The other day, 2 foreigners showed up at our juristic person. They said,  they were relatives of an absentee owner who is abroad and came to sell the place. They wanted the technician of the juristic person to open the condo, as they didn't have a key.

Their only legitimation was an email sent from the owner's email address.

 

The juristic person wanted to give them access to the condo,  and asked a friend of the owner living nearby whether he had a key.

The friend called the owner,  the owner had never heard of these 2 guys and didn't want to let them in, let alone sell the place.

It followed a day-long discussion between juristic person, who sided with those 2 foreigners,  and the owner's friend.

 

The owner's friend wanted to see their passports,  they were not willing to show them. In the end,  he was going to call the police.  But the 2 guys suddenly had very urgent other business to do and left.

 

The juristic person does have copies of all owners' passports and chanotes.

 

How far could those 2 guys have gotten?

Could they just plunder the place,  get a deposit from an unsuspecting buyer, or could they actually sell the place?

How common are these scams in Bangkok? 

What precautions to take?

(One very simple precaution: keep the chanote not in your condo)

 

 

 

In short - the 'Juristic' person needs to get changed out very quickly.... 

 

They acted unlawfully in cooperating with the scammers. 

 

Legally, no one can purchase the property without either the presence of the owner or Notarised Power of Attorney - thus any access to the property might be considered breaking an entering, even by the Juristic person, any damaged caused, criminal damage, anything removed, theft.

 

Quite worrying that the juristic team could be so relaxed, not only to side with the 'scammers' but to give them any access at all. 

 

Also alarming, is how did the scammers know the owner was 'absentee' ?

transferring in foreign name would be difficult because the person on the chanote would need to do the transfer. In company name it's much easier, I think it bypasses the land Office? Just the director changes. It's illegal anyway so only the thickest of the thick do that

1 hour ago, Lorry said:

What precautions to take?

Don't buy anything in Thailand with money you can't afford to lose is the most obvious precaution.

It is a nightmare regards my friend which inherited his uncle's appartment.

 

And he had only Norwegian last will.

 

 

Make a notarised will for assets in your home country and a notarised will here in Thailand. Do it now! Don't wait...

The Juristic office were a bit sloppy there, We have an apartment we rent out, a while ago the tenant blocked the toilet, the tenant went to the juristic office to get a plumber, they wouldnt just send anyone until they had spoken to my wife, and we had to go there and authorize them to fix it. same if they lose a keycard, they wont issue a new one to the tenant, my wife has to go to get it, They have a Line chat group where they can message my wife, I have to say they are well organized, And they change all the entrance and door codes every year.

1 hour ago, Hummin said:

It is a nightmare regards my friend which inherited his uncle's appartment.

 

And he had only Norwegian last will.

 

 

My lawyer friend said a while ago that easier to have wills in each country but one is still ok

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Don't buy anything in Thailand with money you can't afford to lose is the most obvious precaution.

How is that helping anyone at all it's just Bull S/!t. It's rubbish. It's nonesense. Kr@p. Why bother posting something like that? All it does is besmirch Thailand and offers no positive solution at all! Do you do it  because it makes you feel good, feel superior?

7 minutes ago, Magictoad said:

How is that helping anyone at all it's just Bull S/!t. It's rubbish. It's nonesense. Kr@p. Why bother posting something like that? All it does is besmirch Thailand and offers no positive solution at all! Do you do it  because it makes you feel good, feel superior?

 

It's advice I've lived by the past 15 years, and served me well.

Ps. It costs nothing to be polite and civil to other forum members.

19 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

My lawyer friend said a while ago that easier to have wills in each country but one is still ok

A will in Thailand cost you 15 k or so, and will save those who inherent you for alot of trouble

2 minutes ago, Hummin said:

A will in Thailand cost you 15 k or so, and will save those who inherent you for alot of trouble

5k will do it in Pattaya 

@Lorry And nobody called the police ?

