August 25, 2021 - Reading time: 7 minutes
Updated: April 10, 2025

Many Thai women are honest and trustworthy; however, when searching for a Thai partner, you need to look in the right places and recognise red flags that might indicate she is not who she claims to be. Can you trust your Thai girlfriend? The answer depends on several factors, which we’ll explore in this article.

Professional romance scammers are experts at gaining a foreigner’s trust. A typical Thai romance scam often involves a woman maintaining relationships with multiple foreign boyfriends—each of whom believes he is her only partner. When this scam succeeds, the woman involved can earn substantial amounts of money.

Many men think, “It could never happen to me.” But this mindset is exactly why romance scams continue to thrive, often going unnoticed until it's too late.

Thai Girlfriend from Internet Dating

If you met your Thai girlfriend through an internet dating site or app, judging her trustworthiness can be difficult. Thai women can easily fabricate stories about their lives. If you haven’t met her in person, verifying her claims is nearly impossible unless you hire a private investigator.

A large proportion of romance scams we investigate originate from online dating.

Thai Girlfriend Working in a Bar

If your Thai girlfriend works in a beer bar, go-go bar, or club, then you cannot trust her, period. Women working in these venues typically earn money by leaving with customers.

If she claims to work as a cashier or says she “doesn’t go with customers,” there’s a high chance she is lying. Our investigations have repeatedly shown that most bar girls are happy to leave with paying customers despite what they tell their boyfriends.

Thai Girlfriend Lives in Pattaya

If your Thai girlfriend lives in Pattaya, be cautious. The city is infamous for its nightlife and sex industry, with an estimated 27,000 prostitutes working in the area.

Even if your girlfriend does not work in a bar, go-go or massage parlour, she could still meet men by ‘freelancing’ in popular nightclubs or bars. Many women working regular jobs in Pattaya supplement their income by freelancing in the evenings and weekends.

Be cautious if your girlfriend lives in other tourist areas such as Phuket, where the sex industry is prevalent. While locations like Bangkok or Chiang Mai also have nightlife scenes, prostitution isn’t as widespread in those areas as it is in Pattaya or Phuket.

Thai Girlfriend Has Tattoos or Smokes Cigarettes

While having tattoos or smoking cigarettes might not raise an eyebrow in many Western countries, these traits can indicate a history in the sex industry in Thailand. For more details, see our article on Signs that she is not a good Thai girl.

Thai Girlfriend Works at a Massage Parlour

Thai massage is world-famous, but in Thailand, many massage parlours are not what they seem. Traditional massage shops can be legitimate, but less formal establishments may offer “extra” services.

If your girlfriend works at a traditional massage parlour, she may have received proper training. However, more casual settings could indicate potential involvement in the sex trade.

Thai Girlfriend Attends University

If your Thai girlfriend claims to attend university, this is generally a good sign of her ambition and stability. However, always question how she can afford tuition—if her family lives in modest conditions, this could raise some red flags.

We have encountered cases where women falsely claim to be students by posing for photos on university campuses while working in red-light districts.

How We Can Help: Verifying Trustworthiness

If you're unsure about whether to trust your Thai girlfriend, Bangkok Investigators offers several services to help you uncover the truth.

Background Check Services
We can provide a thorough background check on your Thai girlfriend. This can include researching her marriage and divorce history, her family background, employment records, and lifestyle. Our comprehensive reports can help you gain clarity and peace of mind.

Surveillance Services
If you suspect that your girlfriend may be cheating on you or acting dishonestly, we can place her under surveillance. Our agents will follow her and document her actions with photos and videos, providing you with concrete evidence. The cost for surveillance depends on the location of the case. For a free quote, simply contact us with details about where she lives and works, and we will provide you with an accurate estimate.

Decoy Service
If your girlfriend works in a bar or similar environment, we can send one of our agents undercover to interact with her directly. Our agent will observe how she responds to advances from other men, helping us determine whether her intentions are genuine. This method is highly effective in revealing hidden truths.

Free Quotes & Confidentiality
At Bangkok Investigators, we offer free, no-obligation quotes for all of our services. We understand the importance of privacy, and all information is kept strictly confidential. You can contact us through our contact page to discuss your situation and learn how we can help.

For more information about our services, please visit our homepage at Bangkok Investigators .com.

