17 minutes ago, smedly said:

one thing is for sure - this guy got well and truely #### over

He probably had nobody to talk to about it either. No friends, or at least any that wanted to hear about relationship and money problems in pattaya.

 

One of the safety nets of home country living is there are usually good long time friends around that you can problem solve this type of stuff with. Here he was probably getting drunk doing barstool banter, or talking to somchai in broken english about nuanced relationship and property problems with a completely different worldview.

28 minutes ago, smedly said:

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

Fine tuned with years of experience.

He didn’t stand a chance

This is a Daily Mail 'bash Thailand' story so you have to divide everything by 10.

He was supposedly a professional engineer on several big projects but only receives £100/month private pension?

He owned a couple of property rentals in the UK but sold them to buy property in Thailand?

Paid £270k for house that looks like its worth 1-2M THB ?

Wife apparently had two restaurants in Northern Ireland, so hardly a naive Isaan hillbilly......

Either the story is full of inaccuracies or he is as thick as a bucket of mud.

I cannot understand how guys can still get scammed by Thai women. 30 years ago you could understand it but now if you punch 'Thai' into a search engne you get a tsunami of horror stories about scams and every other foreigner I meet is only too happy to offer a cautionary tale....

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Martin relies on his minor pension, while Sudarat works full-time as a property broker

 

   Wonder whether she had anything  to do with it ?

If this was a Scooby Doo story , it would be revealed that the dastardly scammer was in cohorts with the Wife

17 hours ago, save the frogs said:

nothing scruffy about being shirtless.

thailand ain't Liverpool where it's cold half the year. 

ever notice the pygmies don't wear any clothing ever? 

 

In Liverpool?

20 hours ago, webfact said:

The couple’s ordeal began with what seemed to be a minor dispute over a boundary line with a neighbour, but it spiralled into expensive legal battles. Sudarat, holding sole ownership of their properties due to Thai laws against foreigners owning land, inadvertently violated property laws when she used these assets to fund their legal fight, leading to both being imprisoned

Rent in Thailand... buying property is asking for trouble

Looks like the Savages need to abandon the legal system, and pay homage to their family name! 

But they look all smiles and so happy. Pure love and joy.

20 hours ago, phetphet said:

A sad story, but after losing all that property through bad or dodgy deals, the wife is working as a property broker?

 

 

It reminds of this Thai woman that I met when I was in Thailand for the first time. She was trying to sell me this lot near to the mayor's house. One day the cost was 1.5 million baht and the next day it went up to 1.8 million baht. And she told me not to be worried, the lot would be taking care of and it would be in her name. So she had three properties. Just wonder how she was able to afford those properties.

A gullible Thai wife as most of them are, lost all his wealth. Stupid man.

A slot machine lifestyle 

I always find it extraordinary that some with a near 2M baht a year pension needs to buy blocks of anything.

 

Just come relax and spend your money enjoying yourself instead of getting involved in things you know absolutely nothing about.

 

Arrive, buy or rent a house, buy a car etc, etc no need to resort in trying to be some sort of entrepreneur or business man.

20 hours ago, MalcolmB said:

Always better to get them with a large age gap. 
The older ones have seen it all before and she appears to have outsmarted him. 

 

But they are trained at a very young age. The main issue I have with Thai woman is their lack of answers to simply questions like: Is that man sleeping in your bed your brother, lover or husband?  The answer usually is "My brother that stopped by to say "hello". 

21 hours ago, webfact said:

British expat Martin Savage (centre) and his wife Sudarat (right) had hoped for a dream retirement in Thailand — but it soon became a nightmare.

 

PATTAYA - In a tale of shattered dreams and alleged corruption, British couple Martin Savage, 65, and his wife Sudarat, 66, found their idyllic Thai retirement ripped apart by a legal quagmire. What was meant to be a serene end to their working lives devolved into chaos, costing nearly everything they owned, including homes worth £1.5 million (approximately 67.5 million Thai baht).

