D S I Turns To Facebook To Catch Illegal Foreigners In Phuket

[bangon04]

“Foreigners use Thai people to register companies, but only give them a little money in return.

1)-well if foreigners can do it ,it is because it is legal....so what kind of bullshit complain is that ? if u dont like it change the law !

“I hear that tourism can generate a great deal of income for Thailand,but in fact, very little of that money from tourism goes to Thais. The money paid upfront in countries abroad never enters Thailand,”

2) this is another stupid argument.if a foreigner pay for a package in a tourism agency abroad ,the agency will pay in return the hotel,air plane company fairs etc etc ..of course the money goes to thailand....! this boss person has no idea about what he is talking about.

the dsi should investigate the real local mafias, ask the government to make fair laws for foreigner entrepreneur, teach his own people about languages and tourism policy , instead of complaining that foreigner try to make business without thais.

the same way the thais dont help us, we wont help them.....arent we stupid!

Lots of the OUTRAGE on this topic comes from people who confuse the word "foreigner" Does he actually mean white "westerners" or does he mean Chinese?

If he means Chinese, then many of his criticisms would seem to be obviously valid .

Which word is he using in the original Thai?

[chrisinth]

People around the world, but especially here, think they have somehow gone up in status by having a FB page...yet social media is just advertising yourself for everyone to see and for sure the long arm of the law, your exgirlfriends, ex-wives, tax collectors ect are looking through before they leave the office. We are just blindly making the people who want to find us, or know about us, all that much more easier...people in Thailand, and probably around the world think they are so smart because they are posted for all to see and comment on. I just don't get it-why?

When people ask me, do you have a FB page, which lately has been more often than I care to count; I say why would I want to be posted on a stupid site, how does it benefit me?

I think facebook is great, I only put things on there that I want people to see. It's also a great tool for sending out mis-information when necessary . People who are stupid enough to put private information on there have no business whining when it comes back & bites them on the arse.

Unfortunately, this situation, where people (could possibly) be asked to upload pictures of falangs getting their hands dirty opens the doors for anyone with an axe to grind to drop somebody in it. The sharpening stone is there!

The phrase "the camera never lies" is today obsolete. The camera not only can "lie", but with todays technology, can provide scenarios that can be wide open to interpretation on that "evidence" alone.

This is the scary part of this whole idea for me. Hassle factor more than anything if somebody had the mind for it......

[chrisinth]

It's really quite simple. All foreigners should begin to spam this facebook page with photos as much as possible; rendering it impossible to sort through. Shame on these racist scum for engaging in these tactics to profile people based on their skin color and subsequently bring them under police scrutiny as potential criminals. Fight fire with fire in this case and Spam 'em I say.

I'd set up an anonymous email address and corresponding Facebook account for that if I was you.

Using a proxy server................

[retell]

forgot one in my previous post , the big sums of money that go with all those leasecontracts for 3-5 years and after that again

[chrisinth]

I only see money going from falang tourist to the Thai girls down on Walking Street. Never seen a falang bar owner get a cut!

Yep, God forbid they should ever introduce bar fines......................

Sort yourself out...................

[JCaligula]

Phuket is close to 90% percent foreign own properties and businesses as reported in local paper in 2011 so by now should be 95%,how could this happen if not of the big C(corruption) rampantly taking bribes in the island for the last 10 - 15 years.So due to that Phuket is highly developed in terms of real estate and tourism.Where does all this monies go to? By the way they forgot to mention besides Russians,Chinese,Falang etc,the biggest Asian foreign workers there are Filiphinos..they are everywhere

[wiyada]

People around the world, but especially here, think they have somehow gone up in status by having a FB page...yet social media is just advertising yourself for everyone to see and for sure the long arm of the law, your exgirlfriends, ex-wives, tax collectors ect are looking through before they leave the office. We are just blindly making the people who want to find us, or know about us, all that much more easier...people in Thailand, and probably around the world think they are so smart because they are posted for all to see and comment on. I just don't get it-why?

When people ask me, do you have a FB page, which lately has been more often than I care to count; I say why would I want to be posted on a stupid site, how does it benefit me?

