Brit CEO in alleged 40 million baht swindle arrested at Bangkok airport after arriving from Singapore

[webfact]

Picture: KomChadLuek

 

Police from Thailand's Economic Crime Division arrested a 57 year old British CEO at Suvarnabhumi Airport yesterday.

 

Mark Kirkham had just arrived back in Thailand from Singapore.

 

He was named in a warrant issued by the South Bangkok Court in December of last year for taking part in a swindle involving property and stocks.

 

Many complaints were made to the Securities and Exchange Commission after investors were told they could get returns of 7-11% in a foreign fund. 

 

Picture: KomChadLuek

 

They were unable to get their investment back and losses totalled 40 million baht. 

 

Mr Kirkham denies everything.

 

He is the CEO of PFS International Consultants based in Bangkok. This company was previously known as Barclay Spencer International, reported KomChadLuek. 

 

He was detained by Region 3 of the ECD police in relation to the inquiry. 

 

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[Bluespunk]

11 minutes ago, webfact said:

He is the CEO of PFS International Consultants based in Bangkok. This company was previously known as Barclay Spencer International

Hmm, both company names appear to be very similar to companies registered elsewhere in the world, U.K. and Switzerland…

 

https://opencorpdata.com/offshore/barclay-spencer-international-consultants-s-a

 

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08509007

[herfiehandbag]

And so he should damn well have been arrested.

 

If for nothing else then for wandering around aged 57 wearing tracksuit trousers and gym shoes !

[ezzra]

He's either an idiot for coming back or innocent, but even so, you don't come back to a country like Thailand knowing they are looking for you, innocent or otherwise...

[novacova]

38 minutes ago, ezzra said:

He's either an idiot for coming back or innocent, but even so, you don't come back to a country like Thailand knowing they are looking for you, innocent or otherwise...

I’m glad he came back. It go’s to show how stupid criminals typically are.

[Aussieroaming]

I love it, CEO sounds great while you are trying to bleed each investor dry. How many other shelf companies is he the CEO of. Soon to be CEO of the Bangkok Hilton's Expat Accomodation Company. 

[Peterphuket]

Strange, why do they take the first photo at the departure hall.

[khunpa]

I invested in ETH when it was at USD3200. I hope they arrest Vitalik Buterin if he ever turns up here…

[ukrules]

Is it possible that this was a legitimate fund that did not perform well due to the massive global covid crisis and the fact that everything went to <deleted> for a couple of years?

 

[khunpa]

1 minute ago, ukrules said:

Is it possible that this was a legitimate fund that did not perform well due to the massive global covid crisis and the fact that everything went to <deleted> for a couple of years?

 

Yes, that is possible and could explain why the guy came back. But Thai people do not like losing money and someone has to pay for the missing returns.

[Pattaya Spotter]

Doesn't he know that property and stock swindles are a reserved occupation open to Thai nationals only!

[Walker88]

Barclay-Spencer?

 

Was Apple-Tesla already taken?

 

BTW, returns of 7-11% back when rates were under 2% should have rung a few bells, save for in the heads of those who believe in free lunches.

[Puccini]

48 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Is it possible that this was a legitimate fund that did not perform well due to the massive global covid crisis and the fact that everything went to <deleted> for a couple of years?

 

Everything is possible, but the scenario you describe is highly unlikely. At any rate, the OP is so extremely short on details about the alleged investment fund that any speculation on this subject is unwarranted.

[homeseeker]

Golden rule:

 

Never trust a financial adviser based in Thailand.

[off road pat]

1 hour ago, khunpa said:

Yes, that is possible and could explain why the guy came back. But Thai people do not like losing money and someone has to pay for the missing returns.

..."Thai people do not like losing money"... do you know anybody that likes to loose money !?!?!?

[Chelseafan]

2 hours ago, Aussieroaming said:

I love it, CEO sounds great while you are trying to bleed each investor dry. How many other shelf companies is he the CEO of. Soon to be CEO of the Bangkok Hilton's Expat Accomodation Company. 

Yep. I'm the CEO of my house...acrually my wife is. I'm the CFO...

 

[KhunLA]

11 minutes ago, Chelseafan said:

Yep. I'm the CEO of my house...acrually my wife is. I'm the CFO...

 

I'm the squatter ...

[ukrules]

2 hours ago, khunpa said:

Yes, that is possible and could explain why the guy came back. But Thai people do not like losing money and someone has to pay for the missing returns.

With every investment comes a certain amount of risk so yes, the investor pays.