August 23, 2021 - Reading time: 5 minutes
Updated: June 8, 2024

Employment background screening is very common in Thailand and it’s easy to understand why that is. Pre-hire background checks are vital in order to protect the reputation and well being of your business. We offer a range of different services which can be used to check the background of your prospective employees. Depending on the nature of the subject’s role in your company, and your own preferences, employee screening can range from basic police criminal records checks to full pre-hire background checks, and anything in-between. 

In order for us to confirm the subject's identity and perform checks, we suggest that our clients retain a copy of the subjects' identity documents, specifically copies of their Thai national ID cards, though other forms of identification will usually suffice.

Deciding to screen your Thai employees with pre-hire checks can be vital in protecting the integrity of your business and in many cases can prove to be a very wise decision. If you are interested in running a background check on your employees then please get in touch with us for a free, no pressure quote.

Criminal record checks

Criminal record checks are typically a good foundation for running a full background check or screening a potential employment candidate. Vetting candidates in this way can help to minimize your exposure to risk of financial loss or reputational damage to your company. We can perform criminal record screening for due diligence purposes or employment background screening; checking criminal records is also useful in cases where our client has entered into a romance with a Thai person. Criminal records checks can provide peace of mind that your partner has a clean history. Our clients understandably enjoy a similar satisfaction with the knowledge that employees working in trusted positions are not entering their workplace from a criminal background.

Pre-hire background checks

For clients that wish to conduct more thorough checks on their Thai employees, we recommend that a criminal records check is performed on your potential employee along with checks on the candidate's claimed education/employment history. We can also add reference checks, which can help to gain an understanding about the candidate’s conduct at their previous places of employment. Our Thai staff members are able to speak directly with past employers or education institutes with the goal of verifying a person’s credentials and gathering information on your behalf.

Our fees for reference checks typically depends on the amount of inquiries being made and whether we are being instructed to perform reference checks as part of a broader range of checks… As such, we prefer that our clients contact us for quotes on an individual basis. In some cases, physically visiting a place of employment or education might be desired; our fee for this type of site visit would depend on the location we are asked to visit. Please feel free to get in touch with one of our experienced team members for more information and a free quote. 

Other checks can be stacked onto a criminal records/employment check (or reference checks) depending on the needs and requirements of our client in each case. We can add, for example, an identity check or a household check as part of pre-employment screening with the goal of learning more about a specific individual.

Social media checks used as part of pre-hire screening are becoming increasingly common in Thailand and  is a service we predict will continue to grow long into the future.

Employment records in Thailand

If you need to check someone’s work history in Thailand then examining employment records can be a worthwhile endeavour, for a whole host of different reasons. Understanding a person’s employment history can, in some cases, allow our team to make further inquiries with those establishments. In other cases, our clients might choose to make inquiries with any past employers themselves. However, please note that we will not make this type of additional inquiry as part of our employment check service – additional fees would apply and depend on the circumstances in each case.  

We aim to help our clients wherever possible and support them throughout every step of the process, being on hand to answer any questions that they might have. We aim to offer the fastest turnaround times possible on all checks, as well as boasting a fast and knowledgeable support team.

Thailand's leading background screening company

Our agency aims to position itself as a leading background screening company in Thailand. We are able to access official records in order to screen candidates or employees and check a number of different factors. We also offer pre-marital background checks which are more suitable for checking your Thai partner or fiancé. 

Please feel free to visit our homepage for more information about us or contact us with your requirements and we will be happy to help.

April 15, 2021 - Reading time: 10 minutes
Updated: August 20, 2024

If you are being cheated on, then discovering that this is the case can prove to be very difficult in many cases, and even more so if you are not living in the same country as your partner. If your partner is running a Thai girlfriend scam then the odds of catching her out will be even lower, as professional romance scammers are excellent at concealing their true activities.

However, there are some small signs which you can look for that might indicate your partner is being unfaithful. We have put together the following signs that your Thai girlfriend is cheating on you.

1. Her social media accounts are filled with foreign guys

If your Thai girlfriend's social media accounts are filled with foreign guys, this is a strong indication that she might be cheating on you. If her photos are receiving many likes and comments from other men, this shows that other guys are interested in her and perhaps have more involvement with her than you might think.

A normal Thai lady will typically not have many foreign men as friends on her social media accounts – if your Thai girlfriend does, then you should question why that is. Is she meeting with a lot of foreign men at work? Did you meet her through online dating and if so, is she still using online dating to find more guys?

2. She has more than one Facebook account

In order for the Thai girlfriend scam to work, ladies will often create multiple different Facebook accounts. This allows them to have one account for close family members, and other accounts for foreign boyfriends. Ladies that are well versed in the Thai girlfriend scam will often use separate Facebook accounts for each boyfriend; doing this allows each boyfriend to be listed as "in a relationship" with her, and prevents them from seeing comments left by each other. 

