It is undeniable that business people and foreign corporations must pay attention to its purchase and acquisition procedures to avoid become victims of fraud schemes. This is always a common sense but now with internet and the globalization of online market sites, the fraudsters might use several highly sophisticated ways to mislead the victims that can be thousands of kilometers away from Thailand. Our law office H&P have been appointed as the lawyers of the plaintiffs in civil and criminal lawsuits against criminal organizations, representing the victims, individuals and foreign companies from all over the world.
Following the instructions of three ambassadors in Thailand, our law firm in Bangkok have prepared a memorandum for their embassies on how to prevent fraud for their foreign citizens entering business in Thailand, especially in transactions related to international trade made on internet.
Legal Due Diligence on your business partners or sellers
It is strongly advisable to check your business partner in Thailand before proceeding to wire payments or enter into contracts or agreements. A lawyer in Thailand has capabilities and resources and can check relevant information of the seller such as A) Age of the company B) Business model C) Capitalization (Registered Capital versus Paid Up Capital) D) Financial statements and audits D) Shareholders and directors. E) Ongoing litigation and debts F) Address of the company
H&P lawyers in Thailand usually prepare due diligence reports gathering all the information on the business partner with our advice and recommendations to international companies and foreign individuals.
If you know your partner or seller well, you will be able to avoid losing money and wasting time in transactions that are not real.
Bank transfers of payments to Thailand
If the seller advises to transfer to a personal bank account instead of a corporate bank, this is clearly a red flag. The fraudsters usually use this model (personal bank account instead of company account) after pushing to the buyer with tight deadlines and attractive prices via applications such as WhatsApp.
The fraudsters usually use companies bank accounts for big amounts of money and personal bank accounts for small amounts or small payments.
The buyers should never pay to personal bank accounts in Thailand when they are engaging on international businesses with Thai companies.
Too good to be true
The fraudsters usually engage with the victims, using apps, social media and putting a lot of pressure on buyers that receive offers on products that are too good to be true.
The communication is always via Line or WhatsApp instead of email correspondence and the official documentation (DBD, Custom, Thai Chamber of Commerce etc) usually is in capital letters using English language when English is not an official language of Thailand.
Our lawyers in Thailand can always visit the warehouses and addresses of the sellers to double check the information provided by the sellers.
The model of the fraud has many layers
Based on our experience in many criminal lawsuits, it is quite common that the seller or fraudster later impersonates a logistic company or even a police officer to continue the conversation with the victim.
In both cases, the fraudster will always request additional payments using a tracking number in a logistic company website (that is usually a mirror of an existing one) or delivering fake police documents or court documents (all in English language).
We do not need to point out that the buyer should not pay any additional amount as they play with the hope of the buyer that can obtain the goods without starting legal actions.
Be aware of the statute of limitations
In Thailand the statute of limitations plays against the victims in many cases. This means that if you do not file via your lawyers a police report within the timeframe then you will not be able to claim the money at any court of justice in Thailand. Time is essential to avoid the prescription of the legal actions if we have not filed a police report on time.
We recommend not to waste time engaging in fruitless conversations with the fraudsters and start the preparation of the litigation to recover the payments.
Your lawyers in Thailand will need to receive from you legalized documents such as company affidavits, POA, bank transfer certificates etc. This process of legalization at MOFA and Embassy of Thailand in your country can take time (weeks or months) so it is key to move fast to avoid the statute of limitations.
If you want to conduct a legal due diligence on the seller in Thailand or you have already been a victim of fraud, please contact our corporate lawyers and criminal attorneys in Thailand at [email protected]
