Pattaya’s biggest ever property scam: Ukrainian man on the run after 300 MILLION baht fraud

[webfact]

Pattaya’s biggest ever property scam: Ukrainian man on the run after 300 MILLION baht fraud

 

 

A Ukrainian man is on the run after allegedly carrying out what has been described as Pattaya’s biggest ever property fraud.

 

Felix Smolyar, who holds Ukrainian and Canadian passports, has lived in Pattaya for almost a decade where he ran the Liberty Group real estate agency.

 

Smolyar is accused of taking payments for condos that didn’t exist or which were already owned by someone else.

 

Clients and investors of Smolyar said they found him to be likable, friendly and above all, trustworthy.

 

That was until they found out they had been victim of the scam, which conservative estimates put to be worth in the region of 300 million baht.

 

After transferring funds to Smolyar, victims describe receiving what they believed to be chanotes or title deeds for their condos, only to discover later that the documents were fake.

 

Others transferred money to Smolyar only to discover later that several people had purchased the same condo.

 

One victim said he transferred 5 million baht to Smolyar who in return gave him a signed sales contract and the keys to what he thought would become his second home in the sun. 

 

The man bought furniture and even moved into the property before returning to his home country. Due to return later in the year, Smolyar assured the man he would have the title deeds to the property when he next visited Pattaya.

 

However, when he returned to Pattaya six months later, the man was horrified to discover someone else living in the apartment. Not only that, after finally obtaining the deeds to the property, the man discovered that he wasn’t the legal owner of the apartment.

 

To date, the man still hasn’t received the apartment or the 5 million baht he originally paid Smolyer for the property. 

 

 

And it wasn't only clients and investors who suffered at the hands of Smolyar - staff at the Liberty Group have also been left out of pocket. 

 

Before fleeing, staff say Smolyar raided the company accounts of every last bit of money, including rental deposits from customers and staff salaries. 

 

Russian news site Novostivl reports that Smolyar has already left Thailand, flying from Suvarnabhumi airport where he was thought to be headed to Hong Kong. 

 

Smolyar leaves behind a wife and four year old daughter in Pattaya. Just before he fled, he reportedly sent his daughter a video message asking for forgiveness for treating so many people so badly.

 

Novostivl also claims that victims reported the fraud to Pattaya police but were told by officers there was not enough evidence to take the matter further.

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2020-03-05

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[worgeordie]

20 minutes ago, webfact said:

Clients and investors of Smolyar said they found him to be likable, friendly and above all, trustworthy.

All the traits of a Con Man, except the trustworthy part,

Who would have thought this  kind of con could happen

in Pattaya .????

regards worgeordie

[scubascuba3]

which condos?

[White Christmas13]

3 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

All the traits of a Con Man, except the trustworthy part,

Who would have thought this  kind of con could happen

in Pattaya .????

regards worgeordie

It happens all over Thailand and not just in Pattaya

[from the home of CC]

expats burning expats, you have to be a little stupid to trust someone just because they're born in the west..

[CharlieH]

derogatory generalization removed.

[david555]

19 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

All the traits of a Con Man, except the trustworthy part,

Who would have thought this  kind of con could happen

in Pattaya .????

regards worgeordie

next one in wait....and more ones to surface to come as Pattaya economic times get worse …..

[ianezy0]

Easy to read and have some confidence that it will never happen to you. But the truth is that these scammers are so convincing. Scary stuff, which I hope doesn’t happen to anyone here who is now forewarned.

[smedly]

I wonder how many more will be checking documents after reading this 

 

Liberty is very well known and well used

[Pravda]

I knew it

[saakura]

5 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

expats burning expats, you have to be a little stupid to trust someone just because they're born in the west..

Ukraine is in the west?? Or should you stop blindly trusting white skinned foreigners?

[metisdead]

Posts in violation of fair use policy have been removed:

 

14) You will not post any copyrighted material except as fair use laws apply (as in the case of news articles). Please only post a link, the headline and the first three sentences.
 

[ChouDoufu]

this is supposedly the biggest ever scam?

only 300 million baht.

 

that would barely cover the purchase of 8 floating plastic pontoon piers.

[fforest1]

Why blur the thief's face?.......To not hurt his feelings?....

[fforest1]

1 minute ago, ChouDoufu said:

this is supposedly the biggest ever scam?

only 300 million baht.

 

that would barely cover the purchase of 8 floating plastic pontoon piers.

This is only 10 million dollars.......Hardly a kings ransom.....

[worgeordie]

5 hours ago, ianezy0 said:

Easy to read and have some confidence that it will never happen to you. But the truth is that these scammers are so convincing. Scary stuff, which I hope doesn’t happen to anyone here who is now forewarned.

It also helps them when their victims are greedy and gullible.

regards worgeordie  

[sameasb4]

I rent a condo from that agency so my dep is gone small change compared those who bought lax or zero regulation in property market here.

$10m is a nice retirement package in a market that is set to crash 

[Airalee]

1 hour ago, fforest1 said:

Why blur the thief's face?.......To not hurt his feelings?....

I was wondering the same thing...and then I googled his name.

[Yinn]

Steal from thai worker. And other farang. 

 

https://group-liberty.com/liberty-group-real-estate-our-team/

[Banana7]

37 minutes ago, Airalee said:

I was wondering the same thing...and then I googled his name.

Just go to the company website and see his photo.

[Airalee]

5 minutes ago, Banana7 said:

Just go to the company website and see his photo.

Exactly.

[tlandtday]

Why are they blanking out his eyes so he never gets caught?  The guy is a criminal.

[Sujo]

1 hour ago, worgeordie said:

It also helps them when their victims are greedy and gullible.

regards worgeordie  

A person is considered greedy because they buy a condo?

[Just Weird]

23 minutes ago, tlandtday said:

Why are they blanking out his eyes so he never gets caught?  The guy is a criminal.

What makes you think that showing his face clearly on Thaivisa would assist in his getting caught?  Do you think that the police don't already know what he looks like and they're asking Thaivisa for help?!

[Just Weird]

2 hours ago, worgeordie said:

It also helps them when their victims are greedy and gullible.

What?  Who was greedy?

[tlandtday]

1 minute ago, Just Weird said:

What makes you think that showing his face clearly on Thaivisa would assist in his getting caught?  Do you think that the police don't already know what he looks like and they're asking Thaivisa for help?!

Why are you so worried is it your pic lol.  Of course they should show it as many cases are solved with the public's assistance.

[RichardColeman]

Are they no solicitors involved in selling a house here ? Doing their checks and whatnot

[NCC1701A]

Liberty Group's people look like a casting call for mafia types for the next John Wick film.  

[scubascuba3]

3 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

Liberty Group's people look like a casting call for mafia types for the next John Wick film.  

bald heads? that's most of soi buakhao

[Mywayboy]

14 hours ago, worgeordie said:

All the traits of a Con Man, except the trustworthy part,

Who would have thought this  kind of con could happen

in Pattaya .????

regards worgeordie

You can't stuff brains into Statues