The story below really happened, but to reduce recognizability I write this story under a pseudonym and all names, dates and amounts have been changed, however without affecting the scope of my story.
My naive, gullible brother
My brother, who is a year and a half younger than me, has chosen the wrong women flawlessly almost his entire life. He also found such a specimen in Thailand and let's call it Ngu (snake) for convenience. At the end of the last decade they met in the store where she worked and within a week she moved in with him and within six months they were married. Ngu is just under 20 years younger, has four teenagers and comes from a poor farming family and has a dozen brothers and sisters ranging from completely honest to extremely dishonest.
My brother was in extremely weak health and praised every day he lived, but always kept in mind that it could soon be over. He always rented a bungalow, but after getting married, it is quickly decided that a house should be built on a plot that Ngu has received from her parents. The house is being paid for from my brother's reserve, from a 300k Baht mortgage and from a €10.000 'personal loan' from his Dutch bank. Because the land is in Ngu's name and no land lease agreement has been concluded, Ngu is the legal and economic owner of the land and house. After construction my brother's reserves are exhausted and that will kill him later.
The land purchase
When I first met my sister-in-law, it didn't feel right to me. My Thai girlfriend, with whom I have been in a relationship since 2007, thought there was nothing strange about this lady. Like all con artists (Maddoff, Lord Olivier) she has an engaging personality and comes across as personable and nice. Now I had been planning to live in Thailand after my retirement and asked my brother to look for a suitable piece of land. In 2011 my brother reports and says that a plot of 1200 m2 of Ngu's sister is for sale for Baht 500k. Of this, 300k would then be on paper and the rest would have to be given under the table.
Because I live in the Netherlands myself, I ask my brother if this is a good purchase in the sense of a reasonable price, good location and shape / condition of the country. My brother confirms this and I don't know why but I ask him three times if it really belongs to Ngu's sister and if Ngu earns money from this transaction. My brother confirms the first and vehemently denies (how could you ask?) the second. He recommends a lawyer found by Ngu who arranges the land transaction with my girlfriend as the buyer and myself as the leaser of the land. There is an extensive email exchange with the lawyer about the contracts and it is noticeable that the name of the selling party remains open, but that could be added later.
After the draft contracts have been approved, I travel to Thailand to sign and arrange payment. On the day of the signing I see that Ngu's name is in the contract, but everyone swears me not to look for anything because it really comes from Ngu's sister and that's where the money goes. To make the land ready for construction, the mango trees must be dug up and 110 trucks with soil must be brought in for 1.000 baht per truck to raise the land sufficiently above the level of the road and Ngu is also happy to arrange this for me.
Still bought another house instead of building it yourself
At the beginning of 2013 I will retire, cancel my rental home and move to Thailand. And now there must be housing in Thailand and building a house on my own land is obvious. Of course Ngu knows a friendly builder, but the offer of four million Baht for a 100 m2 bungalow with swimming pool is really too much for me. I explored the market via the internet and I found a much nicer – designed and well built by an American architect – bungalow on 800 m2 of land for an amount well below three million Baht and the house is also part of a company.
My girlfriend and her sister may own 51% of the shares, but with my 49% of the shares I have about 90% voting rights and I am the administrator of the company. The house is from 2006 and was inhabited by an elderly English teacher together with her dog who could happily run around in the barely landscaped garden. In order to move into this house, a complete paint job must be done if only to get rid of the horrible English taste and in fact the garden had to be laid out. It is clear that my girlfriend and I then decide to buy this house instead of building it ourselves.
My brother passed away quite suddenly
After the purchase of the company, I will return to the Netherlands for ten days to arrange the last matters regarding my emigration. The evening before my departure, my girlfriend and I have a farewell dinner with my brother and his wife Ngu. Three days after I arrive in the Netherlands I receive a message that my brother has been admitted to the hospital in Bangkok with acute renal failure. My brother had canceled his Dutch health insurance a year earlier for cost reasons and was therefore at his own expense. My girlfriend who stayed in Thailand visits my brother and a crying Ngu says she doesn't have any money to pay the hospital bill.
A year earlier I had already lent € 8.000 to my brother for an operation, but now I decide to donate € 2.000 and I buy his heavy motorcycle en passant and also transfer 50.000 Baht for it. But operations and the high mooring fees make the money disappear like snow in the tropical sun and after a week due to lack of funds, Ngu decides – without consultation – to disconnect the artificial kidney and a day before my return to Thailand my brother is already dead. dead. He then still has an unpaid debt of approximately € 4.000.
