4 minutes ago, Briggsy said:

This story has more holes in it than the proverbial Swiss cheese.

“She borrowed that money without my knowledge,” Martin lamented, adding that the lender exploited Sudarat’s trust.

 

Sounds more like she exploited his trust.

Ouch.  Land of Smiles (Scams).

Good Lord !!!!

 

it all seems a very Savage tale to tell .....

In the photo, the whole family looks perfectly happy - except for the main donor. His smile is the one that hides the tears behind it.

All the Thais in that photo seem very happy, and the farang guy just about manages a thin smile. His financial woes seem 100% down to his dishonest wife and his own naivity...

 

BTW, I'm not claiming innocence of these types of matters.  Yonks ago I 'bought' 2 rai of land in north Phuket, using my money but the chanote in my Thai wife's name.  She borrowed money from a shark to find her gambling and forfeited the land...

 

Been there done that, ain't bachelor life wonderful now? (well it is for me!)

22 minutes ago, Mark1969 said:

 

Notice how the "farang" is the only one without a shirt. Odd man out who does not fit in.

 

I always thought there was something weird about relatives walking around shirtless around other family members. It just does not feel right. I can see younger female family members being uncomfortable with it.

Don't worry, they are very comfortable with his money.

3 minutes ago, simon43 said:

All the Thais in that photo seem very happy, and the farang guy just about manages a thin smile. His financial woes seem 100% down to his dishonest wife and his own naivity...

 

BTW, I'm not claiming innocence of these types of matters.  Yonks ago I 'bought' 2 rai of land in north Phuket, using my money but the chanote in my Thai wife's name.  She borrowed money from a shark to find her gambling and forfeited the land...

 

Been there done that, ain't bachelor life wonderful now? (well it is for me!)

I wouldn’t even think about buying a doghouse in this wife's name. Like many others before him, he was stripped of all his belongings by this casino called Thailand. 

3 minutes ago, Hellfire said:

Don't worry, they are very comfortable with his money.

Probably what happened is he bought all that stuff to try to fit in and to be liked by the family, but it was overkill.

 

Having more then they were used to caused them to disproportionally react to a minor neighbor dispute, then is escalated from there.

 

Another example of being set up as a "savior" and having it backfire.

10 hours ago, Mark1969 said:

Another example of being set up as a "savior" and having it backfire.

 

Or another example of "trying to show off that you are the richest guy in the village" and having it backfire. 

 

I always wondered how these old <deleted> could marry these uneducated Issan women and move to the village. I just do not get it. It must be a reflection on the miserable life of the <deleted>. 

"Richest guy in the village"? What kind of idiocy...? It's obviously a block of inexpensive rental rooms in PATTAYA, it being in the PATTAYA section.

Where does it state that he moved to a village in Issan?

 

It's like people are just dying to trot out the same old phrases, regardless of whether they are apt or not.

11 hours ago, JakeC said:

It's obviously a block of inexpensive rental rooms

Ok my mistake. It's not in a village.

The rental rooms may be inexpensive, but owning that building is not. 

 

If you already have a small fortune when you retire here, why on earth would you need to try to get richer and richer with a risky investment? The guy had enough money to live 1000 years in Thailand. 

 

 

I wouldn't take any notice of these ''bash Thailand'' articles in the Daily Fail. Never  one for letting facts get in the way of a good story. They have an agenda against this country......

His wife behind all this!

17 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

If you already have a small fortune when you retire here, why on earth would you need to try to get richer and richer with a risky investment? The guy had enough money to live 1000 years in Thailand. 

Most people take on increasing risk the more they have. Your confidence increases. Many lottery winners are broke within a few years.

 

The faster it goes up the more vulnerable you are. Moving to a cheaper country where the exchange rate is much better qualifies as that change for some people.

11 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

Ok my mistake. It's not in a village.

The rental rooms may be inexpensive, but owning that building is not. 

 

If you already have a small fortune when you retire here, why on earth would you need to try to get richer and richer with a risky investment? The guy had enough money to live 1000 years in Thailand. 

 

 

100%

1 hour ago, VocalNeal said:

 

60/40.  Invest 60% keep 40% liquid?

 

I wouldn't go more than about 10 to 15%

 

That said - if there was a solid 30 year lease on all of the land in his name then a change of ownership would not matter.

 

If however there was corruption involved in transferring the land then they could of course corruptly remove the lease - but that would require an extra level of deception.

So are fake power of attorneys a big thing here in Thailand or did someone sign one - because you've got to be real careful what you sign and who you grant it to - it can grant full control of assets like land.

2 hours ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Seems like she borrowed money using the hotel as a guarantee that she would repay the money and the hotel was sold to repay the borrowed money back

Yes, appears to be a Kai Fak transaction. Sale with right of redemption. The property is signed over to he lender at he Land Office. But if the loan is not fully paid in the agreed time period,usually a year but can be more or extended, then the property stays with the lender with no recourse for the borrower.