 

The couple’s ordeal began with what seemed to be a minor dispute over a boundary line with a neighbour, but it spiralled into expensive legal battles. Sudarat, holding sole ownership of their properties due to Thai laws against foreigners owning land, inadvertently violated property laws when she used these assets to fund their legal fight, leading to both being imprisoned.

 

Martin, a retired engineer whose distinguished career included work on the Channel Tunnel, saw his retirement income collapse from £38,000 (around 1.7 million Thai baht) annually to barely £100 (approximately 4,500 Thai baht) monthly from his remaining pension. Their secure lives, bolstered by rental income from a hotel block in Pattaya, turned precarious when a neighbour’s deceit led to the illegal sale of their assets.

 

They also bought a 40-room apartment block in Pattaya—now valued at around £1.2 million—which they hoped would provide a steady lifetime income.

 

In 2010, Sudarat borrowed £34,000 from a moneylender to support her court battle. They quickly learnt that an associate of the lender had purchased their hotel block, valued at £1.2 million today, for just £45,000. “She borrowed that money without my knowledge,” Martin lamented, adding that the lender exploited Sudarat’s trust, reported the Daily Mail.

 

Martin argued that the transfer was illegal under Thai marital asset laws, but he admitted that corrupt practices expedited the transaction. They lost their properties without realising it, funnelling their dwindling resources into an ongoing land dispute.

 

Their legal nightmares compounded in 2017 when they were arrested for breaching contract terms related to their property ownership. Allegations of forged documents and forced signatures marred their detainment. Martin described harrowing conditions in prison, where his asthma and subsequent bronchitis worsened due to overcrowded cells.

 

Following the intervention by the prison governor, the inmates' release after eight days was bittersweet. They returned to find their possessions scattered and homes lost. Their despair intensified when they discovered the shocking sale of their family home and three adjacent plots, valued at £270,000. Sale documents revealed fraudulent power of attorney claims, yet the judicial system ruled against them, upholding the sale due to the presumed innocence of the new owner.

 

Now destitute, the Savages reside in a humble rental costing £250 (approximately 11,250 Thai baht) a month. Martin relies on his minor pension, while Sudarat works full-time as a property broker. Despite their plight, returning to the UK merely to live on benefits isn’t an option for the resilient couple.

 

Desperate for justice, Martin and Sudarat sought intervention from the British Embassy, but they were met with disappointment. Correspondence from local MPs to the Embassy regarding the imprisonment of those individuals yielded little. Officials dismissed their pleas, citing the situation as a local property dispute without British national interest.

 

A spokesperson from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office stated that the office offered support during Martin’s detention and maintained contact with local authorities. Yet, for Martin and Sudarat, the response underscores the vulnerability of expats in complex legal and bureaucratic systems abroad.

 

Martin’s warning is stark: the paradise they envisioned through decades of hard work can easily unravel amidst foreign legal entanglements. Their experience serves as a cautionary tale for those considering retirement abroad, highlighting the importance of understanding local laws and potential risks.

 

As the Savages navigate their current situation, their story remains a chilling reminder of how quickly fortunes can change, urging others to tread carefully when venturing into international retirement dreams.

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from Daily Mail UK 2025-08-25

 

Strange story.

38.000/year  pension goes down to 100/month ?

when i first came here , people told me:

 

Do NOT buy a home here

Do NOT fall in love with a thai girl (broken)

Do NOT invest more that fits in two suitcases.

 

i stick to that , rent rent rent rent, have a nice penthouse in europe and one in thailand enough for me honestly.

I thought the wife was on the left, and on the right was the MIL. 

Why am I thinking I know this name Savage from somewhere in the near past,Rings a bell.

i often wonder what those thai people think about falangs on those marriage pictures , looking at the picture they are only happy they own a walking ATM machine. or do they really love this guy ? No, right?

 

when machine is empty interest loses quickly i assume LOL

4 minutes ago, SongSomSoda said:

when i first came here , people told me:

 

Do NOT buy a home here

Do NOT fall in love with a thai girl (broken)

Do NOT invest more that fits in two suitcases.

