakom, the Bangkok-based Thai Buddha Image Admiration Association, is Thailand’s leading amulet-authentication group. Its expert review process is regarded as among the industry’s most rigorous.

Thaprachan is another highly respected authentication organisation, particularly in Bangkok’s physical market. Collectors often seek approval from both groups for valuable antique amulets.

Certification can substantially increase an amulet’s price by giving buyers greater confidence in its authenticity. But Thailand has no unified licensing system for appraisers, leaving room for less established groups to offer competing certifications.

That has allowed some highly commercial certification businesses to manipulate standards and elevate the prices of particular amulets, industry figures say.

Such practices give laundering networks room to operate. Criminals can select particular certification organisations, construct a narrative supporting an inflated price, package a low-value item as an expensive treasure, and then buy and sell it among themselves to clean funds.

Grey market tactics

Thai authorities are scrutinising amulet-related laundering. According to the Bangkok Post, officials have identified three principal methods.

The first is the sham auction, a practice authorities are monitoring. A low-value amulet or other sacred object is presented as an exceptionally rare item, while members of the same criminal network bid against one another until the price reaches millions of baht.

“Once payment is made and the item changes hands, the funds are immediately recorded as legitimate sales revenue, even though the money has merely moved from one member of the same criminal network to another,” Rimpadee said.

The second is the “temple leasing” model. Grey market groups use Thai nominees to rent commercial space at temples, then sell amulets or other sacred items to visiting tour groups at artificially inflated prices. Large cash flows are then presented as revenue from cultural tourism and religious commerce.

In August 2023, Thai police disclosed a case involving 18 Chinese nationals accused of selling counterfeit amulets at inflated prices to Chinese tourists at Khao Chi Chan, a temple site in Chonburi Province. Wisutthammanusitsomsak, the temple’s abbot, was charged with dereliction of duty after renting temple space to tour operators and allegedly colluding with them.

Danprai Kaewwehol, a colonel and deputy investigative commander at Thailand’s Immigration Bureau, said at a news conference that tour operators lured Chinese visitors to Khao Chi Chan for rituals and then sold them amulets. The amulets were sold for US$715 to US$2,830 each, though their actual value was about US$11 per piece, according to US media reports.

Malaysia’s Kwong Wah Daily reported that Thai police broke up the operation after receiving information about an amulet fraud ring and sending undercover officers to pose as tourists and buy amulets.

Authorities found that the group had two bases, including a local Chinese restaurant. Twelve Chinese nationals were arrested for entering Thailand on tourist visas and illegally conducting business, and were deported.

The third technique is known as “wash cut”. Individuals use illicit funds to buy genuine, high-value amulets from reputable dealers, who receive a 20% to 30% commission. The criminal network takes an initial loss on the commission, but the remaining funds can then be presented as proceeds from a legitimate transaction, making their criminal origin difficult to trace.

To facilitate laundering, high-value amulets are often traded through peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transfers, bypassing traditional banking channels. Thai authorities said they are stepping up monitoring of cryptocurrency transactions as well.

Authorities also said some foreign nationals have conducted commercial livestreaming activities at temples without proper authorisation.

In March, Thai media reported a controversy involving a livestream conducted by nine Hong Kong visitors at Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. The group set up at the temple’s sandy plaza, using the landmark Phra Borommathat chedi as a backdrop while selling amulets, sparking discontent among local residents.

Following an urgent order from the provincial governor, the National Office of Buddhism and police halted the broadcast and detained the group for questioning, according to local media reports. 

While they claimed an assistant abbot had granted permission for “site promotion”, officials found their actions were purely commercial for selling amulets. The group was later issued a formal warning and released, reports said.

This article was first published by Caixin Global as “In Depth: Thai Buddhist Amulets Draw China’s Anxious Youth — and Laundering Networks”. Caixin Global is one of the most respected sources for macroeconomic, financial and business news and information about China.

Related: [Big read] Chinese youths embrace alternative therapies for mental well-being | More Chinese youths volunteering at temples as Buddhist culture gains popularity in China