 

Normally entered into by those desperate for funds with only a low % of the market value given out as a loan. The lender sees it as easy money as the borrower's financial position likely means that a full repayment in the stipulated time period is unlikely. Even more so if the main breadwinner is unaware of the details until too late and is left to pick up the pieces, if that is even possible. As seems to have been the case here.

 

Some lenders attempt to over-egg their gain by not returning any loan repayments at the point of the sale being considered complete, due to non repayment, and the borrower losing their property. Am aware of such a circumstance and the Finance Company was sued for recovery. Ended up in the Supreme Court but recovery was agreed. A minor victory due to the amount loaned being far less than the property value.Of course, it depends on the loan conditions as some specify monthly repayments (recovery may be possible) whereas others only require end of loan period settlement. The Finance Company warned of consequences for taking legal action but that ended up being hot air. Absolute PoS. 

 

So, 10ft barge pole comes to mind.

10 minutes ago, ukrules said:

 

I wouldn't go more than about 10 to 15%

 

That said - if there was a solid 30 year lease on all of the land in his name then a change of ownership would not matter.

 

If however there was corruption involved in transferring the land then they could of course corruptly remove the lease - but that would require an extra level of deception.

So are fake power of attorneys a big thing here in Thailand or did someone sign one - because you've got to be real careful what you sign and who you grant it to - it can grant full control of assets like land.

 

Mine was more of a general rule/guideline. I wouldn't "invest" anything on real-estate in Thailand. A modest house to live in OK. But the rest offshore.

2 hours ago, lordgrinz said:

My wife and I keep our finances completely separate, almost all of mine are back in the USA, and only accessible by me. But what kind pension is "£100" monthly? Yikes!

 

The £100 sounds like it might be from a private or local government pension scheme that he only enrolled in for a year.

 

When he turns 66 he will get a state pension, which should take his income to over £1000 a month.

 

 

1 hour ago, Mark1969 said:

 

Notice how the "farang" is the only one without a shirt. Odd man out who does not fit in.

 

I always thought there was something weird about relatives walking around shirtless around other family members. It just does not feel right. I can see younger female family members being uncomfortable with it.

Took me 10 years to teach my mil to not walk around the house topless.

Just saying white guys ain't the only guilty ones in that game.

He was 'lucky' to meet a girl from Ubon, in Phuket.  Now complaining that the responsibility for earning is on her, as he is not allowed to work.

How did the lender get possesion of both the house in Ubon and the apartment block?

Daily Mail figures appear somewhat exaggerated.

1 hour ago, save the frogs said:

The guy had enough money to live 1000 years in Thailand. 

 

Yeah, I'm not sure on that, when they say they owned property worth a certain amount, did they actually own it? Sounds like they were living off debt, it's like saying I own a Porsche, but still owe the bank for it.

 

1 hour ago, lordgrinz said:

Yeah, I'm not sure on that, when they say they owned property worth a certain amount, did they actually own it? Sounds like they were living off debt, it's like saying I own a Porsche, but still owe the bank for it.

In my home country of the USA almost everyone says I own something or I bought something when it's commonly a loan.

 

The idea behind it is that you're suppossed to assume they can pay it off.

11 hours ago, Mark1969 said:

In my home country of the USA almost everyone says I own something or I bought something when it's commonly a loan.

 

Some people are paying for pizza in installments these days. 

 

3 hours ago, dutch boy said:

I always wondered how these old <deleted> could marry these uneducated Issan women and move to the village. I just do not get it. It must be a reflection on the miserable life of the <deleted>. 

The smile totally fools the old men thay beieve it is genuine, lol marry them and buy them a house on their land  

Thailand is a playground for corruption, hassles and racket aimed against foreigners. Nothing new. But still some just won't admit the reality and chant out the usual "u no like it, u leave it"....

10 minutes ago, howerde said:

The smile totally fools the old men thay beieve it is genuine, lol marry them and buy them a house on their land  

The best way to know if a smile is genuine, stop paying. Nevermind, they like that too (or at least appear to).

Seen it so many times. Wife/partner gets big ideas. Gambling or just playing the bigshot. Foreigner ends up losing everything. If he's lucky he can go back to work to start again.

The possible access to cash is irresistable to certain types. No matter how much they have, they will try to get more. Woe betide you if you have no close friends. Your scammer can get you signed off as having Alzeimer's or some such and use that to rob you blind.

5 hours ago, MalcolmB said:

The older ones have seen it all before

and done it all before with various victims

 

saying that - not sure I believe half of what is reported here and a lot of it is missing but one thing is for sure - this guy got well and truely #### over