False marriages discovered between Thai women and foreign men

Hundreds of false marriages between Thai women and Thai men have been discovered at a corrupt office in Khon Kaen province, the fraudulent documents were filed between 2011 and 2013.

Many women had no idea that their names had been stolen and used for marriage registration until they went to register their true unions only to find they were registered as married to another man.

One victim told reporters that she was living with her foreign boyfriend in Khon Kaen. The couple decided to marry so their baby would be entitled to the rights of registered marriage, but when they went to the district office the registration showed she was already married to another foreigner, a marriage that was registered in Nong Bua Lamphu, somewhere she insists she never goes.

In the Non Sang district office the woman met with corruption inspectors from the Department of Provincial Administration who just happened to be investigating the office at the time, she told them about her problem and then discovered that the registrar there had sold her name to a foreign man who used it to register the marriage.

The lawyer acting for the victim said that generally clients involved in this kind of scam come from Malaysia, Nigeria and India.
The current registrar said the previous offender had committed may acts such as counterfeiting documents and faking witnesses signatures for marriage registration. She went on to say that anybody on the lists can show up and verify that they are not married and then use the evidence to ask the court to void the marriage registration

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