Wedding Savings Stolen

[The Fugitive]

Thai policeman friend has lost his wedding savings of 950,000 baht. Money transferred from his <bank name redacted - please PM poster> Bank account to a bank account in Cambodia. Thai police unable to proceed. <bank name redacted - please PM poster> Bank say nothing can be done.

Edited March 11, 2023 by Crossy

[Eloquent pilgrim]

Very sad, but if the Bank say nothing can be done, and the Thai police are unable to proceed (although you don’t say why) I don’t know why you think anyone on this forum can help. I suggest he engages the services of a lawyer that specialises in fraud.

[tomazbodner]

If police can't help one of their own, what's the hope for the rest of the population...

 

As for posting bank name... twice... beware Thailand's strict defamation laws.

[The Fugitive]

13 minutes ago, Eloquent pilgrim said:

Very sad, but if the Bank say nothing can be done, and the Thai police are unable to proceed (although you don’t say why) I don’t know why you think anyone on this forum can help. I suggest he engages the services of a lawyer that specialises in fraud.

I posted as a warning to others and because I feel sorry for the guy who is engaged to a nurse at our local hospital and daughter of a friend of my Mrs. As Cambodia is outside RTP's jurisdiction I assume that is the reason. My experience albeit with UK banks is that the onus is on the customer to prove that they didn't make the transfer. Going to a solicitor would result in a huge bill with no guarantee of success.

[The Fugitive]

3 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

If police can't help one of their own, what's the hope for the rest of the population...

 

As for posting bank name... twice... beware Thailand's strict defamation laws.

Unacceptable is the word. My Mrs says she's moved her money from her SCB to her Bangkok Bank account. I say withdraw it and keep it under the mattress! 

[couchpotato]

9 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

I posted as a warning to others and because I feel sorry for the guy who is engaged to a nurse at our local hospital and daughter of a friend of my Mrs. As Cambodia is outside RTP's jurisdiction I assume that is the reason. My experience albeit with UK banks is that the onus is on the customer to prove that they didn't make the transfer. Going to a solicitor would result in a huge bill with no guarantee of success.

Bit of a useless post really.  Who are you trying to warn. These things can't be predicted.

[tomazbodner]

15 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

I posted as a warning to others and because I feel sorry for the guy who is engaged to a nurse at our local hospital and daughter of a friend of my Mrs. As Cambodia is outside RTP's jurisdiction I assume that is the reason. My experience albeit with UK banks is that the onus is on the customer to prove that they didn't make the transfer. Going to a solicitor would result in a huge bill with no guarantee of success.

It would of course be interesting to know how the account was accessed to transfer out the funds. I have several accounts but those for which I have mobile apps, I only transfer any money into them when bills need to be paid, else there's really nothing in them. The accounts that do have money in, require OTP to login, add any additional accounts, make any transfers, account changes, and have a daily and transaction limits set. I have no mobile app for those.

 

I was surprised when dealing with one of the banks (for unrelated issue) a few weeks back, when I got asked just before the end of the call, unexpectedly, whether I have requested my ATM card PIN change a few weeks ago. I've never used that ATM card. I now make sure that account has less than 100 baht in it, except when making transfer, which is limited to funds in and out within 3-5 minutes.

 

Sadly, many people have no awareness of threats they are exposed to, especially on outdated mobile phones with side loaded applications, and computers accessing questionable websites, loaded with cracked applications installed from torrents. With convenience demanded by users, there's a limit to what banks can do to. But most people think this can't happen to them, until it does.

Edited March 11, 2023 by tomazbodner

[Celsius]

Banking here is very scary here, I don't care that some of you have "great confidence in Thai banks."

 

My wife finally sold her condo yesterday and after all the paperwork at the land office she was issued a cashiers check from a big bank. When she went to deposit it (at the same bank) she was told too bad the system won't allow it.

 

After spending 2 hours at the branch and contacting the person who issued a check, she was finally "allowed" to deposit it.

 

Imagine this happening to a rose colored glasses Farang. He wouldn't even know where to start.

[The Fugitive]

4 minutes ago, couchpotato said:

Bit of a useless post really.  Who are you trying to warn. These things can't be predicted.

Accept that these things happen and don't worry about it? 950,000 baht is a huge amount to a Thai. The problem is that you can't prove something that you didn't do.  

[Crossy]

Yeah ^^^.

Dicey putting the name of the bank so I've removed it. I'm sure our OP will enlighten anyone who asks via PM.

 

How was the transfer initiated? That must surely be the starting point, maybe try further up the bank food-chain?

 

[The Fugitive]

10 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Yeah ^^^.

Dicey putting the name of the bank so I've removed it. I'm sure our OP will enlighten anyone who asks via PM.

 

How was the transfer initiated? That must surely be the starting point, maybe try further up the bank food-chain?

