Huge markup on imported foods. Why?

[sned]

OK here goes again ive edited it to protect the guilty!!!!!! nothing defamatory.....

Hi All,

I wasn't sure where to post this, as it happened in Pattaya here goes. Ive just recently moved into a property in the East, Mabprachan Lake area. I work out the country on a rotational basis and was not present when the incident happened. I received an email from my wife approx. 4 days ago saying that the house had been broken into. The thieves broke and entered our property while my wife and two young daughters were asleep, in the same building. Thankfully my wife did not disturb them or I dread to think what could have happened. Im so grateful that they are ok, they have my wife's family staying with them until I return home next week. The police were contacted at the time but there's nothing really they can do, they never even asked what was stolen, only indicated that these properties have been broken into several times in the past!!! Any I am currently taking steps to move my family to a safer location.

Now a strange unexpected thing happened today. I had a Sony Laptop stolen during the break in. My wife contacted me this morning to inform me that a strange email was in her inbox that she did not understand. It appears the thief has used the laptop online with the installed Microsoft Outlook which was set-up with my wife's email address. There was two recipients from her mail account (which was being used by the thief), and

Now One of the Guilty Parties Estate Agents looks like its Thai owned (possibly) and is in ???????? somewhere. I thought the second email address was just nonsense, but no, its someones name, and they have a Facebook profile which states they live in Pattaya. One of the Guilty Parties Names is a Eastern European name and there is a picture of him here one of the guilty parties facebook profile

Now ive already contacted One of the Guilty Parties Estate Agents to ask for their assistance in purchasing a property in an attempt to befriend them and maybe find out more info eventually. I have a friend going round to their shop tomorrow. As the mail was addressed to sales, i can only imagine its a small company as I don't think they would want to advertise to everyone that they were trying to sell/buy stolen goods to all the staff.

I havent instructed my wife to contact the police just yet as I don't think the transaction has been carried out yet. I am still monitoring the email for messages. I cant believe the thief would be stupid enough to use the email client which is only the PC with my wife's account.

Im not sure what to do now. I was going to contact the police, but what will they do, do they have a special branch that can deal with crimes like this. Receiving stolen goods is a crime in Thailand right, and there might be an opportunity to catch the thieves. Im not bothered about getting any of the stolen items back, but I must do something, right. Its gotta make a difference. Any advise on how to take this further would be gratefully appreciated.

Below is a copy of the email conversation:

From: my wifes email

To:

CC:

Subject: sony

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:42:38 +0700

9500 baht last price but very good condition.looks new.

<br class="webkit-block-placeholder">

one of the guilty

to my wifes address

OK.9500 BAHT. I AGREE.

YOU CAN BE SURE ITS GREAT LAPTOP

//e-mail addresses removed as per forum rules - Admin//

[Phil Conners]

I think your best chance is find someone with some clout on the local cop office and have them go with you there. Explain the situation and have the cops crash the office and take care of things. It'll probably cost you a backhander. Confronting the crooks yourself, they will probably just deny it all and say they don't know what you're talking about. In the worst case things could get much worse, don't mess with Eastern European bandits.

[kuma]

must be tired, I cannot follow this 100% but I get it

I would take action and get them charged

btw figure he is turkish

[rocketmanbkk]

If someone broke into your house in your western country, say UK or US (as examples) what is the first thing you would do?

Exactly, call the police and give them the evidence and let them deal with it.

Why do you think you can deal with this in Thailand? Are you some sport of private detective with powers of arrest?

Didn't think so,

Call the police and if this indeed is real then let them deal with it.

Thai Visa seems to be getting more and more pathetic with its posts. Anyone else feel that?

jeezus h (That'ss not my name!)

[sned]

If someone broke into your house in your western country, say UK or US (as examples) what is the first thing you would do?

Exactly, call the police and give them the evidence and let them deal with it.

Why do you think you can deal with this in Thailand? Are you some sport of private detective with powers of arrest?

Didn't think so,

Call the police and if this indeed is real then let them deal with it.

Thai Visa seems to be getting more and more pathetic with its posts. Anyone else feel that?

jeezus h (That'ss not my name!)

Ah Mr Egg, I was wondering when the compulsory negative poster would rear its head. If you read the post, the first thing that happened was call the police. I don't have much faith in the local police and as im not a frequent visitor to the local cop shop and im not familiar with any hardened criminals, so I thought I might seek advise from this forum which has been of great help to me in the past. I don't know if you've noticed but things work slightly differently in Thailand compared to, lets say UK or US (as examples). Do you pay the police in UK/US for their services? get the drift...

