Hi,

My Thai wife and myself live and work in London, for the last month the wife has been dipping into my bank account and secretly transferring my money to her bank in Thailand. I've told her I need the money back or she can go. She tells me, all she has in London is the Thai bank book, could someone please advise how the money could be transferred back to the UK.

Thanks

She can't, plain and simple, she needs to be in Thailand at her account opening branch, with the passbook in hand in order to authorize the transfer.

If she has a debit card linked to the Thai account she could simply withdraw the cash in intervals from a UK ATM machine,unbelievably Thai bank cards actually work outside of Thailand I've used mine in numerous airports and cities throughout Europe.

Expect the usual charges though for using the card overseas.

is the money all yours and not 50/50, if you treat the money as yours why has she got access to your bank

She can't, plain and simple, she needs to be in Thailand at her account opening branch, with the passbook in hand in order to authorize the transfer.

Wonder if she can just make an ATM withdrawal from her Thai account at a bank in the UK?

So.........would you define that as stealing?

And there's probably not much she can do from the UK unless she has internet banking. Even then it's probably a slim chance she can do an international transfer.

However - I'm sure she has someone in Thailand that can access the money, assuming it ain't been spent yet.

How is the Thai wife gaining access to your account ?

If you gave your wife PIN numbers etc then change them.

If you have a joint account then open another account in your name only and keep all PIN numbers etc secret.

Explain to the bank about your reason(s) for wanting the new account and request (in writing) that the joint account not be allowed to be overdrawn

You cannot arrange for the money transferred to be returned but you could report a crime if one has been committed.

Edited March 9, 201610 yr by sunnyjim5

Report it to the British police as theft.

She will be arrested, convicted, and deported back to Thailand.

Or,

Forget about it, but be more careful what you give her access to in future.

Remember,

At some point in time, she will be entitled to your home and pension.

She can't, plain and simple, she needs to be in Thailand at her account opening branch, with the passbook in hand in order to authorize the transfer.

Wonder if she can just make an ATM withdrawal from her Thai account at a bank in the UK?

I agree she MAY be able to withdraw some or most of it via an ATM although she will probably lose on the exchange rate, I was focusing on the OP's request to get the money transferred back.

giving access to personal accounts is a silly thing to do IMO

So.........would you define that as stealing?

And there's probably not much she can do from the UK unless she has internet banking. Even then it's probably a slim chance she can do an international transfer.

However - I'm sure she has someone in Thailand that can access the money, assuming it ain't been spent yet.

Like her "brother" the one you met before getting married to her

How much has she transferred?

If its a small amount forget about it, but start paying your salary to your own account and cancel overdraft facilities on the account you have.

If its a large amount, close the account, pay your salary to an account in your name and put you wife on the next flight back to Thailand.

Major thai banks have London branches at least Bangkokbank and SCB do.........

You and your wife with passbook and passport could visit.....

Edited March 9, 201610 yr by sanuk21

Major thai banks have London branches at least Bangkokbank and SCM do.........

You and your wife with passbook and passport could visit.....

The Bangkok bank in London does not offer a retail banking service. Never heard of the SCM bank .............

SCB not SCM, Standard Chartered Bank.

SCB not SCM, Standard Chartered Bank.

SCB = Siam Commercial Bank

Thanks all,

Looks like I'll need to put her on a plane to Bangkok and see if she comes back with the money !!

Thanks all,

Looks like I'll need to put her on a plane to Bangkok and see if she comes back with the money !!

So how much has she transferred?

Thanks all,

Looks like I'll need to put her on a plane to Bangkok and see if she comes back with the money !!

So how much has she transferred?

Must be substantial if the OP is putting her on a flight back to Thailand and can't be arsed to update those that were good enough to answer his OP.

It's a sad state of affairs when you have to resort to putting your wife on an aeroplane to Thailand to retrieve the money she has allegedly stolen from you in the UK.

What's to say she will even bother to return,maybe this was her plan all along.

Edited March 9, 201610 yr by stoneyboy

SCB not SCM, Standard Chartered Bank.

