News Forum - Where’s our money? Chiang Mai bank loses farmers’ 100 million baht

[Thaiger]

More than 200 angry members of an agricultural cooperative  laid siege to Chang Phueak Police Station in Chiang Mai on Friday demanding to know where the farmers‘ 100 million baht has gone. Members of the San Pa Tong Agriculture Cooperative claim that more than 100 million baht (US$2.8 million)  deposited with a “reputable bank” has vanished …

The story Where’s our money? Chiang Mai bank loses farmers’ 100 million baht as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Ramanathan.P]

Aren't all the banks are controlled by the BOT. It is pretty sure that these banks might have kept some security deposit with the Bank of Thailand as per the legal requirements. That money could be used to offset the poor farmers. This is a commercial crime. I wonder why they are involving police in it. Yes they need an official complain and it has to be channeled to the Central Bank Of Thailand or Finance Ministry to take proper action against the bank. 

[Richard1944]

Looks like another story about police inaction, only when a crime is posted on social media that the police are forced to do something otherwise if not nothing happens 

[SmellyG]

70m @ 3.8% APY for 2 years = 104m? My head hurts with that calculation. Should be 75.4m give or take.

 

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

1 hour ago, SmellyG said:

70m @ 3.8% APY for 2 years = 104m? My head hurts with that calculation. Should be 75.4m give or take.

The TAT must have done the calculation, that is where they got the 104 million from. 

[BJoe]

Embezzlement or incompetence, but certainly not all the facts are being presented in this article.   Highly unlikely that any  reputable bank just “misplaces” that kind of account without some sort of reasonable explanation.

[Donald]

Very fishy story. Certainly with the banks having installed so many "safeguards" to access one's account that it has become a problem accessing your own money. Both my wife and a friend of hers have lost access to their account after making an error on their on line banking shutting them effectively out of their accounts. As both live outside Thailand the only solution will be having to travel back to solve the issue. And then stories like this where Hundreds of Millions seem to disappear into thin air.

[JamesR]

I am confused.

The money has been deposited into a large bank.

The bank has lost money from itself therefore the depositors have not lost it?

So there are details missing in this report, does the bank mean someone has taken the funds out via standard means in other words the money is not there anymore but the bank does not know who took it out?

I tried to move 40,000 pounds from my main bank to a new bank paying 4.5% a year interest and my bank immediately froze my account and blocked the transfer.

I had to phone them and go through a series of questions taking twenty minutes or so to make sure I was making this transfer on my own accord and was not being conned.

Since the check I can move a max of 20,000 pounds a day to other accounts without any problem as the check has been done, I would not be able to do so without the initial security check. 

So there is a huge amount of information missing in this report, the money can not just be 'lost' as after all the money is not physical, it is just a number on a secure computer system. 

 

[James7001]

I noticed the article very specifically, does not mention the name of this so-called big bang
 

Obviously, its customers would suddenly withdraw their funds and quite rightly!!

 

As we all know, banks can go bust !

[Samlee]

I don't trust Thai banks anymore. There have been several reports over recent weeks of bank staff stealing money. Those are just the ones I hear about. If and when Thai banks get into financial trouble because of the global economy, people should withdraw all their savings or else the banks will confiscate the money. Already they can do that legally if you have over one million Baht. The amount over one million isn't guaranteed. If you have 100 million, a bank will be able to leave you with just one million Baht. Ask a bank if you don't believe me.

[ChrisS]

No mention of which bank is involved. No follow up as to why the police would not take action until their police station was invaded by these farmers and it hit social media. Pretty poor journalism. Methinks there is more to this story than is being reported.

[JamesR]

".....Ask a bank if you don't believe me....."

We can't ask them as you said, "I don't trust Thai banks anymore."

If you don't trust them so why should we? 

[Faz]

16 hours ago, Samlee said:

I don't trust Thai banks anymore. There have been several reports over recent weeks of bank staff stealing money.

Set up SMS alerts to notify of deposits and withdrawals.
Any change to the balance and you're immediately notified.

16 hours ago, Samlee said:

Those are just the ones I hear about. If and when Thai banks get into financial trouble because of the global economy, people should withdraw all their savings or else the banks will confiscate the money. Already they can do that legally if you have over one million Baht. The amount over one million isn't guaranteed. If you have 100 million, a bank will be able to leave you with just one million Baht. Ask a bank if you don't believe me.

If you intend keeping 1M + BHT, then deposit funds with different banks.
Many folks deposit 400-800K THB in a Thai bank as an Immigration requirement to remain in Thailand year after year.

[Faz]

18 hours ago, James7001 said:

I noticed the article very specifically, does not mention the name of this so-called big bang

Thai Military Bank.

 

Over 200 members of an agricultural co-op from Chiang Mai’s Sanpatong district have reported the loss of savings of 100 million baht from their account at Thai Military Bank (TMB). This group represents over 10,000 farmers who belong in the co-op and whose livelihoods are dependant on this money.

According to police, a report was filed at Chang Puak Police station accusing the bank manager as well as 20 named enablers of theft.
https://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/citynews/general/100-million-baht-of-farmers-money-missing-from-thai-military-bank/

 

 

[JamesR]

3 hours ago, Faz said:

Set up SMS alerts to notify of deposits and withdrawals.
Any change to the balance and you're immediately notified.