Im afraid your the one that is becoming pathetic, I can do without your input, beat it!

[SUPERIOR]

If someone broke into your house in your western country, say UK or US (as examples) what is the first thing you would do?

Exactly, call the police and give them the evidence and let them deal with it.

Why do you think you can deal with this in Thailand? Are you some sport of private detective with powers of arrest?

Didn't think so,

Call the police and if this indeed is real then let them deal with it.

Thai Visa seems to be getting more and more pathetic with its posts. Anyone else feel that?

jeezus h (That'ss not my name!)

The only thing pathetic around here is your post.

[rocketmanbkk]

I am currently taking steps to move my family to a safer location.

This is the first bit of sensible info that you have stated.

For the record, I am actually a very positve person but seem puzzled why you are asking layabouts, drunks, and the SAS/US Special forces of Thailand to give you some ideas and information to enable you to solve this incident yourself.

You state that ou have awife and young daughter. Do you want this family to be without you as the way you are going you will end up in big trouble.

Go back to the police and let them do their job.

You do yours.

I also take it that you have insurance? if so, make a claim and inprove the security of wherever you live.

[Tokay]

Go back to the police and let them do their job.

That is usually the problem, they don't do their job.

[johninbkk]

Really sorry to hear your story, you must be so concerned for your family. I have rental properties and I install the best deterrent security systems to protect you and your family. But they are only deterrents; I'd seek professional security advice b4 you move into a new moo barn. Good luck. Contact the police FORSURE; I do not believe they will require a backhander, but point out to the police to keep your name out of it in case the thief wants revenge. Oh was this the agent that rented you the property? I use most of the agents in town so I'd be keen to know who it is. Best of luck

[sned]

Update:

I instructed my wife again to contact the police and provide them with this overwhelming evidence from yesterday, as many members suggested above. She showed them the email, the links to the Facebook etc etc. The Pattaya police response was (obviously in Thai) "What do you want us to do about it" !!!!!!!!! furthermore they suggested to my wife to go around to the estate agents and ask the guy for her property back!!!!!!!! WHAT!!!!!!!!

I wont pursue this anymore as its obvious the criminals are better off than the innocent in this back to front city. The only option you have is to look after your own and protect yourself as much as possible from criminals. There will be some amongst us that will say you should have done this in the first place, well you cant go through life thinking negative about everything, not everyone's a criminal, not everywhere is rough. But I now feel that you have to have this attitude when living in Pattaya.

[Phil Conners]

^ I expected they would reply like that if you're not what they would consider "an important person" or pay them some backhander. TIT. Unfortunately.

[jori]

Offer to buy it yourself

[jori]

If you know where this place is,and they suspect nothing,I'll go and get it back.PM me

[sned]

Dude,

Thanks for the offer, much appreciated, but there's no way I can involve anyone else, it has to be the police or myself. Ive got the guys name who is buying it and probably the company he owns. Its an estate agent operating from a private house by the looks of things.

As the BiB are pretty useless im trying to see if I can involve the Tourist Police, you never know. If that fails i'll call it a day. Already found another place to live and it has security up the yingyang and everyone seems to have good things to say about it, only time will tell as did the place im in just now.

Anyway thanks for the support and Im not expecting anyone to put there self at risk over this. If there has been anything positive come out of it, readers are more aware of these kinds of goings on around Pattaya, specifically the East side of Pattaya in my case.

Thanks

[eapaul]

Hello, Sorry to read of your problem and like others I am very happy your family wasn't hurt in any way. The shock alone though must be pretty upsetting.

I am not sure if I am allowed to say the following however may I beg the indulgence of the Moderators and let me say it.

I am Paul of ********and currently work from home, as my new offices won't be ready for another month or so.

May I just say that no one has offered me a lap top or come to that anything else.

I only know of one other genuine agency out here but there are free lancers both Thai and foreign. Some maybe legal but in the main I very much doubt it.

I hope you get a satisfactory conclusion to this.

Regards,

Paul.

Edited July 17, 2010 by Rimmer
Commercial detail edited

[sned]

Ok I thought I would reply to the emails I have in my wifes gmail account and see if I could lure a reply, below is the responses from both parties:

Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:26:06 +0100

Subject: Re: sony

From: My wife's email account

To: Estate Agent Email

CC: Suspected Thief

So everything OK? (just something simple as I wasn't sure if he was the thief or the receiver)

The replies:

from Suspected Thief

to My Wife's email

date 16 July 2010 19:59

subject RE: sony

mailed-by hotmail.com

hide details 19:59 (13 hours ago)

certanly everything ok.if u want you can buy.if not pls do not waste my time

..

regards

So it sounds like this guy has the laptop and want to sell it to me. This has confused me somewhat as previous emails indicated he wanted to buy it!!!!

