Bosnian/Canadian arrested for real estate fraud in Pattaya

[vision2014]

Sorry. I did not know in which forum to post this article. I also appreciate it may only be of interest to people like me who are fascinated by the surreal nature of the Thai real estate market.

This article was in the December 19 edition of the Pattaya Mail. The name of the person arrested is Marko Vujik and he one of the executive management team and/or Managing Director.The company name is Golden View Co. and for 3 years they have been marketing a 118 unit condo building called The Masters Residence. In addition for 15 months they have been marketing a second condo building called Imperial Twins with 230 units. In the case of The Masters Residence their web site says 60 % of the units have been sold.

However construction was never started on either of the buildings and the Pattaya Mail article says Marko Vujic was arrested by the Chonburi Immigration Police for real estate fraud and he is accused of "advertising condominium developments on the Internet and taking millions of bhat in deposits but never actually building any condos".

The reason I have posted this story is this is the first time I have seen a Developer in Pattaya being held accountable for not delivering on their commitments. Do you think this is a "one off" situation and did Marko simply upset some government agency or is possible that there will be an effort to "clean up" the property industry. in addition why did the Immigration Police perform the arrest rather than the Pattaya Police. And lastly, does anyone know what the sentence will be if he is ever convicted of real estate fraud. Would he do time in prison, be evicted from Thailand or maybe just pay a fine ?

[Somtamnication]

Thank god it wasn't an African-Finnish. Or a Croatian-Paraguayan. Or a Thai-Peruvian.

[ATF]

Don't buy a condo until it's at least half built.

[JohnC]

Maybe time to look at the "builder" of Saun Sawan, six years overdue?

[fish fingers]

This happened to a friend of mine a few years ago. In Pattaya of course

[rhodie]

I think it is going to happen a lot more looking at the way the rouble is going.

[crickets]

Some people would sell there soul for 1$

[KittenKong]

This isn't the first time that a developer has taken deposits (sometimes very large deposits indeed) and not built the project. Sometimes they don't even buy the land on which the project is to be built.

The perpetrators often leave the country before being caught so it's good to see one getting caught before leaving.

[AHTOHuO]

Why so few comments? Everyone gets so upset because this news is not about Russians ))

[Beetlejuice]

Would never, ever, consider buying land or real estate where there are farangs involved. As a matter of fact I would not do any sorts of business here with farangs, unless being a long established highly credited company and even then I would tread with extreme caution.

This is not being racist, but for reasons that if deals with farangs go pear shaped, then the farang can just skip the country leaving their customers high and dry. It is very easy for foreigners to arrive in Thailand, conduct dubious business and then conveniently do a disappearing act once their deeds are completed. Also many come here with schemes on a hope and prayer that their schemes will work out taking a gamble on their customers money as with the OP. These people may get heavily fined or go to prison, but this will not be of any benefit to their customers who`s chances of grabbing back any of their money is zelch.

[mrtoad]

Would never, ever, consider buying land or real estate where there are farangs involved. As a matter of fact I would not do any sorts of business here with farangs, unless being a long established highly credited company and even then I would tread with extreme caution.

This is not being racist, but for reasons that if deals with farangs go pear shaped, then the farang can just skip the country leaving their customers high and dry. It is very easy for foreigners to arrive in Thailand, conduct dubious business and then conveniently do a disappearing act once their deeds are completed. Also many come here with schemes on a hope and prayer that their schemes will work out taking a gamble on their customers money as with the OP. These people may get heavily fined or go to prison, but this will not be of any benefit to their customers who`s chances of grabbing back any of their money is zelch.

Yeah of course it is Ever the apologist

You tar all foreigners with the same brush, there are plenty of legit businesses here that are owned by foreigners.

Anyone buying land or property though should do proper due diligence, because Thailand has a long history of sharp practice in terms of taking deposits and not building, and that Includes Thai and foreigners.