If you intend keeping 1M + BHT, then deposit funds with different banks.
Many folks deposit 400-800K THB in a Thai bank as an Immigration requirement to remain in Thailand year after year.

I have SMS alerts and alerts via my iPhone banking apps from my UK banks, my Thai bank, and all UK credit cards, they are instant and sent as soon as any transaction has been made, there are even alerts when a banking app or online bank site has been accessed.

In the UK the guaranteed limit is 85k pounds so people distribute their money to many non-connected banks.

Here I just need the 800k baht in the bank account to satisfy the rules for me to be able to stay here, I just top it up with Wise bank transfers via my iPhone app which takes seconds to do.

People should buy us software engineers a beer every time they see us as we have made their lives much easier. 

 

@FazIs it true I only need to deposit 400k in a Thai bank account if I marry a Thai?

If true that means I will have more to spend, but does it mean I will then have to find a 25-year-old girl, marry her, buy her a house, and pay for her extended family for the rest of my life? 

[JamesR]

3 hours ago, Faz said:

Thai Military Bank.

Over 200 members of an agricultural co-op from Chiang Mai’s Sanpatong district have reported the loss of savings of 100 million baht from their account at Thai Military Bank (TMB). This group represents over 10,000 farmers who belong in the co-op and whose livelihoods are dependant on this money.

According to police, a report was filed at Chang Puak Police station accusing the bank manager as well as 20 named enablers of theft.
https://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/citynews/general/100-million-baht-of-farmers-money-missing-from-thai-military-bank/

I read the article you posted.

So it could be the bank invested the money into a fund and the fund failed and so the money they invested has turned into nothing.

So I suppose it all depends on what sort of 'contract' the depositors had, had they agreed to the bank investing their money elsewhere?

There are many things that are not clear as there are risks with all investments, but was this an investment as far as the farmers were concerned or were they just depositing money in the bank, it is unclear.

[Faz]

2 hours ago, JamesR said:

@FazIs it true I only need to deposit 400k in a Thai bank account if I marry a Thai?

Yes, and unlike the retirement extensions, you can spend the 400K after the extension is approved.
The only requirement is 400K 2 months prior to the extension application.

 

2 hours ago, JamesR said:

If true that means I will have more to spend, but does it mean I will then have to find a 25-year-old girl, marry her, buy her a house, and pay for her extended family for the rest of my life? 

Only if you're controlled by the little head.
You can always find a younger woman, with her own house, own business and the family already financially secure, as I did. 

 

[Marc26]

1 hour ago, Faz said:

Yes, and unlike the retirement extensions, you can spend the 400K after the extension is approved.
The only requirement is 400K 2 months prior to the extension application.

Only if you're controlled by the little head.
You can always find a younger woman, with her own house, own business and the family already financially secure, as I did. 

So I can transfer that 400k back out of Thailand?

 

Or possibly put it into a Securities account in Thailand that may have better protection?

[Faz]

1 hour ago, Marc26 said:

So I can transfer that 400k back out of Thailand?

Or possibly put it into a Securities account in Thailand that may have better protection?

Well, we're going way off topic here, so any further questions please open a new topic in https://talk.thethaiger.com/forum/82-visas-long-stay-extensions-re-entry-permit/ but to answer your question, the only requirement for a 1-year extension of stay based on Thai spouse using the funds' method, is that you deposit 400K 2 months prior to submitting a new application.

327-2557 (2014) - Criteria for extension ENG.pdf 
Section 2.18, clause 6;
(6) In the case of marriage to a Thai woman, the alien husband must earn an average annual income of no less than Baht 40,000 per month or must have no less than Baht 400,000 in a bank account in Thailand for the past two months to cover expenses for one year.

Once the extension is approved, you can do whatever you want with that 400K.
Personally, I deposited 500K in a 1-year Fixed term account, which I renew each year, and just let any interest accrue. I also claim back any tax deducted.

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

9 hours ago, Faz said:

Thai Military Bank.

 ….. Doesn’t the Thai Military require 100 M Baht to salvage that Frigate? Maybe they didn’t want to cap in hand to the Government, and looked at other options.
 

But back to reality at least though the Thai police have the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) to rely on to work with the bank to figure out where this money disappeared. Maybe Big Joke needs to step in and take charge of this, as he does seem to get results, and relatively quickly to.

[Faz]

1 hour ago, AdvocatusDiaboli said:

….. Doesn’t the Thai Military require 100 M Baht to salvage that Frigate? Maybe they didn’t want to cap in hand to the Government, and looked at other options.

Never mind the Frigate, what about that engineless submarine they purchased from China.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2270895/navy-buying-sub-with-no-engines

[JamesR]

5 hours ago, Faz said:

Yes, and unlike the retirement extensions, you can spend the 400K after the extension is approved.
The only requirement is 400K 2 months prior to the extension application.

Only if you're controlled by the little head.
You can always find a younger woman, with her own house, own business and the family already financially secure, as I did. 

I totally agree, I was joking, it is not natural for a girl in her twenties to be interested in a bloke over 60 romantically anywhere in the world, many a fool believe it is possible though, and end up sitting at a bar crying into their beer with two pounds six shillings and sixpence left in the world.  

I have a partner of many years, she owns a few houses she bought through her tourism business which she rents out, and is financially independent.

Although I do splash out on a 50 baht bowl of moo-dang noodles for her now and then if she has behaved herself.