And the response from the Estate Agent:

from Estate Agents Email

to My Wife's email

date 17 July 2010 03:21

subject Re: sony

hide details 03:21 (6 hours ago)

Can you tell me model please, I'd like to looking at picture.

- Show quoted text -

It appears the Estate Agent and the thief don't seem to be connected. I replied to both of the parties as per the below emails from my Wife's account (poor English intentional):

To the thief:

from My Wife's email

to Suspected thief

date 17 July 2010 07:43

subject Re: sony

mailed-by gmail.com

hide details 07:43 (2 hours ago)

can you send me photo and then i go for it, i need and pay the right price, no problem, if ok where/when can i get

2010/7/16 guray kocyigit <[email protected]>

- Show quoted text -

And to the Estate Agent, as I only see them as a source of the thief/stolen equipment now:

from My Wife's email

to Estate Agents email

date 17 July 2010 07:48

subject Re: sony

mailed-by gmail.com

hide details 07:48 (2 hours ago)

sony vaio VGN 13.3" widescreen, very nice.

sorry im get mixed up with all enquiry, where you see sale for sony?

- Show quoted text -

So lets see the response. Im pretty sure I now have the thief as he has confirmed in the email above that he wants to sell it, although is all seems a little confusing. This is the guy I have a facebook profile for (and it confirms he is currently living in Pattaya) and already have his picture beside a car with a UK registered number plate. I only need to try and convince the authorities now to follow it up. Already sent an email to the tourist police and so far have had no response.

[jori]

Also an IP address<br><br>Just go for it,meet him in the street,no need for a Thai to stand in for the potential buyer,you will see it hopefully in his hands <br>

Edited July 17, 2010 by jori

[sned]

All,

You will not believe this, see below, reply from the person who is trying to sell the stolen laptop, probably not the thief, as going by his facebook profile picture there is no way he could have fitted through the window that was broken into, but I am certain he is part of it somehow. I am trying my utmost to get the police involved via email as im out the country. The police are not answering the phone anymore to her, unbelievable.

again and again i telling you.it excellent laptop.very nice and look nearly new.no damage nothing.still i use.i have 2 laptop thats why i am selling.i installed windows7 2 days ago.and many new program updated.only sony vaio web cam 2000 baht.thats why this price very good.you can meet with me and you can get it.

i stay pattaya naklua road soi 16.near the long beach hotel.

my mobile

xxxxxxxxx his nick name

Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2010 07:43:52 +0100

Subject: Re: sony

From: My Wifes email

To: The Thief- Show quoted text -

[jori]

Pm'd you

[sned]

And finally I have him and the police wont do a thing to help. This has confirmed 100% that this is my laptop. It didn't have a built in web camera, but a Sony usb one. I would like to stress that it is not the laptop that I am interested in but catching the people responsible. If there is anybody in any sort of authoritative capacity (The Police) please PM me and lets get this scum arrested. The exchange is set up for tomorrow afternoon after this the opportunity goes and well its just a matter of time before it happens to someone else.

xxxxx xxxxxx

<The thief email>17 July 2010 14:09To: My Wife's emailReply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Delete | Show original

web cam not extra.its including price already.you can call me afternoon not problem

> Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2010 13:28:58 +0100

[PattayaParent]

Tell the missus to be sure to take a few large size relatives with her to persuade the guy to give the computer back if the police are not intersted to tag along.

[sned]

The Police set up a sting this morning and questioned the guy selling the laptop. It appears he has been a victim of this also. He bought the laptop from a shop but wasn't happy with it as some things wouldn't work as incorrect drivers were installed along with windows7, he subsequently tried to sell the laptop on. He has since taken the police to the shop where had bought it from. The owners of the computer shop informed the police that they received the laptop several days ago from a Thai woman. A copy of her Thai ID was taken before they took it off her for a price. The police are now searching for this woman who I guess will be directly involved with the thieves.

[Phil Conners]

That's good news. How did you manage to get the cops interested anyway?

[sned]

That's good news. How did you manage to get the cops interested anyway?

Reluctantly had to ask a Thai friend of significant stature in the community to assist. Most unfortunate this is what's required for Police help.