Scary that this is even possible

[TacoHell]

I received an email today from a lawyer/accountant working on behalf of two people I have never met who applied for a work permit using my company as their place of employment.

The email asked that in order to finalise the work permits, they need me to send an employment contract and my business license.

I am thankful that the employment office did their job, but it really makes you wonder how they even got this far in the work permit process.

Edited July 28, 2015 by TacoHell

[Colabamumbai]

Living In Thailand you should know money talks bullshit walks.

[TacoHell]

Living In Thailand you should know money talks bullshit walks.

I agree with you there, but this time the bullshit did the talking and the employment office caught it.

[Time Traveller]

Did you find out how much salary they said you were planning on paying them? and what nationality were they?

Edited July 28, 2015 by Time Traveller

[BuckBee]

Happens quite a bit this ...

[Sydebolle]

I would have asked the lawyer for the details of your "future employees" and take it from there - mind boggling indeed but possibly related to the tremendous paper trail everything takes here.

Too complicated to handle by the Somchais and Somsaks; stamping, signing, copying, stapling, punching and charging.

In all fairness, if they would not have to employ thousands of low educated underlings everything would be more efficient, faster, transparenter and such stuff could never happen ........

[SOTIRIOS]

....correction.....in Thailand....'Money and Bullsh*t Talk'....

...and they do not stop until they get what they want....any way...any how...at any cost....

.....'100% employment'......(sorry, I cannot get over that one yet)....

[scorecard]

I would have asked the lawyer for the details of your "future employees" and take it from there - mind boggling indeed but possibly related to the tremendous paper trail everything takes here.

Too complicated to handle by the Somchais and Somsaks; stamping, signing, copying, stapling, punching and charging.

In all fairness, if they would not have to employ thousands of low educated underlings everything would be more efficient, faster, transparenter and such stuff could never happen ........

Agree, I would be demanding the names and whatever other details the lawyer has on these two 'employees'.

Why?

- How much do these two 'employees' know about the company set-up your business. Shareholders names and their ID card numbers etc?

- Do they have details of your customer list?

- Your sales etc. numbers

- Your banking arrangements?

In fact I would be considering changing banks and maybe changing more, as needed.

If needed, perhaps place an ad in the daily newspapers stating that these two are not employees of your company and have no authority whatever to discuss or transact any form of business or sign and documents whatever, and not authorized to accept money or issue receipts on behalf of your business.

Quite some years back there was a case in Bangkok of a farang con man (convicted of major fraud in his home country in Europe) who found various ways to get into Thai company records, and especially where there were farang employees. He was seemingly very pleasant, always well presented, lived one floor under me in my condo.

The con man had a steady continuing stream of other farangs' personal documents*, the farang involved didn't know he had copies of their personal documents. He used them to start fake health insurance and other types of insurance.

He was in cahoots with a scaly doctor of medicine at a high profile hospital. The doctor provided various fake medical reports which were used to make bogus claims on the numerous fake health insurance policies. He did this for years and nobody suspected what he was up.

(* some gained from paying staff at a couple of banks to give him copies of passports, work permits etc., used to start new bank accounts. He had other sources of these documents, some gained from bogus arrangements he had with HR staff at a couple of companies.)

Beware.

Edited July 29, 2015 by scorecard

[FangFerang]

If it happened once it can happen again. Cover your butt!!

[Berkshire]

Applying for a work permit is a rather detailed process. Typically it's the company applying for a work permit on behalf of the employee that submits the paperwork. So having a third party do this should throw up some red flags.

You should request a copy of the passport of the individual(s) in question. And then follow-up with the appropriate authorities. This would seem like a rather serious case of fraud.

[Asheron]

I would have asked the lawyer for the details of your "future employees" and take it from there - mind boggling indeed but possibly related to the tremendous paper trail everything takes here.

Too complicated to handle by the Somchais and Somsaks; stamping, signing, copying, stapling, punching and charging.

In all fairness, if they would not have to employ thousands of low educated underlings everything would be more efficient, faster, transparenter and such stuff could never happen ........

Agree, I would be demanding the names and whatever other details the lawyer has on these two 'employees'.

Why?

- How much do these two 'employees' know about the company set-up your business. Shareholders names and their ID card numbers etc?

- Do they have details of your customer list?

- Your sales etc. numbers

- Your banking arrangements?

In fact I would be considering changing banks and maybe changing more, as needed.

If needed, perhaps place an ad in the daily newspapers stating that these two are not employees of your company and have no authority whatever to discuss or transact any form of business or sign and documents whatever, and not authorized to accept money or issue receipts on behalf of your business.