Of course, if your Thai girlfriend does have multiple accounts, then you might not know this is the case, as the lady will aim to keep them hidden from you. A common trick for ladies with multiple Facebook accounts is to block her boyfriend on all her other hidden accounts which are used for other boyfriends. Blocking the man's account means that all of her secret profiles will remain hidden to him.

3. She doesn't answer the phone when you call

If your girlfriend doesn't answer the phone when you call her, this could be an indication that she is around another man and doesn't want him to hear your conversation with her. If she immediately sends you a message after you have tried to call her, or calls you back for a very brief conversation, these could also act as warning signs that your Thai girlfriend is cheating on you.

Ladies that are spending time with other guys have been known to make phone calls from the balcony or bathroom of their lover's hotel room. Other times they might make an excuse to visit the nearest convenience store and make a call to their overseas boyfriend at the same time.

4. She is always out drinking

Drinking is accepted in Thai culture, but in moderation. If your girlfriend is out drinking with friends, at clubs and bars on a regular basis, this is a strong indication that she might be cheating on you.

In areas such as Bangkok, Pattaya or Phuket, many women freelance at bars and clubs… That is to say that they visit clubs (or bars) in the evening with the goal of meeting customers there. If your girlfriend is regularly drinking in bars and clubs, ask yourself why that is.

5. Her relationship status is "single" on social media

Is your Thai girlfriend's relationship status set to "single" on social media despite her being in a relationship with you? Does she make excuses when you ask her to set her status to "in a relationship"? Perhaps she changes her Facebook account before changing her relationship status… These are all red flags that your girlfriend is wanting to conceal your relationship and appear available to other men.

If a Thai lady is truly committed to one partner, then she should have no issues with changing her relationship status to "in a relationship with Your Name", and sharing photos of her boyfriend throughout her social media accounts.

If a Thai lady is practicing point number 2, then this point might be null and void.

6. She doesn't have a regular job

How does your Thai girlfriend support herself, and what type of lifestyle is she living? If your Thai girlfriend is not working a regular job, then where does her money come from? 

Not working in a regular, stable job could act as a warning sign that she might be earning money through her relationships, or in the red-light areas.

Over the years we have seen many cases where ladies were falsely claiming to have regular jobs in cafés, restaurants, coffee shops, banks, real estate, the list goes on. When we have been asked to step in and check ladys' occupations, it often transpires that they are not working where they claim to be at all. Women that decide to lie about their jobs will often make their stories convincing by taking photos in the alleged workplace, or posing for photos wearing borrowed work uniform in many cases. 

7. She constantly asks you for money

If your Thai girlfriend is constantly coming up with excuses to ask you for money, then perhaps she views you as more of an ATM machine than as a boyfriend.

Of course, if your Thai girlfriend does not earn much money, then you might decide to support her with an allowance or by sending regular gifts… If this is happening in your case, then you should question whether her primary motivation for your relationship is money. If it is then the odds that she will cheat on you are significantly higher.

8. She hides her phone while you are together

Is your girlfriend very guarded around her phone? Does she hide her phone screen when you are together and not let you borrow her device? This should act as a warning sign that she might be speaking with other men and doesn't want you to catch on.

Think about it for a moment, if a lady has nothing to hide, then why would she closely guard her phone screen? There is no real excuse for this, and if she is speaking to her friends in the Thai language then you probably will not be able to understand her messages anyway.

If your girlfriend often leaves you to make phone calls in private whilst you are together then this is another warning sign. After all, if you don't speak Thai then you will not be able to understand her conversations – unless she is speaking in English with other men.

9. She is living above her means

What type of lifestyle does your girlfriend lead and how much money does she earn? Does she often post photos of expensive meals on Instagram? Is her body adorned with gold jewellery? Is she living in a high-end condominium or house? How much is she paying in rent?

These are the types of question that you should ask yourself in order to gauge whether the lady might be living above her means. If she is living above her means, then perhaps she has other forms of income which you don't know about – this might include other relationships.

10. She won't say "I love you" on the phone

If your girlfriend won't say the words "I love you" while on the phone, then you should question why that is. After all, these words will only be understood by another English speaker, as only 20-30% of Thai people are able to speak English, who is she worried about overhearing the conversation? Is she embarrassed to say that she loves you, or worried that someone might overhear her? Both options should form a cause for concern.

