Brief story: he chiseled me out of $720 at my hotel in SHV with some cock'n'bull story about investment/looking for a job/having no money, etc. He used to live in Pattaya (where else?). When I turned him down for a job he beseeched me with tears in his eyes to help him as he would literally have to sleep on the street. I felt sorry for him so I gave him a room and food for 2 weeks. Mind you that was January - in the middle of high season. We only charged him $25/night; normally we charge $60 during high season. He wanted to use that time to find something to support himself. When he came up with an investment that his friend in Spain (he used to live in Spain) would fund I let him stay on but told him I would now bill him for his entire stay as he now did have money. Since I had no stake in his investment he can't expect me to cover his start-up expenses. After another week or so I told him I needed his room and he must leave the hotel. I gave him my bill and he promised to pay it once he got the money from his friend. Long story short that money never came through. He had left the hotel and stayed in a guesthouse nearby. When I saw that he was still around after 3 weeks, had gotten a longer-term visa, visiting bars, etc., and he still had not paid I set a deadline for him to pay otherwise I would use the police to collect. As you guys can gather they will do this for a small fee. I advised him I would file charges for fraud against him as he had defrauded me for the rent and food with malicious intent. As the second deadline was about to expire he sent me an email during the night that he was now in Phnom Penh and about to leave the country.
He is an Austrian national, aged 63. I filed charges in Austria against him in the process of which I learned that there was a case pending at the state attorney's office of his hometown in Salzburg. I also did some background search and found that he is a convicted criminal. He had attempted to blackmail the huge multinational Aldi supermarket chain in Germany for Euro 15 million threatening to poison the food in their stores. The police traced the emails and a phone call he made to him in Thailand. He was arrested there and extradited to Germany where in 2013 he was sentenced to 2 years and 9 months in prison.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nationa ... 94314.html This is the only English-language article I could find.

Incidentally, he claimed he was forced to do this by the Russian Mafia in Thailand. The courts did not buy that story, though. He now can no longer go to Thailand where he is banned for life.

He was in prison for embezzlement and theft in Austria in 2003 before. Obviously he left Austria to live in Pattaya after that stint in prison until his stroke of genius put him in prison again. He must have traveled to Cambodia right after his release as he landed in SHV in November 2014.

I suspect he might still be in Cambodia. First I am posting this to find him and second as a warning to expats here - from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap that he might use the same tactics to cheat someone or hit people up for a loan.

This is him:


If you know where he is PM me, please.

Since I wrote this and posted it on several boards I learned that he is in Siem Reap now. So he must be staying at a cheap flophouse I guess unless he has come into some serious money.

Curious... what's the plan when you find him? Local cops?

Yep, they will collect for me. You can guess why and how.

rubberbaron wrote:Yep, they will collect for me. You can guess why and how.

What's the name of your guesthouse?

Rama wrote:

rubberbaron wrote:Yep, they will collect for me. You can guess why and how.

What's the name of your guesthouse?

Looking for a $25 a night room?

rubberbaron wrote:I felt sorry for him so I gave him a room and food for 2 weeks. Mind you that was January - in the middle of high season. We only charged him $25/night; normally we charge $60 during high season. He wanted to use that time to find something to support himself. When he came up with an investment that his friend in Spain (he used to live in Spain) would fund I let him stay on but told him I would now bill him for his entire stay as he now did have money.

I'm a little confused.

When you say you "gave" him a room, you mean for free, or you let him pay for a room?

And if you discounted it down to $25 a night, it seems a little fucked to then go and back charge him for previous nights at $60.

Maybe that's why he's not paying up. I would feel a little cheated myself if I worked out a deal with a place for a certain price, and then later they said they were going to charge me more for those nights than we agreed upon.

Again, if I didn't follow you, my bad, but that's what it sounds like you did to the guy.

Also, it sounds like you're saying you charged him $25 for a few weeks

rubberbaron wrote: So he must be staying at a cheap flophouse I guess unless he has come into some serious money.

rereading this after some sleep, i do have to agree there... he's sounding a lot less like the chiseler in this story.

"hey, i'm fucked... can you make me a better deal on a room while i get my shit together?"
"sure... $25 instead of 60."
"thanks."

[time]

"hey, thanks for helping me out, finally got my shit together."
"cool, let me back bill you for the discount i gave you... thus completely screwing you out of having gotten your shit together and putting you right back where you were rather than you moving on and finding a more affordable place at the beginning. and since it's actually someone elses investment money, i'll be screwing you even harder."

Now, the added week is for sure justified... the backbilling though, after you'd agreed on a price (unless the initial agreement was to bill him for said time once he got money), is pretty shady. and is probably what led to him bailing out on said added week.

General Mackevili wrote:

Rama wrote:

rubberbaron wrote:Yep, they will collect for me. You can guess why and how.

What's the name of your guesthouse?

Looking for a $25 a night room?

Nah, thought as rubberbaron is such a c×nt I'd make sure I didn't give him my custom when I next went down to the beach.

What, you're all zonked out this Saturday night? I offered him a room for free for a limited time because he told me a credible story at first. Then he came up with some different angle, e. g. an investment. In that case I advised him I would have to charge him but at a very favorable rate. He said he would pay that. So what's wrong with that? Who would pay somebody's start-up expenses?

It just turns out all this was pure bullshit just to get me to have him stay with with for free. He is still in Cambodia paying for room and board. He accepted the bill initially and then just took a hike to avoid being arrested by the cops. He used deceptive practices to obtain monetary benefits and that is fraud. What's so hard to understand here? He is a convicted criminal. You know what his defense lawyer stated in court? He is not a violent man, he is more like a fraudster. I guess that says it all.

BTW, to file charges is not very expensive if you know the right people. I do. I got 25 years of experience in and with this country. The police is already on the look-out for him in Siem Reap. It is just a question of time.

hahaha... an aldi blackmailer around the corner...

cool, that you gave him the bill.
but do you have any proof, that he owns you money?