Sometimes You Don’t Smell The Rat

[balo]

Do you trust your thai girlfriend? Living in Europe and thinking you can leave everything in the hands of your future wife could be a stupid mistake.

This is a true story I came over.

-----

DAVID fell in love with Lek on his third trip to Thailand and they had been together for two years. He was not a wealthy man and still needed to work but his job in the Middle East allowed him to work three months on and one month off and this was the time he spent with Lek.

One trip to Koh Samui changed his life. He loved the place and decided to buy a block of land not far from the beach. With the property market booming, his plan was to secure the land now and work to save the money for the eventual construction of a house and small restaurant for Lek to operate. Once he retired, they would both come to live in this beautiful part of the world.</B> </B>

Lek put him in touch with a real estate agent and they looked over the available land for sale. The agent eventually showed him two rai of land which was exactly what he was looking for. The price, however, was more than he counted on and a little more than his current savings could match. Using Lek as his interpreter, he did some serious bargaining with the agent and it was one happy David when they finally negotiated a more reasonable price.

But the bargaining process had taken up valuable time and David had to be back at his job within a few days. He had read horror stories of foreigners being ripped off by wives or girlfriends and decided it was not going to happen to him. He told Lek he would put the land in her name but he wanted a watertight 30-year lease on it. No problem, she said, and they went to see a prominent solicitor who spoke English and explained the procedure to David. When it came time to purchase the land, the solicitor would handle the transfer and draw up the lease agreement as well. He told the solicitor he was leaving in two days but would transfer the money to Lek and all the legal work was to be done through him.

Back at work he called Lek, who returned to stay with her family in Isaan, every day to see how things were going. Yes, she received the money; yes, she took it all to the solicitor and yes, all the papers had been signed. He was now the proud owner of 3,200 square metres of prime real estate. Now all he had to do was work and save the money for the house and restaurant.

Three months later Lek met him in Bangkok where they stayed the night before catching a flight to Samui the following day. She showed him the paperwork and the signed lease agreement and everything was rosy as they walked over the property. Lek even prepared a picnic lunch for them to eat as he surveyed his domain. The view was spectacular. He found the survey pegs and mentally pictured the best position for the house. David brought his savings with him and they deposited it all in a special savings account Lek had opened for that purpose. He calculated it would only take three more working assignments before they could start construction of his dream.

Next trip he did the same. David was a cautious man and checked the bank account after he deposited more money. Every baht was there. He had told Lek not to touch the money because it was for the house and she had kept her word. He and Lek paraded around their piece of land, David moved rocks to mark out the placement of the house and pulled out weeds here and there.

Three months later, David returned and again checked the bank account and noticed, with pride, no withdrawals had been made. He and Lek went to see some builders to obtain estimates for the construction. To his joy, the estimates were lower than he had anticipated and it would only require three more months of work before his dream could become reality. David flew back to work and Lek returned to Isaan.

On his final trip to Thailand he made sure to bring everything with him because this time he did not have to return to work. This time it would be different. He and Lek flew to Samui where she deposited the final instalment in the bank and brought the bankbook to show him. “Tomorrow,” David told her, “we will go to the builder with the plans.” It was early afternoon, David was tired and Lek said she would do some shopping while he took a nap.

It was dark when David woke and Lek didn’t appear to be around. He waited for her but by midnight he became worried. He went out to ask around but no-one had seen her since that morning. Thinking she may have been in an accident, he even went to the police to report her missing. The police made a report but were not inclined to go any further. Wait until tomorrow, they advised. David returned to his room where he found it impossible to sleep. Lek’s few items of clothing were still there and nothing looked suspicious. Then he felt a cold chill. In a panic he rushed to the drawer and found the bankbook. The book was still there with the balance, in black and white, correct.

Daylight greeted David still awake and very concerned. Something must have happened to her because she would not just run off like that. He left his phone number with everyone in the vicinity, asking them to call him if they see her. He went back to the police station to wait. This time one young police officer took pity on him. David showed him a photo of Lek and the officer said he would ask around.

Two hours later the police officer returned with news. Someone had seen Lek that morning but the bad news was it was at the airport where she boarded a flight to Bangkok. The policemen asked if any money was missing. David replied no and produced the bankbook. The officer suggested they both go to the bank.

A teller updated the account and showed it to David who could not believe his eyes. The entire amount, apart from 20 baht, had been withdrawn via an ATM card over many sessions – the last one early that morning. Tears welled in David’s eyes with the realization of what Lek had done. The policeman said he felt sorry for him but there was nothing he could do. Technically, she had withdrawn her own money from her own account and there was no crime against that.