The discovery of the scam
Naturally, the week of my return will be devoted to the cremation of my brother. Shortly afterwards we receive the keys to our new house and we can start painting and garden renovation. Now it is convenient that Ngu has a dozen brothers and sisters who mainly work at the door who can carry out these activities and we hire three brothers and two sisters to carry out these – a month-long – activities. My Thai girlfriend knows how to build a good relationship with these brothers and sisters and so we find out that one of the two sisters was the former owner of the land we bought and we find out that the sister did not receive 500.000 Baht but 300.000 Baht and that Ngu has therefore put 200.000 Baht in his own pocket. The moment we discuss this with her, her ability to speak English completely disappears and there is no question of giving back.
How can I get my money back
My brother had long considered his possible sudden death and had given me a file of all his bank, insurance, income and tax details. Because Ngu obviously cannot speak or read Dutch, I arranged all tax, banking and insurance matters for her, because I had promised my brother that. My brother had a Dutch annuity and life insurance policy of just under € 50.000, of which Ngu was the beneficiary for approximately 90%. I suggested to Ngu that my brother living in the Netherlands should handle this insurance matter, but to make that possible he needed a power of attorney. Ngu has given that English-language power of attorney, which I have drawn up, and my brother has instructed the insurance company to pay out to my account.
The insurance company considers this to be an early payment and reports that 52% wage tax must be withheld. I tell Ngu that the Dutch tax authorities also want 20% revision interest on this payment in case she files an IB return on this payment. The insurance pays out to my account and after deducting the outstanding loan and the 200.000 Baht of the scam, I transfer the remainder to her. Of course she comes to complain to me and say that it was with my brother's knowledge, but he can no longer defend himself and I don't care because I have my money back. It's annoying that Ngu speaks ill of my girlfriend and me to everyone, but most people know Ngu and know that she rarely speaks the truth.
Ngu receives 30.000 Baht monthly from my brother's pension fund (I applied for her), has her house mortgage free and shares nothing of the inheritance with my brother's daughters and has now hooked yet another European for the renewed game. Among other things, she arranged for him to build an 8 x 4 meter swimming pool for 1,1 million Baht. The Dutch bank will of course go into the boat for € 10.000, because Ngu is really not going to pay off my brother's debt from the insurance payment.
Finally for learning
- If your intuition tells you in a first meeting that someone cannot be trusted, only put it aside if there is convincing evidence to the contrary.
- Do not accept incomplete draft contracts before acting.
- Paying part of the purchase price under the table is not a good idea. In this case, when the land is sold, tax must be paid on the profit in Thailand.
- Don't put all your eggs in one basket: in this case Ngu did everything and everywhere she picked up a storage: on the ground, on the lawyer and on the trucks with soil.
- And especially for Ngu: if you had been honest, your brother-in-law would have helped you – despite the revision interest to be paid – to recover a considerable amount of Dutch tax. I won't tell her and I ask you all to do the same if you see Ngu.
Submitted by Antoine
– Reposted message –
There is nothing wrong with buying or getting married if you do it wisely. With a contract that is incomplete and partly under the table, all alarm bells should start ringing, you want things like that clearly on paper through an independent person. Getting married is fine, possibly under HV. You don't want if one of you falls away, the other doesn't get into trouble (financially or with the home). You give pocket money to children, just go both weeks if you are not yet retired. If your partner also has a job, something like pocket money is not necessary. And in a really good relationship you also have insight or access to each other's finances, if you are afraid that your partner is stealing from you then I wonder what you do in such a relationship instead of stepping out quickly.
Well, what can you say about that. It's entertaining. Ngu played it smart: she got what she needed from her short relationship, with the icing on the cake that article writer Antoine, despite all his reservations about her, also arranges an NL pension for her. Still free and happy 30 ThB per month, a high-average income by TH standards.
But what is there to learn? Only that types like late brother apparently, because they fall unfailingly for the wrong women, willingly sacrifice themselves to such a woman.
Naive? Gullible? Stupid and silly are better descriptions. Why does it have to be married so quickly, and why have the last capital been invested?
Well, the Thai woman will be beaten up again.
Ls,
It is a special story. Fortunately, things often [also] end well in Thailand, but also often not, see the story above. I sometimes say that there are no better lessons than life lessons. To protect yourself, I will go with Frans from Amsterdam to just rent there. There is plenty to rent for reasonable prices, so you don't put all your eggs in one basket.
And last but not least:
These types of people also walk around in the Netherlands and things can be bad there too. The whole 'climate' in Thailand means that people are more likely to be 'taken into the boat'. Robert
You can hardly call this a scam; she sold her sister's land for 500.000 baht, claiming she earned nothing. Sister 300.00 and she 200.000 profit; actually nothing special. Two naives asking to be picked; damage is still not too bad.
Perhaps the deceased brother was also in this story.