[Beetlejuice]

Would never, ever, consider buying land or real estate where there are farangs involved. As a matter of fact I would not do any sorts of business here with farangs, unless being a long established highly credited company and even then I would tread with extreme caution.

This is not being racist, but for reasons that if deals with farangs go pear shaped, then the farang can just skip the country leaving their customers high and dry. It is very easy for foreigners to arrive in Thailand, conduct dubious business and then conveniently do a disappearing act once their deeds are completed. Also many come here with schemes on a hope and prayer that their schemes will work out taking a gamble on their customers money as with the OP. These people may get heavily fined or go to prison, but this will not be of any benefit to their customers who`s chances of grabbing back any of their money is zelch.

Yeah of course it is Ever the apologist

You tar all foreigners with the same brush, there are plenty of legit businesses here that are owned by foreigners.

Anyone buying land or property though should do proper due diligence, because Thailand has a long history of sharp practice in terms of taking deposits and not building, and that Includes Thai and foreigners.

You should read my post again, such as: unless being a long established highly credited company and even then I would tread with extreme caution.

Some more points, never put down deposits with foreigners on real estate without first hiring the services of a reputable lawyer to check out who are the actual owners of developments, registration details and the legalities, plus and most important, how these projects have been financed. There have been cases where the developers have financed their projects with loans and mortgages that have not been paid off resulting in the developers doing a runner and the whole development being repossessed by a bank or loan company. leaving the customers to sustain the losses or cover the debts.

As I said; this is not racist against foreigners, but facts. There is also a large number of westerners here that work illegally selling real estate for commissions, when the customer buys, everyone expects a slice of the action, which means the customer paying well over the odds and again as I said; tread carefully, take advice and don`t take anything at face value.

Edited December 21, 2014 by Beetlejuice

[neverdie]

^ never trust anyone offering advice on an Internet forum, especially Thai visa.

[mrtoad]

^ never trust anyone offering advice on an Internet forum, especially Thai visa.

Or anyone with BIB connections

[neverdie]

^ never trust anyone offering advice on an Internet forum, especially Thai visa.

Or anyone with BIB connections

ohh really

[VillageIdiot]

^ never trust anyone offering advice on an Internet forum, especially Thai visa.

Or anyone with BIB connections

Lay off BJ... we love him in Chiang Mai.

[mrtoad]

^ never trust anyone offering advice on an Internet forum, especially Thai visa.

Or anyone with BIB connections

Lay off BJ... we love him in Chiang Mai.

You are quite welcome to him.

[White Christmas13]

^ never trust anyone offering advice on an Internet forum, especially Thai visa.

Is that your advice

[neverdie]

^ never trust anyone offering advice on an Internet forum, especially Thai visa.

Is that your advice

Lol.

I

Was waiting for that

[Beetlejuice]

More advice for those considering purchasing a condo in Thailand and this comes from my other son who is a lawyer in Bangkok:and my daughter who works for one of the big banks in Chiang Mai.

Find a long and well established Thai real estate agent preferably those that have an office in town and websites. Check with your banks, they may have many on their lists. Check online for convincing reviews and exactly how long the company has been trading and in operation. If you have a savvy Thai wife or girlfriend visit the real estate agent office with them to make inquiries, ask other residents on the estates you are viewing for their opinions and pros and cons of living there, make notes and ensure that you understand everything fully, do not take anything for granted on word of mouth and face value. Also check out the developers and managing agents, who is involved, what they do and for how much per year. Obtain a copy of the lease or contract if possible.to peruse and study. If interested in a unit and satisfied with the agent and terms and conditions, obtain the services of a reputable lawyer to draw up the contracts and complete more checks if possible.

Don`t leave anything to chance and avoid rushing in just because a company has a posh website, appears credible or a so-called friend who is probably aiming for some commissions recommends it.

Another ploy that can be used to establish how long a real estate company has been in existence if they have a website is to do a search on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine

http://archive.org/web/web.php

There are also many big name real estate agents that have stalls located in the large shopping malls and are well established, quite often with a pretty little lady sitting behind all those plastic model residences in glass cases.

