Bank staffer arrested after siphoning tens of millions of baht from Pattaya expats

[Patong2021]

Sounds like Ponzi scheme because of the promise of high yield investment income.

Directed at uneducated people who let their greed get the better of them.

The bank does not appear to have compliance procedures or an internal audit department to watch over its  operations.

[Neeranam]

Check that you are getting interest, this is another common scam. 

 

[hotchilli]

10 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Probably a few (a lot) of resident expats will be checking their balances/banking affairs shortly in and around Pattaya.

 

This is not the first time this has been publicised about bank staff behaving in this manner.

 

Very unsettling for many.

Safe trusted Thailand.... ohhh the image is slipping deeper.

[flipper2222222]

will the bank compensate ?

[prakhonchai nick]

24 minutes ago, onekoolguy said:

Makes you wonder what happens to the money in bank accounts when expats die without a will?

There are rules for that  The expat farang dies intestate. Half goes to his family in his home country and the other half to his wige (if legally married)  Quite straightforward, but needs a Thai lawyer to obtain probate 30/50,000baht!

[quake]

3 hours ago, Don Chance said:

What joke, why would anyone bother trying to retire in Thailand?

 

You are going to get ripped off, arrested, discriminated against, attacked, punched in the face, canceled visa, cheated out of your rent deposit, pushed off your condo balcony, catch HIV from your GF after she changes the deed to your house and in the end the bank will steal your money and say tough luck farang!

Oh, so no happy ending for you then. 

[Neeranam]

26 minutes ago, onekoolguy said:

Makes you wonder what happens to the money in bank accounts when expats die without a will?

Why only expats? 

[smedly]

9 hours ago, tgw said:

 

also weak control by the account owners.

everyone should check their balance in the system, there are many ways to do that, ATM, Internet Banking, Phone App (although I don't recommend using a phone app), and SMS service.

 

This sounds like a typical investment scam 

 

A very honest looking operator convinces people of a great investment scheme with all the bells and whistles - official looking paperwork (not Kasikorn Bank) with account statements and what seem to be legit monthly interest payments that you actually get, you capital is tied up for X amount of years under heavy penalties if you decide to remove it so typically people don't, they carry on for possibly several years getting bogus statements showing their capital investment plus receiving the small monthly payments of interest and think "how good is this" when in fact their capital has been stolen.

 

Was Kasikorn Bank directly involved ?, probably not, this was likely a private scam company invented by the manager of the bank (and others) who created an investment route for those stupid enough to believe in it - nothing at all to do with the bank per- say - it was a private investment, although in saying that - it could be argued the Bank manager was abusing his position as a "trusted person" and representative of the bank while carrying out this private business even if the bank knew nothing about it - could it be argued he was falsely representing the Bank in order to dupe people, on the other hand the bank could simply say - this has nothing to do with the bank, the manager was acting alone and none of the scam investments are official bank instruments - the manager may have broken some rules under his employment contract but that's about as far as this could go. concerning the bank.

 

I have come across scams like this over the years, very carefully constructed official looking documents and even supporting websites with bogus online accounts that all look authentic but in reality they are just numbers and no such accounts actually exist - your money is gone once you hand it over, that seems to be the case here.

[Neeranam]

1 hour ago, redwood1 said:

The #1 problem for these not so smart farangs is not proving they have been wronged but having to use the slow slow and convoluted Thai legal system to try and get their money back....

I don't think the system is slow, its just that many foreigners are ignorant on the way it works. 

[smedly]

10 hours ago, tgw said:

 

also weak control by the account owners.

everyone should check their balance in the system, there are many ways to do that, ATM, Internet Banking, Phone App (although I don't recommend using a phone app), and SMS service.

that is only possible if these investments were actually presented as official Kasikorn accounts which is unlikely

[Neeranam]

4 hours ago, Don Chance said:

What joke, why would anyone bother trying to retire in Thailand?

 

You are going to get ripped off, arrested, discriminated against, attacked, punched in the face, canceled visa, cheated out of your rent deposit, pushed off your condo balcony, catch HIV from your GF after she changes the deed to your house and in the end the bank will steal your money and say tough luck farang!

Why? 

What other country has beautiful desparate girls lining up to marry them? 

 

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

From that article:

 

"The branch apparently had two senior managers, one was Mr. Gob. The other bank manager, a female, told investors yesterday that she had no idea about the situation and hadn’t asked any questions about the hundreds of investors queueing up to visit Mr. Gob at the start of each month."

 

Amazing Thailand!

Talk about putting your head in the sand... but it is what happens here, people seem to avoid saying anything.....

[smedly]

5 hours ago, Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai said:

Regardless of so called greed of victims this still appears to be bank problem.

If money was removed from account without approval by a bank employee surely the bank is responsible.

I agree though you would be pretty dumb if not regularly checking balance or not knowing your balance.

????❤????????

 not sure money was removed from official accounts - this sounds like a side investment nothing to do with the bank.

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Why? 

What other country has beautiful desparate girls lining up to marry them? 

 

Philippines....