11. She has tattoos and smokes cigarettes

If your Thai girlfriend has tattoos and smokes cigarettes, these are definite signs that she might be involved in the Thai nightlife scene, and will be more likely to cheat on you.

Most women in Thailand do not smoke cigarettes, and the ones that do tend to be found in beer bars, karaoke bars, and other seedy venues. While attitudes towards tattoos in Thailand are slowly shifting, they can act as another signal that your girlfriend might have worked in the Thai nightlife or "adult entertainment" scene.

Check your Thai girlfriend

If you are having concerns that your Thai girlfriend might be cheating on you, then we can help to investigate her lifestyle and let you know whether or not this is the case. We offer free, confidential quotes for all work. Please feel free to get in touch with one of our experienced team members for help and advice. In order for us to assess your situation and provide a quote, we will need to know which area in Thailand your girlfriend lives, whether she is employed, and any other background information that could help us to understand your situation.

Related articles

• Avoid Thai Girlfriend Scams: Tips from Private Investigators
• How much money to support a Thai girlfriend?
• Dos and Don'ts when dating a Thai lady
• Why is my Thai girlfriend ignoring me?
• 5 Common Problems with Thai Girlfriends

November 1, 2020 - Reading time: 11 minutes
Updated: June 14, 2024

If you are the adopted parent to a child with biological Thai parents, then it’s likely your child will want to learn more about their origins at some point in their life. Running a trace on Thai parents can help to answer questions from curious young people and provide answers, such as finding out whether or not a person has siblings in Thailand, whether their parents are still alive and what type of lives they lead.

It often makes sense to seek out information about birth parents before your child has started to grow curious about their birth parents. Seeking out information after decades have passed can make the task more difficult, and in some cases the people concerned may pass away through old age or ill health; in these unfortunate cases the deceased person may lose their opportunity to connect with their biological children post adoption.

PLEASE NOTE: If you require our help to trace your biological parents in Thailand, then please let us know what information is available to you when getting in touch with us... Do you have a birth certificate which features your parents' names? Is your birth certificate written in English letters or written in Thai script? Do you have any information at all on your parents' identities or whereabouts? We will need these details in order to assess your case and provide a quote if we are able to help.

Can you find my parents based on my DNA?

We are not able to trace people in Thailand based on their DNA. If you have no information whatsoever on your parents, and no leads for us to follow up on, then it is likely that we will not be able to perform a trace or investigate further.

In many cases it is beneficial for us to conduct a field investigation after tracing someone on paper. Sending an experienced, local private detective to speak with the birth parents can allow us to photograph them in their homes, and to gather useful information from them (such as whether any siblings exist, for example). We will translate anything that is said and send you a report with our findings, written in fluent English, and including any photos or video that was gathered while making inquiries on your behalf. Particularly in cases where the parents are impoverished, reading a report with photos illustrating their day to day life can provide a valuable insight for adopted children.

Finding biological parents in Thailand is one of the most challenging and rewarding services that is offered by us. We aim to understand our clients’ needs and offer the best solution in each case. We offer free consultations for all work… Please feel free to get in touch with us and see if we are able to help in your case.

In some cases, we are instructed to trace a person in Thailand and provide their contact information; in other cases, we can also make contact with individuals after tracing them. We can visit people in Thailand and translate your messages to them in their native language, whilst gathering images and information that can help to paint a picture about the life which they lead in Thailand. Our experienced local agents endeavour to handle these cases sensitively and work for the best interests of all people involved.

How to find parents in Thailand

The difficulty of locating biological parents in Thailand depends on the type of information that you hold. Please read the information on this page in order to gain an understanding about the process of tracing people in Thailand and some of the potential difficulties which you might face. 

In 1984 Thailand began the process of issuing 13-digit identification numbers to their citizens and rolling out computerization, though the changes may have been adopted more slowly in certain parts of the country. The 13-digit identification number stays with a person their entire lives, even if they change their name or move address. The number is printed on all identity documents, such as ID cards, driving licenses, passports and birth certificates.

Thai birth certificates should carry the 13-digit identification number for both parents. These numbers often hold the key and can be used by us to trace biological parents in Thailand. Using an identification number, we can run a search, which if successful would reveal the person’s home address, along with other information such as their photo, date of birth, height and age.

