Jump to content

Bank staffer arrested after siphoning tens of millions of baht from Pattaya expats


Jonathan Fairfield

Recommended Posts

Sounds like Ponzi scheme because of the promise of high yield investment income.

Directed at uneducated people who let their greed get the better of them.

The bank does not appear to have compliance procedures or an internal audit department to watch over its  operations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Probably a few (a lot) of resident expats will be checking their balances/banking affairs shortly in and around Pattaya.

 

This is not the first time this has been publicised about bank staff behaving in this manner.

 

Very unsettling for many.

Safe trusted Thailand.... ohhh the image is slipping deeper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, onekoolguy said:

Makes you wonder what happens to the money in bank accounts when expats die without a will?

There are rules for that  The expat farang dies intestate. Half goes to his family in his home country and the other half to his wige (if legally married)  Quite straightforward, but needs a Thai lawyer to obtain probate 30/50,000baht!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, redwood1 said:

The #1 problem for these not so smart farangs is not proving they have been wronged but having to use the slow slow and convoluted Thai legal system to try and get their money back....

I don't think the system is slow, its just that many foreigners are ignorant on the way it works. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, tgw said:

 

also weak control by the account owners.

everyone should check their balance in the system, there are many ways to do that, ATM, Internet Banking, Phone App (although I don't recommend using a phone app), and SMS service.

that is only possible if these investments were actually presented as official Kasikorn accounts which is unlikely

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Don Chance said:

What joke, why would anyone bother trying to retire in Thailand?

 

You are going to get ripped off, arrested, discriminated against, attacked, punched in the face, canceled visa, cheated out of your rent deposit, pushed off your condo balcony, catch HIV from your GF after she changes the deed to your house and in the end the bank will steal your money and say tough luck farang!

Why? 

What other country has beautiful desparate girls lining up to marry them? 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

From that article:

 

"The branch apparently had two senior managers, one was Mr. Gob. The other bank manager, a female, told investors yesterday that she had no idea about the situation and hadn’t asked any questions about the hundreds of investors queueing up to visit Mr. Gob at the start of each month."

 

Amazing Thailand!

Talk about putting your head in the sand... but it is what happens here, people seem to avoid saying anything.....

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai said:

Regardless of so called greed of victims this still appears to be bank problem.

If money was removed from account without approval by a bank employee surely the bank is responsible.

I agree though you would be pretty dumb if not regularly checking balance or not knowing your balance.

????????????

 not sure money was removed from official accounts - this sounds like a side investment nothing to do with the bank.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, nausea said:

Ah, I get it, the bank guy was arrested two weeks ago, presumably cos of complaints of siphoning, with little publicity; yesterday, it all blew up, when hundreds visited the bank to get their monthly 3.5% interest and found out the guy had been arrested. So this is probably more about the scam (one Chinese alone lost 130 million baht, apparently) than the siphoning. I, personally, would expect the bank to compensate those whose accounts were siphoned; after all, it's reasonable to expect your bank manager, as a representative of the bank, to have some professional integrity when acting within the scope of his duties, and properly running your account must be part of that. For those that were scammed, I'm not so sure. Can we really say he was acting within the scope of his duties when recommending these investments at an outrageous interest rate? Wasn't he acting more in a personal capacity? Shouldn't a bit of the old "caveat emptor" apply here?

I would bet there are some very interesting disclaimers in the small print in the multiple applications one signs when opening an account at any bank.  You can bet these documents are drawn-up by a team of lawyers with the specific purpose of shielding the banks from liability of criminal behavior by employees  and other lawsuits in situations such as these.

How many of us actually read every line of what we sign?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Gotta love Thai defamation laws.  Hard to tell if your account may be one affected without knowing which bank.  Or decide whether to move your money.

 

 

I would have thought checking your account would be the simplest way to know if you have been affected? ????

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, ChipButty said:

The bank would do well to announce that they will make good any losses, otherwise there will be a bigger <deleted> queue tomorrow of people wanting to empty their accounts.

 

Banks are not charitable operations so there is no chance they will repay unless those who have invested have documents signed by a bank manager on headed paper and bank stamp. I doubt that it is appropriate to read the news will have the documents of non-existent fantasies or waste paper.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, darrendsd said:

 

I would have thought checking your account would be the simplest way to know if you have been affected? ????

so you check your account and see that the interest payment has been lodged as expected - but here is the kicker - where is the capital that you handed over to the bank manager that promised you an investment that had high returns - did the manager actually inform these people that this was a Kasikorn official investment instrument and even if he did - did Kasikorn know anything about it, it should have been easy to check - the Kasikorn Bank lists all of its investment accounts and associated interest rates online - even at 3.5%  a year in the current climate would raise many questions for me

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the bank involved failed to notify their customers when the scam was uncovered,when the manager was arrested too,all points to a thai misunderstanding and the victims being left high and dry.im sure itll be dealt with as a private criminal complaint and the bank will try to avoid responsibility.it really makes you think twice about any type of business at a big high street bank,amazing he got away with it so long,what were the rest of the staff doing?sat there like fools obviously not wishing to upset anyone.im sure most of the moneys gone,gambling debts ,mia nois,looking important in big cars,vampiric families etc,hopefully im wrong ,the bank should cough up and......the cops should get back as  much money as possible as its come from a scam.but........they arnt thais and a lot of money involved so......pattaya/cops.we have another report on an attack in USA on a thai it makes headlines as a racial profile and this??????double standards and ignorance again

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, tgw said:
10 hours ago, ctxa said:

There is no reason not to use bank app, btw . In fact in most cases Internet Banking is much more insecure than the phone app.

 

10 hours ago, tgw said:

 

so... what's your second factor authentication on your phone?

On my phone, as with most sensible people there will be 3 factor authentication, although the bank will only know the 2rd & 3rd of them.

 

Factor 1 will be the PIN to unlock the phone.

 

Factor 2 will be the bank checking and recognizing that the mobile devise is a registered one. The details of the devise must match those that I've previously registered. Only then will they pair it up with my account(s)

 

Factor 3 will be when I input my personal PIN into the app. 

 

As stated by @ctxa above, Banks recognize mobile app banking as more secure than computer based on-line banking.

 

Visit and read: https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/mobile-banking-safety-tips/

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was very impressed with the managers role in all of this...hmmm she didn't think to ask what was going on!??

 

"The branch bank manager told investors (off the record) on Tuesday that she had no idea about the situation and hadn’t asked any questions about the hundreds of investors queueing up to visit Mr. Gob at the start of each month."

 

Classic Thai response... "what? Nothing to do with me - I'm only the manager!"

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.





×
×
  • Create New...