Fake residency of foreign children in Thailand spotlights widening corruption
On paper, the small rooms inside the flats in Din Daeng, a district in Bangkok, were packed with foreign children. A total of 64 foreign children had been registered as occupants in one flat alone – an implausible listing that authorities say has exposed a wider fraud in Thailand’s house-registration system. The children were not found living there. Their names, investigators say, have been…
In Bangkok's Din Daeng district, 64 foreign children were registered as residents in a single flat, raising suspicions of a larger fraud within Thailand's house-registration system. These children were reportedly not present in the apartments. Their names had been falsely entered into official records, potentially granting them pink ID cards, access to public services, and possibly Thai citizenship. Nearly 200 such children, primarily from Myanmar, have been identified in the flats, with dozens more under investigation.
The corruption scandal extends beyond Bangkok, involving fraudulent registrations that could provide foreign nationals access to Thai public services, such as subsidized healthcare, through so-called pink cards. Seven individuals were arrested following a raid on the flats, including two Din Daeng District Office officials, brokers accused of arranging fraudulent pink cards, and three residents.
The scandal threatens national security, according to the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), Department of Provincial Administration, and Royal Thai Police. The PACC deputy secretary general, Siripong Sritula, emphasized that local district officials hold the key to creating false registration databases.
The incident has raised concerns about similar corruption cases in other parts of Thailand, particularly in light of a Transparency International report ranking the country 116th out of 162 in their latest annual corruption scorecard. Deputy Minister of Interior Worasit Liangprasit warned that such practices are prevalent in numerous other areas, transcending mere document forgery or falsification.
He stressed that the issue poses a significant risk of granting individuals access to resources intended for Thai citizens, with citizenship being the most coveted outcome. Thai citizenship is highly sought after by foreigners seeking to acquire land and establish businesses in the country. However, loopholes and corruption have long plagued the system, enabling foreign nationals from various nations to exploit these flaws for illicit gains.
In May, authorities uncovered a "phantom birth'' scheme involving hundreds of Chinese babies falsely registered as Thai citizens, allowing their parents to obtain land and company ownership rights. Police fear that Chinese cybercriminals may have utilized these registrations to launder money through firms and properties they fully control via their children.
Additionally, some property and business holdings owned by Israelis residing in Thailand since the war on Gaza began in 2023 have come under scrutiny in Surat Thani province, where scores of companies are under investigation for alleged illegal nominee arrangements in popular tourist destinations.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