As his world crashed around him David still thought he had one saving grace – the land with the 30-year lease. The policeman asked to see the ownership papers and the lease agreement. Back at the guesthouse the officer perused the documents and asked the name of David’s solicitor. They took the papers to the solicitor’s office.

The solicitor remembered David but he and the policeman did most of the talking. The solicitor, with his better grasp of English, was left to explain the situation to David. Whereas the transfer papers and the lease agreement were real, they were never notarized. He showed David his signature to compare with the signature on the papers. It was obviously forged. The solicitor suggested all the other signatures, apart from David’s and Lek’s, were also forged. He recalled giving the blank forms to Lek but she phoned the next day to say they had changed their mind about the purchase. The bottom line was the sale never went through.

David was left to stare at the worthless pieces of paper for a moment before asking if they could charge her with forgery. The solicitor replied it would be very hard to prove she was the one who forged the signatures and in any case, the documents were not legal. Until properly witnessed and notarized, they were simply pieces of paper and anyone could write what they like on them. Technically, it was illegal for a Thai to purchase land on behalf of a foreigner but since no land was purchased, no crime was committed.

The two Thai men sympathized with David, the solicitor adding that next time he should be more careful. Next time? There was never going to be a ‘next time’ as far as David was concerned and a week later he flew home.

[Maigo6]

Do you trust your thai girlfriend?

If you are buying Land and property and investing untold millions in the name of a poor person that you have known for 5 minutes in a country where you cannot own land , then it's asking for problems.

Don't blame the girls, blame the stupidity of the western men.

They know the pitfalls, they know they cannot own land, yet they buy it, then spend the rest of their days moaning about the fact they cannot own land!!!

Buy if you can afford it, buy if it don't take all your savings, don't buy if it will shatter your life if you have to walk away.

If there is such a thing as reincarnation I wanna come back as a pretty Thai girl, with what I know, I'll be a millionairess in a year. ( And would then marry my Thai Boyfriend )

Edited February 24, 2008 by Maigo6

[Robski]

Thai women are so incredibly resourceful and intelligent and Western men just so darn gulliable.

[burman]

If there is such a thing as reincarnation I wanna come back as a pretty Thai girl, with what I know, I'll be a millionairess in a year. ( And would then marry my Thai Boyfriend )

Everybody has a dream close to their heart.

[Heng]

Bummer. Thought this was going to be a mafia story.

[nidge]

Bummer. Thought this was going to be a mafia story.

I was hoping it would be a new recipe for cooking field rats

[jetjock]

It was a great story whether true or not and should be required reading for all newbies that come to Thailand in search of love. It appears from some of the sad tales of woe that I have read on TV, that many guys severely underestimate the guile and intelligence of Thai women. Thailand, being a relatively poor country, has many poor uneducated Thai woman that are in fact very well skilled in the art of survival since that is how they have been living since the day they were born. Another fact that enters the equation is that family is all important to Thais so many times girls are directed by their families to do things that they might not be prone to do on their own. Thailand has more than it's fair share of girls that will do anything for their own survival and that of their families. Fortunately Thailand also has many honest, wonderful, beautiful woman that come from great families. The trick as always is to be able to tell the good ones from the bad ones which IMHO is best done by trying to understand as much as one can about the Thai culture, learn from the mistakes of others that have gone before them, and proceeding very cautiously expecially in matters of money and the heart.

[JetsetBkk]

This is a true story I came over.

I didn't find it that exciting.

[xyborg]

<br />

Do you trust your thai girlfriend?

<br /><br />If you are buying Land and property and investing untold millions in the name of a poor person that you have known for 5 minutes in a country where you cannot own land , then it's asking for problems.<br /><br />Don't blame the girls, blame the stupidity of the western men.<br /><br />They know the pitfalls, they know they cannot own land, yet they buy it, then spend the rest of their days moaning about the fact they cannot own land!!!<br /><br />Buy if you can afford it, buy if it don't take all your savings, don't buy if it will shatter your life if you have to walk away.<br /><br />If there is such a thing as reincarnation I wanna come back as a pretty Thai girl, with what I know, I'll be a millionairess in a year. ( And would then marry my Thai Boyfriend ) <img src="style_emoticons/default/jap.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="jap.gif" /><br />

<br /><br /><br />

"Don't blame the girls, blame the stupidity of the western men"

I get fed up of hearing crap like this so the girls are innocent and should not be blamed, yeah you will go down well here no blame no responsibility milk all foreigners welcome to Thailand.

[Spiny]

Great story and good example of the long con. Violation of rule number 1, never invest money in Thailand that you can't afford to walk away from.

[naka]

These stories should probably start with ... Joe was a short, rotund chap with a florid

complexion and bad teeth. At thirty eight Joe had never had a girlfriend ............ bla, bla,

Naka.