Quite some years back there was a case in Bangkok of a farang con man (convicted of major fraud in his home country in Europe) who found various ways to get into Thai company records, and especially where there were farang employees. He was seemingly very pleasant, always well presented, lived one floor under me in my condo.

The con man had a steady continuing stream of other farangs' personal documents*, the farang involved didn't know he had copies of their personal documents. He used them to start fake health insurance and other types of insurance.

He was in cahoots with a scaly doctor of medicine at a high profile hospital. The doctor provided various fake medical reports which were used to make bogus claims on the numerous fake health insurance policies. He did this for years and nobody suspected what he was up.

(* some gained from paying staff at a couple of banks to give him copies of passports, work permits etc., used to start new bank accounts. He had other sources of these documents, some gained from bogus arrangements he had with HR staff at a couple of companies.)

Beware.

Just want to comment on the "banking issue"...

When my now ex-wife was still with me and living in Sweden she called her thai bank (Bangkok bank) because she wanted to know the exact amount of money in her account. By only telling them her name and address the bank willfully told her the amount she had. I'm not bullshitting you, i was in the same room when she called and my jaw literally dropped to the floor.

This made me realize that i would rather trust a random homeless alcoholic heroin user with my money than a thai bank. There are also way too many reports/stories of weird withdrawls of larger sums and then deposits back in thai banks and sometimes with missing money. Sure, might be mostly bullshit but why have i never ever heard of such a story about a swedish bank?

[billphillips]

Fraud? Yes, but TiT

Tell the fake lawyer guy that you want ฿25,0000 each person, to forward the mails to him.

After payment ... Change fake lawyer and report fraud to authorities.

Or for a safer existence, you could do absolutely nothing and forget about the whole thing.

[timendres]

A good friend in the States had a US Marshall knock on his door one evening. The Marshall explained that he had not paid his taxes and would either need to produce a check immediately, or a lien would be placed on his home.

Apparently, someone had filed documents with the IRS stating they were employed under his company's employer ID. As would be expected, that person's actual employer never paid the taxes due on their income. Of course, the IRS had written my friend many letters demanding payment, which he stupidly ignored ("that's not my employee, so not my problem"), so the blame really does belong to him. Once ignored past a certain date, there was no way to correct the problem, and he was forced to pay.

But this happens even in the States. ALWAYS check every document you receive from the government, especially any department related to taxation, which governments take quite seriously.

[Suradit69]

The email asked that in order to finalise the work permits, they need me to send an employment contract and my business license.

So the system works. They checked with you before finalizing it.

[TacoHell]

I have an update to this.

The original lawyer/accountant was not complicit in this, maybe stupid but most likely misled.

The 2 people in question had no address and no employees for an actual business.

I can thank my scottish lawyers for their help, but I would most like to thank the Thai employment office for doing their jobs.

I'm embarrassed I have complained in the past about the immigration/employment office.

Job well done Thailand.

[paz]

I can thank my scottish lawyers for their help, but I would most like to thank the Thai employment office for doing their jobs.

I'm embarrassed I have complained in the past about the immigration/employment office.

Job well done Thailand.

I don't quite understand that. No labour office would accept an application without these documents. Actually I don't think the office was even involved, you got contacted by a "lawyer", not the office.

[TacoHell]

I can thank my scottish lawyers for their help, but I would most like to thank the Thai employment office for doing their jobs.

I'm embarrassed I have complained in the past about the immigration/employment office.

Job well done Thailand.

I don't quite understand that. No labour office would accept an application without these documents. Actually I don't think the office was even involved, you got contacted by a "lawyer", not the office.

I don't quite understand either

[watcharacters]

Living In Thailand you should know money talks bullshit walks.

I agree with you there, but this time the bullshit did the talking and the employment office caught it.

First time you encountered a potential scam?

[lucifer666]

People will often use a random company name in the hopes that the authenticity is somehow overlooked. Unsurprisingly, (In Thailand at least), they often succeed.

[TacoHell]

Living In Thailand you should know money talks bullshit walks.

I agree with you there, but this time the bullshit did the talking and the employment office caught it.

First time you encountered a potential scam?

Nope. I can probably make 20 different posts on scams relating to doing business here.

[TacoHell]

I have an update to this.

The 2 people are being deported, and not by my doing or request. The system is working better now I think.

Kudos to the Thai authorities.

I am kind of in the loop on deportations, only because of my business partner, and you would not believe me if i told you how many people are deported from Thailand. It never makes the news maybe for a reason.