Phuket property swindle: Frenchman exposes multimillion-baht real estate scam

A Frenchman took to social media to accuse three Thai nationals of running a huge real estate scam, luring hundreds of victims into investing in a property project in Phuket. The total loss was over 100 million baht.

The Frenchman said on his Twitter account, Swann Polydor (@soueuls) on October 7, that many people, both Thai and foreign, had invested their money in a Phuket property project called City Life Patong. Polydor said the scammers “took hundreds of millions of baht from investors and built nothing.”

Polydor revealed the identities of the alleged Thai scammers in the post, along with their pictures. Polydor said the main figure in the fraud ring was a Thai man reportedly named Sawit “Mai” Ketroj, who claimed to be the CEO of Emerald Development Group.

According to Polydor, Mai faced legal consequences for a similar offence back in May 2018 but he managed to evade punishment and continued his fraudulent activities using the same procedures. Polydor said Mai ran the scam with his Thai wife, Laddawan Suannuch, and a young Thai man named Joshua Velasco.

Polydor revealed that his mother, who was a factory worker, wanted to spend her retirement in Thailand, so she invested all her savings in the property project. He said his family was not rich but he was willing to offer a 1 million baht reward to anyone capable of providing a solution for his mother to recover her investments.

According to the report on KhaoSod, Polydor’s mother is identified as Sylve Polydor. She invested in real estate in 2022 because they found that the project credible and had all the necessary documents from the authorities to present to her.

The two sought help from the French Embassy in Thailand and discovered that they were not alone. Shockingly, there were other French victims ensnared by this deceitful web, along with victims from Thailand, China, England, and Russia.

Polydor hoped that the story shared on social media would help him and his mother and warn others not to get involved with the three Thai scammers.

Huge real estate scam currently happening in Phuket.
The scammer is @maimicky.

There are hundreds of victims (Thai and foreigners).

I am willing to pay 1,000,000 baht to whoever can provide a solution for my mother to recover her life savings.

I will be considering all…

— Swann Polydor (@soueuls) October 7, 2023

If one of these people is trying to do business with you. RUN AWAY. pic.twitter.com/m0OCwdwCnR

— Swann Polydor (@soueuls) October 7, 2023

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