SCB = Siam Commercial Bank

Siam Commercial Bank does not have a retail branch in London, in fact, it doesn't have any branches or even a solitary presence in the UK apart from maybe a mail drop!.

Doesn't sound like much of a wife….more like a damned crook….I would prosecute to the full extent of the law, keep calm till as much money as possible can be recovered and then cut her loose. Once you let her leave for Thailand, all bets are off.

You can prosecute a spouse in the UK for taking money out of a joint account???

The amount that's gone missing is £6,000. It was my own account, not joint. We have been married for 12 yrs and nothing like this has happend before. She knew the pin number and has done for many years. She took my card without permission and withdrew the money without my permission.

Trust is big thing and to restore some of it, I want the money back. If the only way is that she has to go to Thailand and bring it back, not ideal but will do, if she doesn't come back, well that's that.

Sorry for the slow response, have a busy day at work

The amount that's gone missing is £6,000. It was my own account, not joint. We have been married for 12 yrs and nothing like this has happend before. She knew the pin number and has done for many years. She took my card without permission and withdrew the money without my permission.

Trust is big thing and to restore some of it, I want the money back. If the only way is that she has to go to Thailand and bring it back, not ideal but will do, if she doesn't come back, well that's that.

Sorry for the slow response, have a busy day at work

Did she tell you what the money was for?

You're right, this is a trust issue, but it would make a difference if she was sending money home to pay the mother's hospital bill, or giving it to her "brother" to build a house for him and her to live in.

^^^ Disagree. Married people don't sneak money out of an account in any amount and maintain enough trust to continue.

The amount that's gone missing is £6,000. It was my own account, not joint. We have been married for 12 yrs and nothing like this has happend before. She knew the pin number and has done for many years. She took my card without permission and withdrew the money without my permission.

Trust is big thing and to restore some of it, I want the money back. If the only way is that she has to go to Thailand and bring it back, not ideal but will do, if she doesn't come back, well that's that.

Sorry for the slow response, have a busy day at work

I doubt that 300,000+Bht will be sitting in a Thai bank a/c awaiting retrieval.

It is likely to have been spent/dispersed shortly after arriving in Thailand.

she was certainly planing to transfert as much as she can, and then do a runner.

Lets her do a runner without your money

If you have UK Paypal, and she has Thai Paypal which is connected to her bank account in Thailand (or can set up such an account) she can send funds from her Thai Paypal to your UK Paypal, and you can then withdraw to your UK bank account. You will get hammered on the conversion rate, but it will likely be cheaper than a plane ticket.

If you have UK Paypal, and she has Thai Paypal which is connected to her bank account in Thailand (or can set up such an account) she can send funds from her Thai Paypal to your UK Paypal, and you can then withdraw to your UK bank account. You will get hammered on the conversion rate, but it will likely be cheaper than a plane ticket.

I think returning the money by whichever means is available is the last thing on his wife's mind in all fairness.

That much we have established.

Edited March 9, 201610 yr by stoneyboy

I hope I'm not boring people with what is probably a common story.

When confronted, should told me that she had lost the money gambling, I knew this wasn't true, she values money and wouldn't waste it like that, then it was she transferred the money to her Thai account as she was worried for her future and felt she needed a nest egg. I don't yet have that and will need to work for the next 10 yrs. For some reason that didn't ring true either, so talked with her again today and she told me that she transferred the money to her mothers account so that some repairs could be done to the family home and an extension to her brothers shop.

Financially, we had a reasonable 2015, during our annual holiday last Sept to Thailand we decided we could afford to give her Mum & Dad a gift of B50,000 and also bought the family a large flat screen TV, this is above what we normally would give them annually. We also pay for her brother's pick up, bought on the deal that was offered by the government 3 or 4 years ago, this is B10,000 / mth. This was bought to help him with his shop.

I really feel we are doing our bit to help but why are these people so greedy !! And why is she so influenced by them ?

By and large she's a really good girl, my friends and family like her very much and I love her but I'm from Aberdeen, where money and trust is very important. So where we are now is that I've said B300,000 buys a lot of building work in the village and I need them to return half the money and have given them 2 weeks to do so. If not, with the way I'm feeling at the moment then she can join them.

Thanks for all the replies