BBC : 'Defrauded by my wife and criminals in Thailand' - 18 Sept

Fred wrote:

So many stories, you'd think they'd put of others from entering schemes, but they never do.

When's the next victim coming to Thailand?

Bapak Fred

Don't be surprised it happen as we speak ;-)

if one goes to you tube, you see and hear some of the ladies have more than 1 western guy and receive money from more than 1 guy monthly.

Some of these guys knows he is not the only guy but yet send money. Hoping to relocate to Thailand and be with her instead of a western lady.

Its buyer and seller market, guy buys and woman sells.

Rejoice wrote:

Some of these guys knows he is not the only guy but yet send money..

I knew a guy who did that.
He met his wife in a bar, bought her services, started sending cash, married her, then sent a load of cash to her family.
Last I heard he was still doing it, but that was years ago, so he might have ditched her by now, or his money run out so she ditched him.

No clue, but he was very silly.

Fred wrote:

Rejoice wrote:

Some of these guys knows he is not the only guy but yet send money..

I knew a guy who did that.
He met his wife in a bar, bought her services, started sending cash, married her, then sent a load of cash to her family.
Last I heard he was still doing it, but that was years ago, so he might have ditched her by now, or his money run out so she ditched him.

No clue, but he was very silly.

Bapak,

He's not the only one as there are much more. There will be more to come too!

Some take from Peter to pay Paul.

There are joints whereby these girls go there to party & book young Thai guys.

I don't need to say more.

Quite a number became dead broke as they are retired and depend on their small pension or social security money.

They had sold their house back home and all money are gone in Thailand. They got no place to stay when they go back to their country.

Some are con by buying a business - restaurant; bar etc and it went bust in 4-6 months only.

Many are even con to buy thai products to sell in their country. They pay a high price for the products because not buying from direct source or paying high commission.

I noticed the women are very afraid and fear if the western guy talk in English to a foreign Asian men.

They must be doing something wrong for they fear the truth are reveal to the western men.

At times, I see the women dislike the western men knows too much and fluent in Thai language so that there are conversation which can hide from the men.

TonyST wrote:

And what about all the farang/thai couples who have no problems and are happy? They don't write to Expat.com because they have nothing to complain about!

No one is really complaining, just trying to advise the foolish to take care.

The resorts are full of really silly foreigners, commonly there for sex, but hardly a one with the first clue what they're actually spending in a bar, and no clue as to what the locals think of them.
All they see is the young girl who's willing to go to bed with them, but no thought as to why she would.
Been there, seen it, got out because I'm not that daft.
There goes all the holiday resorts aimed at foreigners, but the local getaway spots are fantastic.
I especially loved the south of Thailand near the Malaysian border. The place is stunningly beautiful and the people are real, not pros and gold diggers out to rip you off.

The BBC link above is a 50/50 problem that happens because the desperate and/or immoral see an easy mark in very silly western tourists who go there for what they can't get back home.

Texmex9696 wrote:

Fred I'm very interested in southern Thailand border, I moved to Khao Lak           ( couple hours north of Phuket). I just lived in Mexico for 5 years not worried about warnings from Britain. Mexico makes Thailand look like a theme park when it comes to corruption & violence ..how long were you there, what was rent, beaches. I beaches are hour away are they nice beaches? my email is xxx@ xxx. Thanks Fred

I wasn't there for more than a few days, but that was enough to see the amazing beauty of the place.
The various warnings are in place because there is a level of terrorism in the area that arose because of an extremely silly set of politicians many years ago, coupled with a minor attempt of religious/nationalistic incursion into the area that is still evident today.
You see things like jungle temples and retreats being 'guarded' by half asleep soldiers, but that's about as far as overt security went whilst I was there.
I'm not much of a fan of beaches, so I'm unable to comment on them.
I stuck to local tourist spots and wandering around where tourists don't go or know about, not the stuff aimed at foreigners.

I did notice the total lack of the mess we know goes on in the western tourist places, no bar girls hanging out of windows and no daft tourist prices or tuk tuk drivers as annoying as they are persistent in trying to destroy your holiday. That and no tourist rip off jobs.
Basically, it's lovely.

As a bit of historical irony, the Islamic terrorists/freedom fighters are living in the areas the previous communist terrorists/freedom fighter used to attack, whilst the new terrorists/freedom fighters attack places the old ones used to hide out. There goes the stupidity and pointlessness of extremist politics.

Added - I've just noticed you're an American. It is a fact some aspects of US foreign policy are unpopular, and that sadly means Americans are commonly targeted by silly extremist groups using the "All are the same" theory. The more extreme end of Islam tend to like attacking Americans without a lot of actual reason past stupidity, making you a target for any such groups in that area.

Not a political statement, just an observation.