[blizzard]

there are many pretty, intelligent girls from good families in bangkok i do agree. but they are not available to the farang on holliday!

whats available is not to pleasing............................lol.

[balo]

Some day in the future it could be me , but if you buy land be prepared to give it up if things goes wrong.

Its so hard to trust people these days, not only in Thailand.

A single life is so much more less complicated, my bank account will from now on never be shared with anyone

[donna]

how many times have we heard this story?

i dont point the finger solely at these conniving women, or the naive men. but i do point the finger at both of them.

asia has an unhealthy fixation on money and doing anything in order to have more of it. this disgusts me and i have seen similar stories many times, and can see other cases in progress now with friends and acquaintances of mine. there is no point in telling them about it as they wont believe me anyway.

we, in the west, want to be happy and with someone we love and who loves us. unfortunately we will do all we can to achieve this and it often clouds our judgement.

i find the 'poor little asian girl from a small village in isaan who only had frogs to eat' a little tiring and fail to see why so many men have the need to 'save' them. there are also many asian men who tell the same story in order to extort money from western women. fortunately i think that many, but certainly not all, women are on to this story and do not give up their life savings for this charade.

hang on to your money blokes. you want to invest it? dont invest here.

(maybe i should go get a coffee.......still got the morning grumps obviously.......)

[sayitaintso]

If there is such a thing as reincarnation I wanna come back as a pretty Thai girl, with what I know, I'll be a millionairess in a year. ( And would then marry my Thai Boyfriend )

Everybody has a dream close to their heart.

badum-chiiiiiiiiiiing!

[old wanderer]

Every time I read stories like this I feel so "Blessed" to have a really great Thai wife.....well not exactly Thai as she is one of the Thai tribal people (Suay). We have been married for almost 12 years now. We (she) owns over 12 million baht of real estate in Thailand.

I would share these stories with her over the years, but she always replied:

"Do good; get good,

Do bad get bad

Buddha always make everybody pay".

She grew up in a very small village outside of Surin, dirt poor, had an alcoholic father that like to get drunk and beat on her mother, but her mother usually won the fights. Started working as a maid at the age of 15, started her own sewing company at 22.

I met her when she was 28. Now she is #1 in her village and has brought respect for her family and herself. I do not think she would do anything to change that.

Don't have a clew on what advise to give anybody on how to pick a winner for a wife, but it took me 4 other wives, twice lost million dollar fortunes, and more girlfriends than I can remember to find the right one. (Now the problem for me is how too not screw it up )

I once had a Thai GF 15 years ago, that sounds like Lek, built a house on a mountain side over a lake, thought I had found paradise, right up till I found a cell phone bill with 7 calls to England and 4 to Germany..... found out both were engaged to marry her and were sending money to pay for my home.....I burned it down and left without saying good by. That cured me from "bar girls" even though I know there are some really nice women to be found there, it is beyond my ability to sort them out.

Every once in a while we get squabbling like married people do, and my wife gets really upset with me, she say, "I will call your girlfriend in Sokothai and give you back" "You never remember how good you have with me" (She know the story of the burned house). Makes me smile every time she does that.

I believe true love is possible......just seems a little rare in Thailand.

Edited February 25, 2008 by old wanderer

[xyborg]

"Do good; get good,

Do bad get bad

I think better is "do good"= more chance get good but not necessarily same for do bad. Can forget God or Buddha

[Heng]

"Do good; get good,

Do bad get bad

Buddha always make everybody pay".

Have had plenty of these conversations. An easy exercise would be running through a list of all people you know, as well as famous people from around the world, with a brief synopsys of their known good and bad deeds. The good keep up for awhile, but as per the norm, evil prevails. The conversations always end with... "well all those bad people will get bad in their NEXT life."

[a2396]

This is a true story I came over.

I didn't find it that exciting.

No doubt many stories like this, but how does he know it's true & where did he "come over" it?? The police said someone saw her at the airport? I doubt if they would bother to ask. He put the money in an account with her name only? Hard to believe someone is that stupid.

[Westerner]

This is a true story I came over.

I didn't find it that exciting.

No doubt many stories like this, but how does he know it's true & where did he "come over" it?? The police said someone saw her at the airport? I doubt if they would bother to ask. He put the money in an account with her name only? Hard to believe someone is that stupid.

Many are that stupid. Som nam na!

[t.s]

same story yet again.

another cautionary tale with a tentative association to real events.

i have read better.

[Nataraja]

Buddha probably put that stupid farang in Lek's path because she made merit in the past.

[swain]

Stories like this make me feel so lucky. There But for the Grace of God Go I When I fall in love with someone I trust them completely. Of course, if I had been with someone TWO YEARS ... whats mine is yours and I would make copies of the keys to my kingdom. And this is what I did... I have been together with my wife for 5 years now with a baby girl who is the light of my life. The happy ending?..........maybe.................... unless as the cynics will point out this is a very very long con..