In some ways we can compare the value of identification numbers with IBAN numbers… Let us theorize that you are not trying to find your parents in Thailand but a book in a library. The best way to find a specific book in a library would be to search for the book’s 13-digit IBAN number. This will ensure that you find the exact book you are looking for. If you are searching for a book using its title, then your results may vary. If you know the exact name of the book that you are searching for then your odds of success would be good. If you only have a part-name then your search might draw multiple results. While searching for a book is different to searching for a person, the same principle applies. Using an identification number is always better and preferable; a birth certificate in the Thai language holding identification numbers would be ideal for us to try and find parents, though we will work with whatever information you have, where possible.

Suffice it to say that if a birth certificate is older than 1984 then it will not carry the parent’s identification numbers and a search would instead need to be performed based on their names. 

Tracing Thai people based on their name

It’s important to understand that records in Thailand are held in the Thai language. If you see a Thai person’s name that is written using the English alphabet, bear in mind that this is merely to be used as a rough guide – there are no official translations of peoples’ names in English! Thai people’s names are typically translated into English by computer software, which by itself means that the translations often contain inaccuracies. We have seen many, many instances of names being translated into English incorrectly.

The written letters of the Thai Sanskrit alphabet can often be used to write many different variations of a person’s name, and finding the exact spelling of a person’s name using an English translation presents its own challenges. 

The odds of success for us to trace someone using their name written in the Thai language, and their date of birth, would be 100%. The odds of success for running a trace on someone using their identity number would also be 100%.

If we are attempting to translate a name from English into Thai then the odds of success would be more like 50%. If the name has been translated into English badly then the odds of success might be even lower. 

If you would like to trace a person in Thailand and you only have their first or second name written in the English language then it would be extremely difficult to trace them (just as it would be very difficult to trace any person, in any country, using only their first or last name that has been translated into a foreign language). Of course, in some cases we are able to find people without running a search for them. If our client is able to provide us with details about their previous address, or previous workplace for example then we could potentially make inquiries in order to try and locate the subject... The task of finding people can varying depending on the circumstances in each case.

Phone numbers in Thailand

Our searches do not reveal phone numbers, and there is no database containing phone numbers that can be accessed during the process of tracing a biological parent or any other person in Thailand. A successful search would reveal the subject’s home address, from there we can use our discreet Thai agents to make inquiries on your behalf. We can approach the subject directly and ask if they would like to share their phone number or other contact details. Otherwise you might choose to write a letter to the subject, or even visit them yourself. We are able to help organize reunions and can provide native Thai speakers to help you with translation – our fees for this service depends on the circumstances, including which area we are working in. Please get in touch with us for a free quote.

In most cases it is not possible to find someone’s phone number without visiting their address and speaking to them, or writing them a letter. Usually we would recommend visiting the person and speaking to them rather than writing a letter, however this is ultimately a matter for our clients to decide. For those people that decide to write letters to the biological parents of their child, we cannot emphasize the importance of ensuring your letter is translated accurately and by a skilled translator that is capable of conveying the true meaning behind your words.

Connecting with birth parents in Thailand

Most of the time biological parents are glad to hear about their adopted children. However, in some cases birth parents might not interested in reconnecting with their child. There could be many complex issues behind a parent taking this stance… Some people may feel embarrassed or uncomfortable making contact with their estranged children. We feel that it’s important to realize this as a potential outcome before undertaking the task of tracing your parents in Thailand, and to consider how you might react to such a result. If a person does not wish to be contacted by their birth child, or anyone else, then we believe those requests should be respected. In such a case we will endeavour to gather as much useful information as possible, such as photos, general information about the parents’ lifestyle, and critically whether or not the adopted person has siblings in Thailand. 

Other considerations

Before starting the journey of tracing birth parents in Thailand it would be wise to consider any potential outcomes that may result in a trace. Ask yourself the type of questions that you would like answers to, we will endeavour to understand your needs and seek answers for you sensitively and with your best interests in mind.

Thailand is a unique place with its own customs, culture and class system. Most foreigners will never gain a useful insight into Thai culture and for the best results it is almost always advisable to use a local Thai person while making inquiries on your behalf. 

While there are numerous international companies which endeavour to trace biological parents in Thailand, we feel that the task is always best performed by local Thai people. In many cases we provide tracing services to overseas investigators, law firms and companies... Whilst we are always glad for work to be outsourced to us, many of our clients prefer to deal with us directly; this can allow for better communication and also save our clients money.

If you would like our help to trace biological parents in Thailand then please get in touch with us and let us know what information or documents are available to you (birth certificates in English or Thai languages, adoption paperwork, and/or any other information or documents).