American man and Thai wife lose 15.2 million baht in Hua Hin property fraud

[HuaHinNew]

On 2/7/2025 at 9:37 AM, crazykopite said:

You pay lawyers to carry out due diligence having lived here for 20 years and made use of Lawyers I have yet to come across one who is capable of carrying out such a task !

If in Hua Hin I can highly recommend Legal Services Hua Hin at Macro site.

 

Totally professionally, English and Thai legal representatives, 

 

I have used for years for house and land construction and purchase and all associated legals and documentation.

 

Have litigation services and reasonably priced services.

 

https://www.legalserviceshuahin.com/

[RocketDog]

5 hours ago, vukovar77 said:

As a foreigner, you can not buy land (house) in Thailand in your name.

Ahh, well, I think everybody knows that by now. My wife is Thai.

She can purchase the property any time I want if I give her the money.

 

Thanks, but I've been here for 8 years and had a Thai lawyer handle the property transaction.

[wavodavo]

On 2/6/2025 at 10:13 PM, dddave said:

The most important phrase in Real Estate is "Due Diligence". 

Any honest Real Estate Attorney will stress, never sign or pay for anything without making sure every word of every sentence is understood and every property ownership claim is verified and documented.  

This case is far from the first time people have purchased or developed property from a distance and arrived to find out what they thought they owned, doesn't exist or that somebody else owned it.

My guess is that the realestate agent has conned the wife and told her that they had their own lawyers and conveyencers in house to take care of eveything so don't worry .The husband is in America and could't help so thought it was all good.

[KhunHeineken]

23 hours ago, newnative said:

Why wouldn't you spend a tiny percentage of that amount to hire a reputable lawyer

The lawyers can be bought.

 

"Vard claimed his lawyer in Phuket was bought by the gang and when he hired a lawyer from Bangkok, the lawyer was also hired to lose the cases again, he alleged."

 

Here's a bigger case, 65 million baht. 

 

Rent, don't buy, and enjoy your retirement. 

 

 

[KhunHeineken]

4 hours ago, RocketDog said:

She can purchase the property any time I want if I give her the money.

Great plan.  What could possibly go wrong? 

[newnative]

2 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

The lawyers can be bought.

 

"Vard claimed his lawyer in Phuket was bought by the gang and when he hired a lawyer from Bangkok, the lawyer was also hired to lose the cases again, he alleged."

 

Here's a bigger case, 65 million baht. 

 

Rent, don't buy, and enjoy your retirement. 

 

 

You keep renting, I'll keep owning, and we'll both live happily ever after.

[dukebowling]

As much as many like to assume and project their own lives on to this story, I can shed some light on the darkness.

 

Pat and Mui are one of my favorite couples that we are close friends with and live in the same US town. They have no drama, are down to earth and both have well to do families. 

 

I hope they come out of this case with justice, because they are unified and motivated. Wish them luck.

[save the frogs]

9 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

 

Rent, don't buy, and enjoy your retirement. 

How much of the decision is actually your own?

Or how much of it is decided by the wife?

Fact is, marriage and home ownership generally go together.

Homes represent stability to women. 

You deciding to rent perpetually only works if your stay single, mostly. With few exceptions. 

 

 

[vukovar77]

16 hours ago, RocketDog said:

Ahh, well, I think everybody knows that by now. My wife is Thai.

She can purchase the property any time I want if I give her the money.

 

Thanks, but I've been here for 8 years and had a Thai lawyer handle the property transaction.

Yeah, your wife can buy it in her name. I have been here for 13 years and I can speak Thai fluently. My wife is Thai, but I want to be the owner, so I bought a condominium.

[vukovar77]

5 hours ago, save the frogs said:

How much of the decision is actually your own?

Or how much of it is decided by the wife?

Fact is, marriage and home ownership generally go together.

Homes represent stability to women. 

You deciding to rent perpetually only works if your stay single, mostly. With few exceptions. 

 

 

Yeah, marriage and ownership can go together if you can own property in LOS.

Homes represent stability for a Thai wife or GF but not for you. You can easily lose all here.

If she is with you cos. the property she can be easily "gold digger".So many foreigners here lose all.

[paahlman]

On 2/6/2025 at 6:46 PM, bdenner said:

Going back to 2001:- This is why Steven Heather's novel "A Private Dancer" Should have been compulsory reading in ALL flights to Thailand.

At the time when it was released it was suggested it was handed out for free in immigration at airport as compulsary reading!