yeah, I’ve seen a lot of foreigners setting up their partners in businesses such as beauty etc. The foreigners are hands off with the customers but probably lend a helping opinion and wallet on matters.
I do see some leading tours but either there’s a trick or they’re taking the chance legally. I imagine if you have Thai fixers you could get away with a bit. Not something I’d want to risk.
I’ve run into a couple instances where a foreigner had multiple wives in different countries (Thailand, Philippines, and Malaysia) I think and the other had multiple Thai wives which his current Thai wife knew nothing about until he had visa issues and she couldn’t help.
many Issan weddings are unregistered (just the village ceremony) which works fine for many locals or multi wife foreigners but not for anyone needing official documentation.