 

I would have called, and said someone got shot in the condo, come quick.   Had the 2 scammers arrested.   At worse, I'd get arrested for calling in a false incident, maybe 1000 baht fine, and well worth it.

 

For the juristic person to even fall for something that stupid is mind boggling, unless he was in on it 

48 minutes ago, Magictoad said:

How is that helping anyone at all it's just Bull S/!t. It's rubbish. It's nonesense. Kr@p. Why bother posting something like that? All it does is besmirch Thailand and offers no positive solution at all! Do you do it  because it makes you feel good, feel superior?

You are a plonker. Im not british

 

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

The Juristic office were a bit sloppy there, We have an apartment we rent out, a while ago the tenant blocked the toilet, the tenant went to the juristic office to get a plumber, they wouldnt just send anyone until they had spoken to my wife, and we had to go there and authorize them to fix it. same if they lose a keycard, they wont issue a new one to the tenant, my wife has to go to get it, They have a Line chat group where they can message my wife, I have to say they are well organized, And they change all the entrance and door codes every year.

Our juristic office has line, too.

I added them last week when I was there in person,  and sent them the room number. Nothing else was in the chat.

Later that day, they sent me a message in line: "are you the owner of room xxx?"

I answered "yes"

Seems like this is all legitimation they need.

 

 

4 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

the 'Juristic' person needs to get changed out very quickly.

They are new...

 

4 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

how did the scammers know the owner was 'absentee' ?

There  maybe was some minimal relationship between the scammers and the owner. They knew his email adress. They also had the same nationality, and the juristic person probably thought, there are not even a handful of billions of these guys, so they certainly must all be friends  ...

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

 

Ps. It costs nothing to be polite and civil to other forum members.

Nor to stay on topic as well.

Fake owners can make easy money by renting the condos out. New legislation in Scotland starting now, owners have to prove ownership when tenants change. Maybe fake owners renting is the latest scam going around

5 hours ago, Lorry said:

How far could those 2 guys have gotten?

Could they just plunder the place,  get a deposit from an unsuspecting buyer, or could they actually sell the place?

Surely thats up to the owner, which isn't you apparently?

I've known guys that have had their places sold unwittingly...not discovered for many years...and.tou can guess who the buyers were in most cases

18 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

5k will do it in Pattaya 

Depends what else you got and also an spause/marriage contract. We just translated and legalized our papers on the embassy for an additional cost 13500k. Decleared all our properties and values, pluss marriage contract. This because we do not want to spend 2 years in process to wait for judge and court order, as well protect each other rights I'd something happens

The problem is the interpretation of the juristic person. The law is quite clear on this. Bring along the certified paperwork and then things roll, otherwise the owner has to show up him/herself - as anywhere else on the planet (except North Korea maybe?) 

22 hours ago, Magictoad said:

How is that helping anyone at all it's just Bull S/!t. It's rubbish. It's nonesense. Kr@p. Why bother posting something like that? All it does is besmirch Thailand and offers no positive solution at all! Do you do it  because it makes you feel good, feel superior?

Or you inferior...

On 5/18/2025 at 3:09 PM, BritManToo said:

Don't buy anything in Thailand with money you can't afford to lose is the most obvious precaution.

That’s a new one on me. Did you think it up yourself? 

In the OP i asked 

On 5/18/2025 at 1:20 PM, Lorry said:

What precautions to take?

 

Any ideas?

I was thinking of proactively write to the office,  that under no circumstances is anybody allowed into my room.

But now I think this is just stating the obvious,  so why repeat it.

And they might even feel I am another absentee landlord, to be scammed. 

27 minutes ago, Lorry said:

In the OP i asked 

 

Any ideas?

I was thinking of proactively write to the office,  that under no circumstances is anybody allowed into my room.

But now I think this is just stating the obvious,  so why repeat it.

And they might even feel I am another absentee landlord, to be scammed. 

is there a farang on the committee? email and talk to him