Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing “nominee” versus “fake identity” issues here in Thailand. What are we talking about? Let's just jump into this article from the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com. The article is titled: When birth certificates are "hacked": Decoding identity theft and the silent threat to Thailand's national security. So just as a preface, I have done a number of videos here recently. There is a heavy crackdown right now on nominee structures here in Thailand and corporate structures that are set up. Again the thrust of it seems to be foreign nationals utilizing corporate structures with nominees on them in order to effectively own land in Thailand - which is heavily restricted from foreign nationals - but again, the overall framework for ascertaining this nominee thing is definitely moving to a law enforcement paradigm, so that's something to take away before we get into this. 

Real quickly before I jump into the citation, folks have asked me, they have said "hey, I don't always need a lawyer, but I really appreciate the videos that you guys do. What can we do to support you?" Well, my better half and I set up a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok. It's called Pancake Palace. If you're an expat, if you are a foreigner, heck, if you're a Thai and you just like American Diner style food including breakfast anytime - although it's not just breakfast - we also have an English breakfast, not just American breakfast, but we also have American Diner style food: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chilli bowls, chilli dogs, hot dogs, Polish sausage, grilled cheese sandwiches, grilled ham and cheese, tacos as well and we have also got Coke in glass bottles, as well as yeah, we do have a functioning wet bar etc. So if you're interested and you'd like to have a nice cheeseburger or just some good old down home American food and you want to sort of support us what we are doing on this channel, we'd love to see you. Links are in the description below to come see us at Pancake Palace. 

That said, let's jump into this notion of birth certificates being hacked. Quoting directly, again from the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com. "The recent scandal involving fraudulent birth certificates in Nakorn Ratchasima has sent shock waves through the legal and business sectors. Recent findings from official investigations revealed a "civil registration crime" that is far more sophisticated and systematic than initially thought. This is not merely a case of filing false information; it is a calculated undermining of the integrity of Thailand's Civil Registration System at its very foundation." Now what are we talking about here? We're talking about there is nefarious activity going on at the level of registering people as being born in Thailand; that's what we're talking about. There was a similar set of circumstances that arose about like going back now, I can't believe it's been this long, but I think it's been about 9 years ago and I talked about it, I did videos on it - there were a number of Indian Nationals that had come into Thailand and somehow they had corrupted a Civil Registrar Official and were on paper marrying Thai women and then using that “marriage” to get an O Marriage Visa. Well what ended up happening was these Thai women started showing up at the Registrar to actually marry somebody and they were told, "you are already married" and they said, "what are you talking about?" and that uncovered the scandal. The upshot of that was Marriage Visas became a little bit more difficult to deal with on an ongoing basis - they started doing more spot checks and things-  but again, the Civil Registrar System is in Thailand oftentimes DOPA, I think of it as DOPA, the Department of Provincial Administration, they oversee the sort of Nationwide apparatus for this. This is important, as the author points out in the article, this is the foundational Civil Registrar System and the registration as a Thai has profound ramifications, as we'll get to. Quoting further: 1. The modus operandi "Creating Thais" in a legal vacuum.  Preliminary investigations have flagged at least 27 suspicious birth certificates, all sharing a distinct recurring pattern. Fabricated Family Structures, These records list a "Chinese National" as the mother and a "Thai National" as the father to claim Thai citizenship through the bloodline principle (Jus Sanguinis)." For those who are unaware, there is Jus Sanguinis and Jus Soli. That's like law of the land, law of the blood. It pertains to how you derive your nationality. Quoting further: "Minimal Fees for Massive Gain, Reported bribes range from 10,000 to 30,000 Thai baht per case a trivial sum when weighed against the immense "future value" of the legal rights obtained. Geographic Red Flags, Most tellingly, these certificates were issued in districts "without hospitals". In modern civil registration, an unusual volume of out-of-hospital births (home births) in a specific area is a major red flag indicating systemic systematic fraud." 

As to the "future value", what are they talking about here? Well as a naturalized Thai myself - I became Thai, it is going about 8 years ago, actually 9 years ago, my name was in the Royal Gazette and at that point forward I was a Thai national - there is immense value to being Thai. I mean a ton of immense value. If you are a foreign national here, you have to deal with visas and things. The moment you are a Thai, you no longer have to deal with that. I don't have to worry about all the various restrictions from the Foreign Business Act by dint of the fact that I am Thai. I can own property in Thailand. Again there are many privileges and immunities associated with Thai citizenship. I agree with the author on this. This is a major issue. If folks are undermining our Civil Registrar System here in Thailand and just creating Thais out of thin air, that's a real problem. 

That said, quoting further: "Nominee - This involves using 'an existing Thai national' as a front to hold rights or assets. In these cases, the state retains the ability to audit the financial trail or investigate the underlying relationships to revoke those rights." 

So the point of this video is and the point of the article - and I urge those who are watching this video go check out the article - but there's this Nominee Crackdown going on which that's problematic enough. Nominees create a structure that a foreign national or some criminal or somebody, I'm not saying all foreign nationals are criminals, but somebody could use to circumvent or bypass various laws against things like foreign ownership of land. You could set up a Thai company that on paper is primarily owed by a Thai and is therefore in line with the Foreign Business Act, and can therefore own land. That kind of structure is an issue if there is a nominee involved. Now there are certain structures that can own land in a legitimate sense and do business here in Thailand - I've talked about that in the past, what I call the husband - wife shop house model is the most prevalent one we've seen - that is deemed to be in compliance with relevant Thai Law. But that being said, and the thing to take away from this video is there is a difference between being a "nominee" versus just a wholly fake identity.

Quoting further: "Fake Identity - This represents the 'injection of a new persona', into the national database. If undetected at the source, these individuals effectively become Thai citizens by law. They gain the ability to acquire land, incorporate businesses, or even travel on Thai passports with absolutely no visible irregularities on their records. In simpler terms a nominee structure is the borrowing of a name, but birth certificate fraud is the fabrication of a legal bloodline to seize permanent rights." And that's a problem. That can lead to the undermining of Thai national sovereignty if nothing else. If this is allowed in too wide a volume, it could dilute the very bloodlines of Thailand. I mean really this is serious stuff. This is very, very concerning.

So I'm very thankful to the person who wrote that article. It's very interesting stuff. I urge those who are watching this video to go check that out. That being said, as it pertains to the ongoing issue of fake birth certificates and nominees here in Thailand, we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.