 

Thanks for that Crossy! I don't know how the transfer was made. I would hope that RTP have some sort of 'federation' that provides advice and legal assistance free of charge to their officers? Last year I was 'hacked'. Unsure whether it was via my mobile or laptop. Goods were ordered, paid for using my credit card saved in an online shopping site and delivered to an address in Moldova. Also, someone telephoned my UK bank and set up a voice password. To do that they must have known my Customer Number and Password. I only knew because my bank sent an email asking if I'd set up the voice password.

[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, The Fugitive said:

Thai policeman friend has lost his wedding savings of 950,000 baht. Money transferred from his <bank

Has he asked you for a loan yet. On the upside actually getting married in Thailand is Free., But most seem to want a big big party to impress all and sundery. 

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, tomazbodner said:

As for posting bank name... twice... beware Thailand's strict defamation laws.

Notwithstanding that the post has been edited, mentioning nothing more than the name of the bank, which was not accused of any wrongdoing, was not defamation.

[The Fugitive]

13 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Has he asked you for a loan yet. On the upside actually getting married in Thailand is Free., But most seem to want a big big party to impress all and sundery. 

Not yet! It did cross my mind that the money could have been lost in gambling or on one of those investment scams e.g. 'double your money in XXXX amount of time'. We visited his fiancee's house and she and her Mum were most upset. Which proves nothing of course.

[brianthainess]

4 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

We visited his fiancee's house and she and her Mum were most upset. Which proves nothing of course.

Well of course they would be upset. Loss of face, no big party, to impress and no Sin Sod 

Edited March 11, 2023 by brianthainess

[ezzra]

You hear similar stories on a daily basis and it's gut wrenching to see how innocent people falls to scams and heartless crimeless and that in most case nothing much can be done and that is why we all need to be very vigil with what is going around with our monies.

[Rimmer]

A misleading scaremongering post has been removed

[brianthainess]

3 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Well of course they would be upset. Loss of face, no big party, to impress and no Sin Sod 

in case anybody is confused about Sin Sod it's an amount of money paid to the mother by the groom. for her daughter. 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, The Fugitive said:

My experience albeit with UK banks is that the onus is on the customer to prove that they didn't make the transfer.

How was the transfer done? Did anybody go to the bank and fill out some form?

Or online on the WWW?

Or with a banking app?

 

Money is not just transferred from one account to another, especially an account in another country, without someone doing something.

 

[Adumbration]

Care factor zero.  Anything to do with the RTP here is abhorent to me.  Where did a plod on 15K a month get 950K?  That is a retorical question by the way.

[The Fugitive]

15 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

How was the transfer done? Did anybody go to the bank and fill out some form?

Or online on the WWW?

Or with a banking app?

 

Money is not just transferred from one account to another, especially an account in another country, without someone doing something.

 

Agreed. I don't know by what method. You're thinking that if in a bank branch there would be CCTV? Like most of us I'm told he has many apps on his 'phone! 

[Skallywag]

3 hours ago, The Fugitive said:

lost his wedding savings

Well he likely dodged a bullet, marriage was not supposed to be!  

[internationalism]

what about cambodian consulate/trade delegation in bangkok asking for help?

or travelling to phnom penh, visiting that bank, a national body regulating banks, also asking thai consulate?

also tracing address of account owner, visiting him with help of local authorities? That might be a bogus account, but transfer can be traced to the end account

[Neeranam]

10 hours ago, The Fugitive said:

Unacceptable is the word. My Mrs says she's moved her money from her SCB to her Bangkok Bank account. I say withdraw it and keep it under the mattress! 

The world banks are on the verge of collapse, like in 2008. Bitcoin is the only way to go

[The Fugitive]

7 hours ago, internationalism said:

what about cambodian consulate/trade delegation in bangkok asking for help?

or travelling to phnom penh, visiting that bank, a national body regulating banks, also asking thai consulate?

also tracing address of account owner, visiting him with help of local authorities? That might be a bogus account, but transfer can be traced to the end account

Good suggestions thank you. I'll mention these options. 

[3NUMBAS]

cambodia is a hub of scammers ...see recent tv prog

[CartagenaWarlock]

13 hours ago, The Fugitive said:

Thai policeman friend has lost his wedding savings of 950,000 baht. Money transferred from his <bank name redacted - please PM poster> Bank account to a bank account in Cambodia. Thai police unable to proceed. <bank name redacted - please PM poster> Bank say nothing can be done.

What is the point of posting this in this forum? When Thai police man has lost, how do you think a farang can him? Are you out of your mind due to smoking too much weed?

[still kicking]

2 hours ago, Neeranam said:

The world banks are on the verge of collapse, like in 2008. Bitcoin is the only way to go

Yeah I just bought a new mattress as well

[The Fugitive]

10 hours ago, 3NUMBAS said:

cambodia is a hub of scammers ...see recent tv prog

Thanks for that. Could be the case that police know who and where they are but the scammers can afford better I.T. so they can't be 'got at'.

[The Fugitive]

10 hours ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

What is the point of posting this in this forum? When Thai police man has lost, how do you think a farang can him? Are you out of your mind due to smoking too much weed?

Have you ever been scammed on-line or hacked? Maybe had your email address hijacked for bulk spamming purposes?