[rwill]

I just wonder if this was a real scam or if he was handling investments for people and the market had a downturn and they were upset.  A couple of years ago everything crashed pretty hard due to covid.

[aussienam]

1 hour ago, rwill said:

I just wonder if this was a real scam or if he was handling investments for people and the market had a downturn and they were upset.  A couple of years ago everything crashed pretty hard due to covid.

You'd hope the evidence and other verified information in the hands of the police investigation would either confirm or deny his claimed legitimacy.  Forensic analysis by qualified accountants and the fraud investigation officers would likely be the guys to have a chat with!  

 

[PETERTHEEATER]

12 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

And so he should damn well have been arrested.

 

If for nothing else then for wandering around aged 57 wearing tracksuit trousers and gym shoes !

You forgot to mention the parachute. He could also be an illegal base jumper........

[Gottfrid]

12 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

Hmm, both company names appear to be very similar to companies registered elsewhere in the world, U.K. and Switzerland…

 

https://opencorpdata.com/offshore/barclay-spencer-international-consultants-s-a

 

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08509007

Yeah, that is why they call it a swindle. You know, ABC in a good swindle, is to have a searchable name, when you call yourself a division office in a foreign country.

[Bluespunk]

Just now, Gottfrid said:

Yeah, that is why they call it a swindle. You know, ABC in a good swindle, is to have a searchable name, when you call yourself a division office in a foreign country.

That was my point… duh

[Sparktrader]

8 hours ago, Walker88 said:

Barclay-Spencer?

 

Was Apple-Tesla already taken?

 

BTW, returns of 7-11% back when rates were under 2% should have rung a few bells, save for in the heads of those who believe in free lunches.

Bhp was yielding 11%

[Puccini]

1 hour ago, Sparktrader said:

Bhp was yielding 11%

What do you mean with Bhp?

[persimmon]

During the Covid crash , some property funds were temporarily closed due to the illiquid nature of the assets . It can take months to sell real estate so if lots of investors want their money out at the same time , this causes a problem .

Stocks in very small companies can also be difficult to liquidate in a crisis .

Still , I would expect most investors should have got back some money by now . Unless , of course , it`s all a scam ( the name sounds suspicious to me ).

[JeffersLos]

15 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

both company names appear to be very similar to companies registered elsewhere in the world, U.K. and Switzerland…

Seems he dreamt up the return % buying some milk and bread. 

 

15 hours ago, webfact said:

returns of 7-11%

 

[Dogmatix]

15 hours ago, ukrules said:

Is it possible that this was a legitimate fund that did not perform well due to the massive global covid crisis and the fact that everything went to <deleted> for a couple of years?

 

Nope. platinum Financial Services, Barclay Spencer etc   were scamming expats for two decades. Thai SEC only took action against them in 2016 for operating without securities licenses. Going back to the early 2000s people were complaining to the SEC about them and other unlicensed fake financial advisers but the SEC always refused to take action because they were careful to avoid targeting Thais. One of the other directors, Andrew Wood, used to run a financial advice column in the Bangkok Post. Complaints to the Post board went unanswered.

 

Good to see he is being asked to account for a fraction of the scams.

[Dogmatix]

The Thai Revenue Department should also go after the fake expat financial advisors for tax like Al Capone. Their business model was to set up companies in Bangkok that ostensibly provided administrative services for offshore financial advisors and funds. But actually they were selling the Ponzi schemes and fake funds in Thailand with income booked offshore that should have been declared for Thai tax, since it was generated in Thailand. 
 

40m is a very low ball estimate of the scams they have done over the years. I remember stories of people being threatened they would be kicked out of the country, if they didn’t stop asking for their money back. Obviously they did have good police connections in those days but their luck seems to have run out, since the SEC started to take complaints by foreigners seriously. Good for them.

[Dogmatix]

Barclay Spencer, the forerunner of this shyster’s Platinum Financial Services ponzi management group in Pacific Place was one of my first experiences of cold callers by fake financial advisors in the late 90s. 
 

Young Brits would call up claiming to be operating as UK licensed IFAs which was impossible because the UK doesn’t license anyone to operate outside the UK and they weren’t licensed in the UK anyway. They would burble away reading from their scrips trying to get a meeting. At first I would ask them questions about their Thai securities license for which a knowledge of Thai was required in those days or their work permit or sometimes a tough question about investments but they always batted it off with answers from the script like saying they would arrange a meeting with their boss to answer that one or call over the supervisor. Eventually I used a trick learned from the book Liar’s Poker. Just put the receiver in the desk drawer and leave the idiots burbling away to themselves. One of them called back and lost his rag with my secretary.