[Momo8]

Wow what a story.Not restricted to Thai girls however.

Had a good farang gf in Bangkok years ago who brought her dead beat bf to Thailand from Germany.He was penniless,destitute and no job prospects.Against all common sense she rented this big expensive apartment for them in Sukumvit,introduced him to all her friends and tried to get him a job.She paid for everything bought him lots of clothes,his visa runs etc. his family virtually had disowned him as he was a dead beat in his home country too.

Some months down the track he ran into an old friend who had a company in Thailand and offered him a job.It went well for a few months then he disappeared for the weekend and my friend found out he had hooked up with a bar girl.

He was sorry promised not to do it again but sure he lied.

End of story.She packed up all his stuff and threw it out in the soi and changed the locks.He harassed her and called the police but didn't end up with anything.

My friend lost thousands with the guy but put it behind her and married a nice Thai guy eventually.Hard luck stories abound in Thailand.

[Beardog]

You Know even in our own country of origin' If you think about it how soon a fool & his or her money is parted.

I made a similar mistake of trust in the U.S. & lost a couple million baht in less than a year...thank God we never got to the living with each other stage.

It really isn't the girls fault as much as the foolish farang. Dont wear your heart on your sleeve & think just cause this girl says she loves you Handsum man bla bla bla it is ok to think with the smaller brain between the legs instead of your brain.

In most of these stories lek or nid or whoever work as a bargirl & would you even consider marrying a prostitute. I know I sure as hel_l wouldn't. For a good time & next . If one is really serious about a long term relationship- try it as same as you would in your own country. And last but not least as been said 1000 times before ....pretty true advise to anyone in any country, never put in anymore than you can afford to walk away from- not just financially, but emotionally as well.

[steveromagnino]

Do you trust your thai girlfriend? Living in Europe and thinking you can leave everything in the hands of your future wife could be a stupid mistake.

Further reason not to live in Europe then.

That's why all good Europeans now live in Bang Saray.

[LivinLOS]

A teller updated the account and showed it to David who could not believe his eyes. The entire amount, apart from 20 baht, had been withdrawn via an ATM card over many sessions – the last one early that morning.

I smell bullshit..

Millions of baht.. Taken in 100k per day ATM transactions.. That doesnt happen overnight..

Says he regularly checked the bank..

While I dont doubt theres plenty of life imitating art I suspect this is more art than reality.

[ray08]

Same old story , different version, Do not know if true or not , but if people are so easy to trust a stranger with their money, they should also be smart to know the downside ( Stranger takes Money )

There are so many stories and so many warnings about this going around that if you do get caught , don,t blame the poor Thai Girl , even good people will get greedy if you put a whole lot of money in their control , especially if they have never seen that amount of money ,

Only yourself to blame ,

[GuestHouse]

I smell bullshit..

Millions of baht.. Taken in 100k per day ATM transactions.. That doesn’t happen overnight..

Says he regularly checked the bank..

While I don’t doubt there’s plenty of life imitating art I suspect this is more art than reality.

The difficulty with writing a fictional tale along this theme is coming up with believable levels of stupidity on the part of your Farang Character and avarice on part of the Thai partner.

Sure you can come up with a great story, with unbelievable stupidity and callous avarice.

But you are always going to be out done by real stories happening in Thailand on a daily basis.

Guys who are stupid, guys with the residue of their recent divorce/redundancy/retirement payout and not forgetting guys who are smart @sses and think they know the game are washing up in Thailand every day – dumping their brains at immigration and setting up relationships with the dregs of Thai society based on cash payments.

They then go on to pour money into these relationships and wonder why they get robbed blind.

Common sense should tell any guy – You’ve got two heads – Think with the big one.

Edited February 25, 2008 by GuestHouse

[Heng]

Hmm.... *scratches chin* ...Could be a hole in the plot, but if we're discussing this like a bunch of writers working on a script... it's possible that the guy (or character) isn't bright enough to decipher which withdrawals were ATM withdrawals and which were transfers out of the account. I mean in your passbook it's just a minor difference in transaction description coding that says which is which. She could do 150k Baht a day if it were say a Bualuang Premier atm card... but she if was intelligent enough to pull a long con like this, surely she'd also know that she could transfer 1,000,000 out per day at any bank sub-branch with minimal hassle (takes about 1.5 minutes with an able teller).

If we approach this from another angle, he doesn't specify what the character's dream house is. We might not be talking about millions (the amount isn't specified in the story I think). His dream house might be a giant pop up tent or a converted 40 ft. cargo container. We might just be talking about a few thousand $ here.