 

i stick to that , rent rent rent rent, have a nice penthouse in europe and one in thailand enough for me honestly.

Could it be that no woman - not girl - would like to live with you? Nobody fell in love with you? No money for building a house?

Asking for a friend🤗

20 hours ago, lordgrinz said:

 

I've been working on that, with family and friends to help her find a lawyer and navigate probate. But in some cases, at least the larger accounts, she is already a beneficiary on those accounts. No more land or house to worry about, sold those and added the money to existing accounts. The biggest problem is that in the USA, she isn't able to get SS benefits after I die, that requires 5 years of us living together in the US. Not sure they would even continue paying her if she decided to leave and go back to Thailand after staying there 5 years, or not, it would be like 120,000 baht per month though......so that would suck if she can't get that.

If she wants the money bad enough she'll go to the US and become a citizen. You've said no home in the US so that's a major problem with high rents.

 

 

21 hours ago, phetphet said:

A sad story, but after losing all that property through bad or dodgy deals, the wife is working as a property broker?

 

That ran through my mind straight away.   Advice…. don’t deal with Sudarat.   I assume she is the person on the left in the photo 

12 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

Could it be that no woman - not girl - would like to live with you? Nobody fell in love with you? No money for building a house?

Asking for a friend🤗

its the other way around, and i am single a long time and dont like other people running around my home

 

yeah i could afford to buy but everything is invested  in stocks, BTC, ETH; gold ,ETF and funds.

 

i rather rent and move around little bit want see other places ,too.

 

just moved in a STUNNING penthouse in germany, man this is WOW. the build quality is amazing , thailand has no good build quality even if you throw big money after it.

 

next big earthquake and you could be gone if you life high enough 

18 minutes ago, maichai40 said:

I thought the wife was on the left, and on the right was the MIL. 

Is the wife the one on far right with white jacket?

4 minutes ago, SongSomSoda said:

its the other way around, and i am single a long time and dont like other people running around my home

 

yeah i could afford to buy but everything is invested  in stocks, BTC, ETH; gold ,ETF and funds.

 

i rather rent and move around little bit want see other places ,too.

Move around without a partner? 

You see, I wouldn't like to start new stories again and being not able to talk about past times together, sharing memories.

But sure, I accept your life style. 

Good luck to you (without any troubles)

What ?? 🤔

Borrowing money against something you own is illegal or was it because it was the building subject to land border dispute ?

She borrowed money for legal issues and somehow lost an apartment building from that ? How ?

They lost their house and 3 plots of land ? How ?

His pension dropped from £38k a year to £1200 a year ? How ??

More how's than a native American Indian festival 😳🙈

Sad,…..but I can understand that his wife is in immo active …she had to known better in the first place and second why she lent money while they have enough??

2 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

Move around without a partner? 

You see, I wouldn't like to start new stories again and being not able to talk about past times together, sharing memories.

But sure, I accept your life style. 

Good luck to you (without any troubles)

yes.

 

thank you :)))) Good Luck and good health , same to you ! 

21 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Best not to invest more than you can afford to lose.

Putting all your money in someone else's name is probably a bad idea.

And, keeping wife's control of everything in YOUR hands versus hers..by keeping 100% contol of the funds...We daily almost read about some scheme against the Thais and expats so when one gets caught up in somthing like this, I feel sorry for the guy but he just let his wife have control of the purse strings IMHO.  He is a victim hereof the local society and therefore has little active response to change anything in a positive manner IMHO.  

19 hours ago, Briggsy said:

One would need to go back and have an unbiased observer reconstruct their financial transactions over the whole period

O dear God no ! It was bad enough trying to unravel the the synopsis above ! 

21 hours ago, proton said:

No way that house is worth 270k, more like 70k

 

What house?

Is that his wife Sudarat, on the second row, on the far right 

The story has more holes than a sieve