Another story of a business owner being scammed.

Another story of a business owner being scammed.

A few weeks ago a gogo owner contacted me, I wont mention his name or the gogo until action has been taken. A year or so ago he asked his best friend of 20 years to manage his gogo while he was back at home in farangland. Things weren’t right and his mates starting telling him that his manager (best friend) was robbing, he could not believe this after friendship of 20 years.

Eventually the owner moved to Thailand and was in the business everyday, it was too difficult to rob and eventually his manager (friend) cleared the business account of over 800,000 baht. He stole it to set up a new business. The owner estimates hes had over 200k a month stolen but cannot prove it, but hes still finding out more and more stuff.

The owner has tried to contact his friend and there has been a wall of silence which says to me he is scared or embarrassed about what he has done. I know there is 2 sides to every story, I tried to contact the guy to mediate but he wouldn’t talk to me about that subject.

During the period his mate was running the gogo, he lied and said there was a problem with the license and he had 24 hours to find someone else to go on the license and he suggested his gf goes on the entertainment license. (the owner agreed as he was busy and away at the time)

During company set up, he added his mate to the company and his lady was added at 51% (normal procedure) but she was meant to take her name off the company but didn’t. He added them both as directors 🙁

Problem 1. She wont take her name off the entertainment license because she thinks she can somehow have power over him. She has to sign a form to cancel the license. There is no under the table for this.

Problem 2. Both of them are on the company name and he cannot remove them without signatures, always make yourself a sole company director so you can throw people off who cheat. (I am very sure how this works, but I could be wrong)

The lawyer of the thief has contacted the gogo owner and told him they will sign over the business and remove themselves from the license if he signs a form to say he wont go after them about the stealing of 800k.

The gogo owner was told to set up a new business, close old business and move work permits was in excess of 200k.

My response to problem 1. The fact that she is on the license is good, especially during raids, because if he gets raided he wont bail her out, just let her work out her sentence. He will save good money. He could effectively do a deal with the police, where he gets himself raided and she goes to prison, but it will have to be done carefully. I said just leave it, the worst she can do is cancel the license and it might take a day or 2 max to get a new one. (new ones are expensive compared to renewals)

My response to problem 2. Close the company down or just get the books updated and keep paying minimum tax. My estimate is 12k a year only to keep them running. Then open up a new business for 35-45 k depending on the size he needs. Then instead of buying a new work permit, add the new company/address onto the wp then remove the old company/address! That should save a lot of money.

In the mean time cancel his work permit and report it to immigration. In theory they should throw him out or give him a few days to get a new visa.

There is also another trick that I wont say because I know hes going to read this, I wont say it.

In hindsight.

He should have done a work contract, a business contract, not let him or his lady be a director on the business. He should have had someone checking on them. Also the gf who signed the entertainment license should have signed something, so they can remove her from license without her being present.

Soon I may write up more details (if the business owner wants me to) but in the mean time this guy needs to go to jail. My lawyer said hes very sure he can do it. If he doesn’t want to go to jail he needs to pay back the money asap or at least start paying it off.