Thai Scam Watch

  The gas and oil business has always attracted some shady characters and in Thailand it's no exception.   So how does someone with zero retail and gas/oil business experience get a cushy directorship position on Thailand's largest retail gas/oil business? He becomes a senior police officer tasked with investigating corruption along with close family connections to the Thai royal family .   PTTOR - the retail arm of Thailand's massive state-backed energy company PTT - is a huge business , generating tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. The company serves roughly nine million customers across eight countries, operates Thailand’s dominant retail fuel network and the ubiquitous Café Amazon chain, and maintains a multi-billion-dollar market capitalization.   Yet Jirabhop "Kong" Bhuridej, a senior Thai officer who has unexplained lunch meetings with wanted cyberscam criminals , absolutely no experience at all in the energy/retail sector is on the ...

  คนแบบไหนกันที่ต้องการปืน 32 กระบอก และพระพุทธรูป 77 องค์?   และที่สำคัญกว่านั้น มีเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจกี่คนบนโลกนี้ที่มีมูลค่าหลายล้านดอลลาร์สหรัฐ?   ในประเทศที่มีระบบตรวจสอบความรับผิดชอบอย่างจริงจัง คนอย่างจิรภพ "บิ๊กคง" ภูริเดช จะไม่ได้รับอำนาจใดๆ ทั้งสิ้น   เป็นไปได้มากที่สุดว่าเขาคงอยู่ในคุก อยู่ในศาล หรืออยู่ระหว่างการสอบสวน   ประการแรก เขาไม่ได้ตำแหน่งระดับสูงในกรมตำรวจไทยมาด้วยความขยันและความสามารถ แต่ได้มาด้วย ระบบ   "ตั๋วช้าง   "  อันฉาวโฉ่  ประการที่สอง เขามักไปสังสรรค์ รับประทานอาหารกลางวันหรูๆ กับอาชญากรไซเบอร์ที่ทางการต้องการ ตัว                                                                      คองกับริธี รักสเมย์ นักต้มตุ๋นไซเบอร์ที่ทางการต้องการตัว ประการที่สาม เขามีความร่ำรวยอย่างมหาศาลสำหรับคนที่อ้างว่าต...

  What kind of person needs 32 guns AND 77 Buddha figurines?   And, more importantly, how many police officers are there on earth who are worth millions and millions of US dollars?   In any functioning country, with a genuinely serious system of accountability, someone like Jirabhop "Big Kong" Bhuridej wouldn't be given any kind of power.   Most likely he'd be in prison, in court or under investigation.   First of all he didn't get his very senior position in the Thai police due to hard work and talent but via the notorious "Elephant Ticket " system.   Secondly he hangs out having fine dining lunches with wanted cyberscam criminals .                                                                      Kong with wanted cyberscammer ...

  We've previously blogged about Police Lt General  Jirabhop Bhuridej 's friendly lunch date with wanted Cambodian cyberscammer Rithy Raksmei.   Over recent days we've been digging a bit more into the background of Bhuridej and have found that since 2023 he's been sitting on the Board of Director s at the Airports of Thailand (AOT).  His role at AOT includes him working as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, a Member of the Audit Committee and a Member of the Nomination Committee. These are, of course, all very important positions, wherein he makes decisions how much people are paid, that everything is above board in terms of finances and also shaping who is nominated to serve on the board.   So why is somebody with a record of having convivial lunches with wanted cyberscammers holding an important decision-making role in one of Thailand's most important companies?  Well, as anyone who has watched Thailand's various corruption scandals over t...

 Drugs, guns and energy. Three very diverse businesses, each with their own set of consequences and each with their equally diverse type of victims. But, each can be incredibly profitable. Particularly if your spouse is in a key position in the right ministry in a government which makes the decisions regarding your investments.  Let's start with weed. In 2022 Thailand, in effect, completely decriminalized the use, sale and growing of cannabis. The government actually distributed free cannabis plants to households and "dispensaries" - AKA weed cafes - proliferated. A lot of people got wealthy very quickly and the Vega Group Ltd - a company of which Nattaphob "Kla" Bhuridej  (note the change of name to Phuridech)  is the sole shareholder - were quick to get in on the action.  After Thailand tightened the weed laws in 2025 business opportunities dwindled and, to be fair to Mr and Mrs Bhuridej/Phuridech, they had far more serious plans with far more serious money ...

  At the moment we're still trying to pick our way through the Bhuridej family's convoluted connections and activities . Yet whilst the lives of the thuggish Jakrapob and dumb yet over promoted  Jirabhop  have been played out partially in public, the life of the eldest Bhuridej brother, Nattaphob, remains something of a mystery.  We've been digging through a lot of raw intelligence on Nattaphob and it's now fairly definitive that he has significant business interests that are almost certainly very profitable. Many of these are linked to the hydro-energy sector and secretive Thai billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi. Most intriguingly Nattaphob appears to have forsaken his family name and used the surname Puridech in his corporate filings with the Thai authorities. We can only speculate as to the reasons why Kla - the Bhuridej family nickname for Nattaphob - might choose to file his business holdings under a different surname.  One of those reasons might be...

In most countries the top senior police officers only achieve their position after decades of hard work, passing all the usual exams and formal tests and completing huge amounts of training.   Not Thai Police Lt General Bhuridej.                                                        Jirapop Bhuridej and wanted Cambodian Cyberscam Criminal Rithy Raksmei  He was granted the express elevator to a senior role not due to competence, an understanding of ethics and a proven ability to uphold the law without fear or favor.  Bhuridej got his job because both he and his family has proven themselves to be obsequious grovelling servants to the Thai King, Rama X.   As the BBC put it in their profile of the Bhuridej family "On October 1, 2020, Pol. Maj. Gen. Jirapop was appointed Deputy Commander of the Cent...

  A few years ago the BBC's Thai language website ran the story of one of Thailand's best connected families - the Bhuridejs.  It seemed, at the time, somewhat incongruous for the BBC to run a story like this, given that the Bhuridej's weren't powerful politicians, billionaire businessmen or the kind of spoilt misbehaving minor aristocrats that usually feature in the Bangkok gossip columns.                                                            the Bhuridej brothers  The Bhuridejs were noteworthy, according to the BBC, due to their unwavering loyalty and servitude to the Thai monarchy.    The patriarch, Admiral Somphop Phuridej, was once Commander of the Third Fleet, and then became  a Special Royal Guard Officer, an elite stand-alone armed praetorian style force, under the d...

  The well known Thai Facebook page CSI LA recently published photographs of a Thai police General, Jirabhop Bhuridej, having a cosy get together with a US govt sanctioned Cambodian cyber scam criminal Rithy Raksmei.  The Thai police have been notorious as a corrupt enterprise for decades but this kind of blatant connection between a Thai police general who is supposed to be heading up an anti-cyber scam task force and a cyber scammer is something else.  But what's been missed so far is that Jirabhop has also been moonlighting as a bodyguard for the Thai Queen.      So why would the Thai Queen's bodyguard be having a succulent Italian meal with a gangster?