Take your time, make sure you are aware and understand everything, who and what is involved. Better to have peace of mind rather than end up with a piece of nothing just because something appeared to be a great deal and done in by the unscrupulous who would sell out their own mothers if the price was right. There are many of those in Thailand, trust me on this one.

[ATF]

BJ people put a deposit down on a yet to be built development to speculate.

The condo could be double the price by the time it's finished.

Pays your money and takes your chance.

[Beetlejuice]

BJ people put a deposit down on a yet to be built development to speculate.

The condo could be double the price by the time it's finished.

Pays your money and takes your chance.

Rubbish.

There are always going to be ceilings on prices of land and real estate depending on the areas and locations. If the prices were to double on completion then the potential buyers will go and seek better deals elsewhere in this highly competitive housing market, and if the starting prices of undeveloped housing projects seems like the bargain of a lifetime, then I would be extremely cautious before being tempted to part with any hard cash.

The hurry up and buy now ploy because this offer only lasts for a certain period or it`s all going to increase next week is one of the oldest sales pitches in Thailand. Your perception of speculate means on trust and face value and my meaning of the term is to take a gamble, which is ludicrous considering the high stakes involved.

No one should be placed in a situation as having to part with a lot of money as a rush high risk venture, the same as they would not expect to do and conduct such business in their home countries. There are ways and means of substantially lowering the risks involved on residential and investment properties as I have mentioned in my previous post. Even if the prices were to increase by a small percentage if purchasers were to bide their time and play it safe is a far better prospect than coming out of the deal making a great loss and with nothing, done over by criminals and taken for all they`re worth.

I, personally would not deal with foreign real estate business owners for the reasons that I want these business owners to fall under the jurisdiction of Thailand and even if not ideal is still an easier option than chasing up con people and crooks abroad after the going becomes too hot for them in Thailand as has been many the case in the not so distant past.

Edited December 21, 2014 by Beetlejuice

[KittenKong]

There are also many big name real estate agents that have stalls located in the large shopping malls and are well established, quite often with a pretty little lady sitting behind all those plastic model residences in glass cases.

Including the company in question:

(photo taken from their website, which is still advertising their buildings)

Moral: don't believe everything you see in shopping malls.

[CMHomeboy78]

This isn't the first time that a developer has taken deposits (sometimes very large deposits indeed) and not built the project. Sometimes they don't even buy the land on which the project is to be built.

The perpetrators often leave the country before being caught so it's good to see one getting caught before leaving.

Andrew Drummond is the go-to-guy for coverage of many - if not most - of these scams.

[Spaniel]

Never put money down on a condo in a building that hasn't even started construction.

[MRTELLYOUSTRAIGHT]

More useless advice from the nut job brigade on TV.

[Thai at Heart]

Never put money down on a condo in a building that hadn't even started construction.

As wise as this sounds I watched the great and the good signing up with credit cards to get first dibs on that sansiri development up country where I was.

It was a feeding frenzy. Completely bonkers. They have all probably been flipped 10 times by now.

[KittenKong]

Never put money down on a condo in a building that hadn't even started construction.

As wise as this sounds I watched the great and the good signing up with credit cards to get first dibs on that sansiri development up country where I was.

It was a feeding frenzy. Completely bonkers. They have all probably been flipped 10 times by now.

Which is precisely what is wrong with the Thai condo market.

[ScammedByGoldenView]

Let me shed some light on this matter, as I am one of those who got scammed by Golden Veiw. I have a couple of inside
details on this situation.

Golden View Development was started by two ex yugoslavian with canadian passports; Bojan Prorok and Marko (Mark) Vujic.
It is very likely that these two holds dual passports, this could be the reason why Immigration Police performed the
arrest of Marko Vujic rather than the Pattaya Police. The two had formerly been "huge" investors in Matrix Developments
(http://www.matrixpattaya.com), this selling argument was used heavily by both the real estate agents who presented the project as well as the sales
rep of Golden View, using the good name of Matrix to gain credability. Later on we found out that the two had only been small investors in one of Matrixs projects called Art on the hill. Further more we got the the information that they had an canadian investor backing them with the
money, meaning that they didn´t even invest their own money into the Art on the hill.

