Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing crackdown on certain foreign legal services if you will. A lot going on with this case. This actually blew up quite quickly. I thought of making this video after getting a recent article from the Thai Examiner, that's thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: Chinese billboard aimed at grey area operators causes outrage and prompts PM to visit local police station. Quoting directly:  "Mysterious Chinese billboard in Bangkok offering foreign citizenship has sparked outrage and prompts PM's visit to Huai Khwang Police Station urging an urgent investigation into illegality and grey-area operations. A mysterious Chinese billboard advertisement aimed exclusively at Chinese nationals has sparked outrage in Bangkok. The sign erected on Sunday in Huai Kwang, details a service whereby citizenship of Indonesia, Vanuatu, Cambodia and Turkey can be purchased for moderate fees. By Monday morning at 10am it had been taking down. This came following a Social Media frenzy after a Thai woman on her normal commute stopped to investigate the matter. The social media response was so overwhelming that it caused Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to travel to Huai Khwang Police Station..." So he went there himself. Quoting further: "..to underline his concern about the need to combat illegality." So, and as usual the Thai Examiner goes into some detail. I urge those who are watching this video go check out that article in detail. Long story short, wow yeah, if this is garnered the attention of the Prime Minister, that's pretty serious stuff. 

Then on top of that, that's pretty big. The Interior Ministry is also on top of this as well. I thought of thought of again quoting another article, as noted previously, this thing kind of blew up in the news cycle so there has been a lot of coverage but we are over here at Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Giant passport service advert in Chinese taken down. Quoting directly: "A controversial Chinese language billboard advertising multinational passport and citizenship application services was ordered removed on Monday and the legality of the sign and the business itself are under investigation. The Department of Provincial Administration has also launched a probe." I mean this is serious. They are really not messing around on this. "A source said initial enquiries pointed to the advertisement having been put up only on Sunday. Officials suspect the advertised service is linked to document forgery or other fraud targeting the wealth of people seeking new citizenship. The Department of Provincial Administration was contacting the owner of the billboard the ad was posted on, and would consider legal action the source said. The controversial advertisement was removed about 10am on Monday on the direct order of Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul according to his Secretary." As noted in other videos, the Interior Ministry is primarily concerned with matters pertaining to Immigration here in Thailand as well as I think a lot of sort of trafficking matters tend to fall within their bailiwick. And it should be noted that I first came upon this story pertaining to the Interior Ministry first, and I think in terms of timing, those events transpired before the Prime Minister got in on it. Obviously he's got other things to worry about, the Prime Minister, so the fact that he sort of came a little bit later but then went directly to the Police Station, I think that's very telling as to how important relevant Thai Policy makers take this whole issue of foreigners operating here, providing not only fraudulent service but just generally holding themselves out as providing these type of Immigration and other types of legal services. 

That said, even further to that point and again from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, there was another situation that occurred recently. I thought about making a video at the time and things kind of got ahead of me and I didn't really get into it but I thought it was worth bringing it up in this video. Again, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Russian arrested in Bangkok for passport forgery. Quoting directly: "Immigration Police have arrested a Russian man accused of heading a gang that sold fake passports in Thailand earning at least 30 million Baht from the customers. The group ran advertisements on applications including Telegram and WhatsApp claiming it could legally grant passports for 15 nationalities in return for digital payment. It also registered a company in Thailand to provide added credibility, police said." Yeah, this is one of those things, a lot of people come over here and unfortunately it is just the Wild West in many ways, and unfortunately, as much as I think Thai Law Enforcement and relevant folks in various agencies and things having to do with anti-fraud, are trying to do their best, at the end of the day, folks always come through the cracks. You're always going to see people trying to get away with something and that is oftentimes what you are seeing here with this. That said, quoting further, and more to the point there was, and oftentimes they will even form a company so people think "well we are dealing with the company; that's got to be legitimate.” Not necessarily. As I have discussed in other videos, unfortunately fake lawyers are a real thing out in this part of the world, they just are. Then on top of it, you have to deal with other folks who claim to have and may have qualifications in other jurisdictions but who are actually trying to provide Legal Services, Advisory Services here in Thailand that they are not legally able to provide. Quoting further: "Police obtained a United States passport which the Overseas Criminal Investigation Unit determined to be fake. The fake passports that had been sent to customers were found to have come from the Dominican Republic via FedEx. The losses incurred by the victims were initially reported at over 30 million Baht." So again this isn't insignificant money we are talking about; this is a lot of folks who are pretending to be able to provide Legal Services. Quite honestly, again as I have discussed before, Legal Services, Brokerage Services, Agency Services, all of this stuff is listed on the restricted occupations list. We have discussed that at length before, so if you are dealing with foreigners that are claiming the ability to be able to do this, you need to ascertain whether or not they are Thai. 

As I have discussed many times at length in these videos, I am an naturalized Thai citizen. I am not a Thai attorney; I have never claimed to be a Thai Attorney. I am an American Attorney and I provide some insight from a Comparative Law standpoint. I also provide assistance in liaising between sort of the Thai Legal team here and myself and trying to be able to put things in a certain context especially that foreign clients can understand but that said I have never claimed to be a Thai Legal professional in and of my own right. 

The thing to take away from this video, if something, especially in the Immigration context, sounds too good to be true like you can buy a nationality for hundreds or even mere thousands of dollars, it probably is too good to be true. The other thing is just keep an eye out at the end of the day for fraudulently operating foreigners here in the Kingdom of Thailand.