Dear people,
The fact that the lady made a profit on the ground is in fact a business transaction and nothing wrong with that, it is a daily occurrence in the Netherlands, you could morally speak of antisocial acts in this case. But what is much worse and also another crime is the fact that she had the plug pulled under the guise of no money. She did have money, and I wonder what role the hospital or the doctors had in this. I want to offer my condolences for the loss from your brother, but this matter would not be over with me, I would certainly go and talk to the doctors.
Strong and greetings Henk Storteboom
What is most striking is the cancellation of Dutch health insurance even though there was still poor health. It could be over at any moment. In fact, his family will have to foot the bill. Of course there was always money for the Thai. Even after his death. Strange story.
Nice and nuanced comments above. That's nice to read.
In addition:
Where does the madness of falang men begin. Where does she end up?
Had a relationship myself last year, in the middle of Isaan, near Yasothon.
Now it simmers on a low burner. How come?
Sat in an environment of middle class Thai people, many women. Government officials, police chiefs, school principals and inspectors, bank managers or employees, insurance companies, even a female commander from the Thai Army.
My friend, a teacher, had completely absorbed me in her circles.
A nice bonus and a good insight into Thai society. An opportunity. I myself have been an 'educational person', now retired.
At least 18 of those women (out of a circle of roughly 80 people), all over 50 years old, were married to a falang. It's all the rage over there. Well, I do the same…
But time and time again my mouth falls open in amazement at the falang!!!
Already legally married after two months of acquaintance, sinsod paid, big party, honeymoon to an expensive place in the south.
Then it continues.
Those falang buy a Civic-ske for my wife, they are already buying land to build on later, they are already building a house, they are building an annex kangaroo house for father-in-law, they are buying gold for mother-in-law, they only do city trips by plane ( the bus is not done), aircons are installed everywhere, sister-in-law gets a loan of 800 eu to start a house, etc.
So those falang must also be mediated themselves. Did they sell their house in Sidney or Montreal or Stuttgart? Question mark. Riddles! And then again.
Does Sinterklaas exist? constantly flashes before my eyes.
I wonder: What's the matter with all this falang?
Making and implementing such far-reaching (financial) decisions in such a short time? You give all your belongings and your soul to a woman you have only known for half a year. Those men are invariably between 56 and 69 years old, all Western nationalities.
Be careful, I have all the respect for all Thai women, each and every one of them is amazing in their own way. And jealously.
I myself am not participating in this rat race! Gives my girlfriend more and more resentment and tension. The social pressure is very high.
What is going on here? What's up with all the falang?
I understand the Thai women: without limits; and an additional upgrade to the upper mid-range.
The joked scene above is of course slightly different, there would be fraud by the sister-in-law. Her behavior is indeed not very beautiful. Other than that I agree wholeheartedly with the above. It is striking how much money these 50s and 60s often have, or rather had after entering into a relationship with a Thai. Still no losers! Must have been smart guys in their own country once! How can they let themselves be stripped like that? The writer Celine already knew: A woman's capital is between her legs.
I add: And the mind of an older man moves to his crotch when a young woman looks at him sweetly.
Nice story up here very entertaining
I also have a Thai wife and bought a piece of land for her
And we're slowly building that on nothing from me at all
If the day ever comes when she doesn't want to continue with me, fine
Then I pack my suitcase and leave, after which the whole neighborhood can speak of it as a shame
And look after her, I'll go and drink a beer under the sun and don't cry cry on Complaint Book
That's life, women cost money
very wise of the previous writer, in the unlikely event that it does not work out, leave things, take your coins with you and leave, you should not grieve about what you leave behind, have been coming to Thailand since 1998 and have never had a Farang on the seen back away with his house and his ground in the plane
That FARANG has no house and land. He MAY stay there and report every 90 days. He can only spend his last money. I know (the) 2 Americans here who are completely stripped here. One even complained to the embassy without a passport or money and was repatriated to Guam because he no longer had a passport. Life on the base was very expensive. After 4 months they brought him home (?). He now has to pay everything back with a pension that he can only survive on.
Were it not in the fable of paradise, that there the man first cost his rib for a woman and that this woman eventually cost them paradise?
Have been standing on this planet for some years now and unfortunately I myself have been able to experience, hear, read (from other men), that you as a man have to be careful no matter what.
Forget the rose-colored glasses. Hold up a transparent ! Take care of things yourself, before every divorce is there and you lose out.
Marriage is nothing but a financial transaction glossed over in the word love. 50% divorces in the Netherlands! How deep is your love?
When it comes to money, when it comes to women, who can you trust?
Men, especially the elderly, like me, stick to the last and protect yourself.