Bojan Prorok and Marko Vujic were the founders and co-owners of Golden View up until the late summer of 2014, where Marko
Vujic "bought all shares" from Bojan Prorok. All contracts with Golden View and clients up until that moment has been
signed by Bojan Prorok, as he was the Managing Director of Golden View until then. After all shares was sold to Marko Vujic,
Bojan Prorok suddenly "dissapered" from the scene...

According to a former insider in Golden View Development it is clear that Bojan Prorok has been a part of this planned scam
since the beginning. It has even been suggested that Bojan Prorok was the "mastermind" of this fraud, being desciped as the more
clever of them two. Bojan Prorok and Marko Vujic has a long history together, being in Thailand for almost 10 years (http://www.thepattayaorphanage.org/updatenews/20100524_1/),
it is very unlikely, if not impossible, that the two are not in this scam together. Furthermore, they two also has family ties,
one of them being married to the other ones sister, or somemthing similiar, according to our insider source.
Since all of Golden Views accounts has been emptied of all the investors money, this will require somebody "on the other side"
recieving all the transfers/payments from Golden View. This kind of scam is a two mans job, and this other person is without almost any doubt Bojan Prorok,
sitting on all the investors money at the moment.
The time frame fits also well, due to the fact that the investors money was still
in Golden Views account by the time the ownership changed from Bojan Prorok to Marko Vujic, and Bojan Prorok disappeared.

Fake pictures and info on construction update and completion schedule was sent out to the clients in may (when Bojan Prorok was still in charge) to assure that the clients continued to make their stage payments acconding to their contracts. However, the ongoing "contruction" was just staged pictures,
some minor pilings were done just for the purpose of making pictures to send out to the clients. Golden View did not hold any EIA approval, due to the fact that the company didn´t even own the building plots for The Masters or Imperial Twins. As you can see from the pictures the building plot today of The Masters it is basically untouched and the ground is not even levelled out. Needless to say this fraud has been plotted from the very first start by Bojan Prorok and Marko Vujic.

This is what the building plot of The Masters look as per day:

Both foreign and thai investors has been affected in this fraud. Not only is this a huge scandal for all the estate agents and sales reps involved,
it is a scandal for the whole real estate scene of Pattaya and Thailand. Thai goverment must show that this kind of behavior is not tolerated,
as it affects the trust of the whole real estate business in Thailand, trust needed to make investors comfortable investing in Thailand. The real estate sector
is a strong developing force for Thailand as a nation and for the thai economy. If these kind of crimes will continue, investors will shy away from Thailand eventually.

Lets hope the thai justice will put and end to such crimes and frauds once and for all, not only giving Marko Vujic a long prison sentence, but also chasing down Bojan Prorok and trying to get the investors money back.

Edited January 6, 2015 by george

[KittenKong]

Both foreign and thai investors has been affected in this fraud. Not only is this a huge scandal for all the estate agents and sales reps involved,

it is a scandal for the whole real estate scene of Pattaya and Thailand. Thai goverment must show that this kind of behavior is not tolerated,

as it affects the trust of the whole real estate business in Thailand, trust needed to make investors comfortable investing in Thailand. The real estate sector is a strong developing force for Thailand as a nation and for the thai economy. If these kind of crimes will continue, investors will shy away from Thailand eventually.

Sadly not the first such scandal here and surely not the last. The only words that truly apply to real estate in Thailand are "caveat emptor". Everything else is smoke and mirrors.

Will such scandals really discourage buyers? Given that this isnt the first one or the worst one, probably not. Every day the banana boat brings another mug ready to be taken in by glossy advertising and agents' hype.

I sympathise with your loss.