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'Hundreds Scammed' in Phuket Fraud, Say Reports - Phuket Wan

POLICE in Finland are investigating allegations that two men have defrauded investors of millions of euro in a scheme involving a Phuket nightclub and palm oil.

The financial crimes unit in the Finnish city of Tampere is currently investigating the case as one of ''aggravated fraud,'' newspaper reports say.

In March 2008, a Tampere man invested 200,000 euros to help bankroll a night club in Phuket. However the funds were allegedly paid directly into the personal accounts of the subsidiary's director, the newspapers in Finland report.

According to another media outlet, the two men collected around five million euros in investments for a night club and palm oil production in Thailand, promising 900 percent returns.

Between 200 and 250 investors were involved, the reports say. First accounts of the alleged ''sting'' were carried in Thursday's edition of the Aamulehti, a daily newspaper based in Tampere, Finland's third largest city.

The reports name two companies, but no individuals, and specify the Phuket nightclub as ''Babylon.'' At this stage Phuketwan is not aware of any connection with the Babylon Beach Club, a popular island restaurant at Bang Tao.

A report in the international edition of Helsingin Sanomat, Finland's largest circulation daily, says: ''The promises were wild. From the palm oil business the firm's calculations promised profit per hectare that was up to ten times higher than the trade average.

''For investments into the Babylon night club, the company promised 45-60 percent returns already for the first year.''

The report says ''Gullible investors were promised vast profits in no time'' and adds that police are investigating the Finnish-led investment firm on ''two separate fronts.''

A link on the website of one of the companies named in the report promotes the state of property on Phuket with a newspaper article ''TOURISM DRIVES BOOM TIME By Somluck Srimalee, The Nation Published on May 2, 2008'' cut and pasted under the company's letterhead.

The article names reputable Phuket brands, including Trisara, Surin Hill Development, West Sands, the Bay Cliff Company and Centara Karon. As informed investors are aware, the outlook and performance of both tourism and property on the island has varied markedly since May 2008.

Phuket and Thailand are popular destinations for Finns with almost 5000 Finns arriving at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport this September alone, an increase of 16 percent over the previous year.

The attraction of the warm weather along the Andaman coast for Europe's cold-climate Nordic nations is not new. More than 180 Finns were among the 5400 victims of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand.

Chairman Mao

Invest in Thailand... 900% returns...

How did people this stupid stumble across 200k to invest in the first place?

Rural Surin

These are your developed civilisations.....

Stinky

Do you think that people from third world countries are immune to con-artists.

Greed makes fools of men no matter where they come from

Butterfly

hum, sounds familiar

weren't there a guy on TD advertising such returns in the Palm Oil business and who was looking for investors ?

Chairman Mao

Universal human retardation.

it ain't their fault they weren't raised in a cultcha based on dishonesty and immorality such as Thailand's. Being raised in the far superior, honest West can lead to the downfall of some.

StrontiumDog

If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is..........

Rural Surin

You're easily bought and sold. Apologist and hypocrite.

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Chairman Mao

Only trolling you Jeff.

Scandinavian

Problems with e.x. the Finns are that they are too "naive" or believes that all people are good. When you're living half of your life deep in a forest with deers as your only neighbors, nobody ever fools/tricks/cons you in any way. Then, you hop on a plane to the other side of the world, and think that people are probably kinder in The Land Of Smiles than back home in Rovaniemi.
But that's where they are all wrong.

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Muadib

There is a difference between being greedy & a wise investor and being just plain stupid... Much like the idiots who fell for the gold investment scam in Pattaya not too long ago...

MH555

I never invest in anything claiming more than 90%

At the present time I invested in Rubber Rice and Rake all offer from 70% to 80% a year.

PM me if one needs advice

Take care Glad to help

Stinky

True enough

Don Juan

I expect they were investing in Thailand in the first place because of the available pussy.

tsicar

bullshit!

if one could do that then there wouldn't be a single poor thai in isaan.
even the "poor" isaan farmers will often rent their rice paddies to "poor" (poorer, landless) thais for a percentage of the harvest, coz there is such a tiny profit margin that it is not worth doing for themselves.

hope you didn't invest more than you can afford to lose................

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hello, insect!
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Dancing Priest

There are many Westerners involved in selling 'investments' in plantations and similar schemes.

Natural progression from the boiler rooms.

Mr Earl

I can help you invest in palm oil and not loose your shirt.

zubber

inherited wealth .people who inherit large wealth are dumb and careless and easilly lose the lot.
people who have to fight for their wealth are more cafefull.
its the natural cycle of wealth .

the dogcatcher

Rubber and rice?

Smug Farang Bore

When doing any REAL business you have to do your Due Ds. If you don't you've only got only one person to blame. you

Wallalai

Any investor doing this deserve to be scammed IMHO. What a stupid cnut.

Seank

I invested in the stock market the last few years, same result as these people.
Damn, do I feel stupid.

biggrtiggr

Only way to make a small fortune here is to start with a large fortune

Dan

No, their problem, like most people who get conned, is that they're stupid and greedy.