[dddave]

3 hours ago, nausea said:

Ah, I get it, the bank guy was arrested two weeks ago, presumably cos of complaints of siphoning, with little publicity; yesterday, it all blew up, when hundreds visited the bank to get their monthly 3.5% interest and found out the guy had been arrested. So this is probably more about the scam (one Chinese alone lost 130 million baht, apparently) than the siphoning. I, personally, would expect the bank to compensate those whose accounts were siphoned; after all, it's reasonable to expect your bank manager, as a representative of the bank, to have some professional integrity when acting within the scope of his duties, and properly running your account must be part of that. For those that were scammed, I'm not so sure. Can we really say he was acting within the scope of his duties when recommending these investments at an outrageous interest rate? Wasn't he acting more in a personal capacity? Shouldn't a bit of the old "caveat emptor" apply here?

I would bet there are some very interesting disclaimers in the small print in the multiple applications one signs when opening an account at any bank.  You can bet these documents are drawn-up by a team of lawyers with the specific purpose of shielding the banks from liability of criminal behavior by employees  and other lawsuits in situations such as these.

How many of us actually read every line of what we sign?

[jacko45k]

Just now, dddave said:

How many of us actually read every line of what we sign?

Rarely get anything presented in a language I can read.....

[wealthychef]

He should have become an American Investment banker, then he could commit this crime with impunity. 

[darrendsd]

11 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Gotta love Thai defamation laws.  Hard to tell if your account may be one affected without knowing which bank.  Or decide whether to move your money.

 

 

I would have thought checking your account would be the simplest way to know if you have been affected? ????

[ICELANDMAN]

2 hours ago, ChipButty said:

The bank would do well to announce that they will make good any losses, otherwise there will be a bigger <deleted> queue tomorrow of people wanting to empty their accounts.

 

Banks are not charitable operations so there is no chance they will repay unless those who have invested have documents signed by a bank manager on headed paper and bank stamp. I doubt that it is appropriate to read the news will have the documents of non-existent fantasies or waste paper.

 

[smedly]

Just now, darrendsd said:

 

I would have thought checking your account would be the simplest way to know if you have been affected? ????

so you check your account and see that the interest payment has been lodged as expected - but here is the kicker - where is the capital that you handed over to the bank manager that promised you an investment that had high returns - did the manager actually inform these people that this was a Kasikorn official investment instrument and even if he did - did Kasikorn know anything about it, it should have been easy to check - the Kasikorn Bank lists all of its investment accounts and associated interest rates online - even at 3.5%  a year in the current climate would raise many questions for me

[Road Warrior]

caution  --most banks try to sell you their  insurance !!!!!! 

[ChipButty]

1 minute ago, Road Warrior said:

caution  --most banks try to sell you their  insurance !!!!!! 

Never off the phone, so I speak Spanish to them 

[Neeranam]

5 minutes ago, Road Warrior said:

caution  --most banks try to sell you their  insurance !!!!!! 

Nothing wrong with that. 

[ICELANDMAN]

1 hour ago, redwood1 said:

And by the way    3.5% X 12 = 42% interest a year.... 

 

No surprise if you play roulette to lose everything and if you have eyes bigger than your belly

[rupert the bear]

the bank involved failed to notify their customers when the scam was uncovered,when the manager was arrested too,all points to a thai misunderstanding and the victims being left high and dry.im sure itll be dealt with as a private criminal complaint and the bank will try to avoid responsibility.it really makes you think twice about any type of business at a big high street bank,amazing he got away with it so long,what were the rest of the staff doing?sat there like fools obviously not wishing to upset anyone.im sure most of the moneys gone,gambling debts ,mia nois,looking important in big cars,vampiric families etc,hopefully im wrong ,the bank should cough up and......the cops should get back as  much money as possible as its come from a scam.but........they arnt thais and a lot of money involved so......pattaya/cops.we have another report on an attack in USA on a thai it makes headlines as a racial profile and this??????double standards and ignorance again

[ICELANDMAN]

1 hour ago, prakhonchai nick said:

Then your wife would have to pay a lawyer to access it, when you die.

 

She have only pay 10.000 B. not so big lost money

[Moonlover]

10 hours ago, tgw said:

10 hours ago, ctxa said:

There is no reason not to use bank app, btw . In fact in most cases Internet Banking is much more insecure than the phone app.

 

10 hours ago, tgw said:

 

so... what's your second factor authentication on your phone?

On my phone, as with most sensible people there will be 3 factor authentication, although the bank will only know the 2rd & 3rd of them.

 

Factor 1 will be the PIN to unlock the phone.

 

Factor 2 will be the bank checking and recognizing that the mobile devise is a registered one. The details of the devise must match those that I've previously registered. Only then will they pair it up with my account(s)

 

Factor 3 will be when I input my personal PIN into the app. 

 

As stated by @ctxa above, Banks recognize mobile app banking as more secure than computer based on-line banking.

 

Visit and read: https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/mobile-banking-safety-tips/

[dallen52]

Who said that they dont like Farang?

[greenmonkey]

I was very impressed with the managers role in all of this...hmmm she didn't think to ask what was going on!??

 

"The branch bank manager told investors (off the record) on Tuesday that she had no idea about the situation and hadn’t asked any questions about the hundreds of investors queueing up to visit Mr. Gob at the start of each month."

 

Classic Thai response... "what? Nothing to do with me - I'm only the manager!"

[greenmonkey]

Basically he was operating a ponzi scheme under the guise of the bank's credibility. The bank MUST take full responsibility.