Transcript of the above video: 

This overarching theme of nominee businesses has not been overly popular in terms of views. I've noticed that in some of the view counts. On this one; I am not unaware that I have an audience. I never really intended to have an audience; these were always intended promotionally and whatever soapbox aspect of this, think of me as like a wild-eyed man in Hyde Park somewhere standing on a soap box, but I never really thought I would have an audience - very appreciative of the fact that I do- it's very humbling in certain ways. But I do notice that the view count is way down on this topic. I get it. A lot of people don't think it is pertinent. This is extremely pertinent to a certain subsection of the expat community and folks that may want to do business here. That's the reason I'm continuing to make these videos, so again, it's more for the content itself. This is actually one of the reasons I never did monetize this channel. I have never wanted to be driven necessarily by the algorithm, because there are times when the algorithm wants you to go a certain way when there is really pertinent stuff happening in sort of a different quadrant if you will. I'm not even attributing any sort of malicious intent behind that phenomenon. It's just a fact; it's just sort of what occurs. The algorithm tends to chase what's popular, this isn't going to be the most popular topic for a variety of reasons. I know a lot of expats don't like to accentuate the negative if you will. Also there are not a lot of people that necessarily are involved in corporate matters of running businesses and or at least as a subset of the expat population, it's actually a relatively small group of people overall. So this is for them basically, and I think that this is one of those times where I have to kind of ignore the view count and everything like that and just make information, or put out information that is pertinent for those folks because there is a lot going on out there and I just don't want people to sort of find themselves listening to the wrong people, because quite honestly now there is a bunch of people jumping on this narrative bandwagon. I've seen a number of them - don't know what they're talking about in any way shape or form - sitting there going who's that, I've never even heard of that. In any event, long story short, let's just jump into this. 

I thought of making this video after reading a rather recent article from the Pattaya News, that is thepatttayanews.com, the article is titled: Chonburi Governor Launches Strict Crackdown on Nominee Businesses, 70 Companies Initially Targeted by 25-Agency Task Force. Before I quote further, it's important to point out, things are operating a little differently province to province. This is a nationwide initiative, but at the provincial level, it's being handled slightly differently. It's not unlike immigration. There are a national protocols and then there is how they are handled at the local level. Important to point that out. 

Very quickly before I go any further, there have been folks that have asked me, they have said, "hey is there any way we can help out? We know you're not monetized on this channel. We may not necessarily need an attorney, we may not necessarily need a law firm, is there anything else we can do? As I've discussed in other videos, my better half and I set up a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok, the name of the place is Pancake Palace. As the name implies, it is breakfast anytime as well as American Diner style food including but not limited to hamburgers, cheeseburgers, buffalo wings, hot dogs, chilli dogs. We've got great pancakes, great breakfast anytime, English style breakfast. So if you're interested, come on by; Pancake Palace, links are in the description below. That said, let me jump in here. 

Quoting, and again I think it's important. Two reasons on this, one to see the different provinces are kind of doing things a little differently and this article points out specifics of problematic companies if you will. Quoting further: "The Chonburi Provincial Commerce Office has screened an initial list of 70 high-risk juristic persons across various sectors including construction, retail, real estate, tourism, tourism, hotels, warehouses, logistics, transportation and other services." So take out other services because that is kind of the remainder where something is kind of nebulous, but again they are telling you what is being targeted here. Construction, retail, real estate, tours and hotels, warehouses, logistics, transportation and other services. That really runs the gamut of most of the restricted occupations in Thailand and again other services - professional services, as we have discussed in other videos including legal, accounting etc. fall under that as well. Quoting further: "Many of these businesses are concentrated in economically active areas such as Banglamung (Pattaya), Sri Racha, and Mueang Chonburi districts. Key risk indicators identified include: 

-       Granting greater management authority to foreigners then to Thai shareholders."

We have talked about this for years. Preferential share companies, it's always been something that we have been reticent about ever doing it especially as a matter of course. Under certain circumstances it may make sense, but where it doesn't pass the smell test of "wait a minute, somebody has 51% of the shares but they have no control" it starts to look odd. That said, quoting further:

-       Registered Capital exceeding 5 million baht 

-       Irregular financial management or income patterns linked to restricted business categories"

Yeah again, it doesn't pass the smell test. Whatever it is you said you are doing, on paper, it doesn't look right.

Again, quoting further: "As of May 21st, 2026, the Commerce Office had sent official letters requesting clarification on shareholding structures, investment sources, and business operations to directors of all 70 companies and 199 shareholders. So far, 50 companies (71.43%) have responded, while 20 companies (28.57%) have not yet submitted explanations and are being urgently followed up. The meeting discussed detailed inspection plans," - again the tactics, the sort of where the rubber is hitting the road stuff here - "including data cross verification, on-site visits to business premises, and coordination with local administrative offices, tax authorities, local government organizations, and security agencies." Security agencies is important. As I have discussed in other videos, especially noting down again here in Chonburi where one of these latest weapons caches or “caches” (I've always heard it as cache, weapons cache, weapons “cach”, whatever okay. I get all kinds of hell in the comments about this; I'm not French or wherever that word came from, so pardon me, okay? In any event though, it's happening down in Chonburi and security agencies are involved. This got bumped up into a national security thing, okay. That's important to note. They're taking this far more seriously than they have ever taken stuff like this in the past. Quoting further: "Actual field inspections are scheduled to begin in June 2026, with full results expected by the end of July 2026. Cases will be categorized as normal, requiring further monitoring, or clearly in violation of the law."

So again, it remains to be seen exactly how this is going to look but we have a framework now of what they are going to be doing. We now know the tools they're using; we now know what they are targeting, at least in that particular province. That said, I think you can at least use this as a framework for doing analysis on a nationwide basis. That being said, it remains to be seen how all this plays out, so we will certainly be keeping folks updated on this channel as the situation evolves.