I think facebook is great, I only put things on there that I want people to see. It's also a great tool for sending out mis-information when necessary . People who are stupid enough to put private information on there have no business whining when it comes back & bites them on the arse.

If you are a business owner it is beneficial to be on facebook. So many people do not share your view that its a stupid site, millions infact and I have gained business by being on it. Personally I infrequently use facebook but I'm not as naive as to not see it's potential.

As for the users of Facebook, its generally the younger generation, who seem to have lost the ability to communicate in real life

[hansnl]

The Government and TAT would like to see more Chinese visitors to Thailand.

They bring their own guides, beer, girls, whatever.

Ergo, those "quality" tourist do not spend a baht in the local economy.

And the the DSI needs facebook to arrest foreigners working.

Read: farang.

I really wonder why more and more governments in the west are making it more and more difficult for Thai people to come into their countries.

Mind, as soon as they are legal, they can open businesses, buy land and houses, find jobs.

Thai government, would you please consider trying to stop the more and more negative image of Thailand in the west?

Do remember that those western countries buy your export.

[Arkady]

“Please do not slander a restaurant because those working their can’t
speak your native tongue. Restaurants should be compared based on the
quality and taste of their food,” he told those present.

How can this bafoon think he can force people to write a good review of a restaurant with bone headed idiots for waiters who cannot communicate with the customers and provide lousy service? Dream on

[Arkady]

“Foreigners use Thai people to register companies, but only give them a
little money in return. I saw a woman who was the ‘owner’ of a tourist
company riding an old motorbike and living in a tiny rental room,” Mr
Supachai said to illustrate his point.

What point does this illusltrate? That some tourist companies don't make much money? Most tourism businesses operate on very low margins in a highly competitive environment and some wealthy individuals don't like to flaunt their wealth, unlike policemen and DSI officers who have tiny salaries and like to show off how much the mansions, luxury cars and trophy bimbos they have acquired through bribery and extortion.

[Arkady]

“I hear that tourism can generate a great deal of income for Thailand,
but in fact, very little of that money from tourism goes to Thais. The
money paid upfront in countries abroad never enters Thailand,” he told
those at the meeting.

So none of the money foreign tourists pay upfront for hotels, local tours, food etc gets passed on the Thai operators who provide these services. They are forced to provide them for free? Right moron?

If the government is unhappy with mass market tourism which generates less free local spending, they can do the same as Bhutan which has limited infrastructure and force tourists to pay a minimum price for shoddy hotels to restrict the numbers. But they don't and they want the mass market tourism which tends to grow over time into more upmarket tourism. If they had never let in the mass market Chinese and Indian tours, would they now be getting the number of wealthy Chinese and Indian tourists they now get? I doubt it.

But anyway what the hell has this got to do with the DSI? Why aren't they catching criminals?

[Arkady]

I seriously doubt that farangs are flocking to Thailand to "steal money" from Thai people. I suspect that a real list of foreigners would show that most permanent residents have an O or O-A visa and the others (business and students visas) are more closely monitored, anyway. All the rest are here on tourist visas. Can anyone suggest another scenario? Tourists spend money and retirees spend money - much more than they could ever earn here. This breakdown leaves little room for the statements in the article - frankly, it sounds bigoted.

People on O or O-A visas are temporary residents by definition. Permanent residents have non-quota immigrant visas.

[Arkady]

“If anyone sees a foreigner working without a work permit or working in an occupation reserved for Thais, please take a photo of them and send it to us,” he urged.

Gotta love this sentence....-

Now all the colonel has to do is sit back and wait for the photographs to come in via Facebook tagging foreigners seen typesetting Thai characters and making traditional Thai musical instruments. LOL.

[bumpkin]

If the FB project actually gets off the ground, my guess is that it would soon be over-supplied by farangs reporting (complete with photographic evidence) the Law infringements of the Thai population. The relatively insignificant number of illegal farang incidents would be lost in the crowd. (Of course, this in no way justifies any illegal activities by farangs.)

Maybe not the illegal activity evidence they would be hoping for, but difficult to refute and ignore.

If they are looking for more work, the DSI are going the right way about getting it !

Ref: W.Shakespeare .. King Lear .......more sinned against, than sinning

Edited April 26, 2013 by bumpkin

[me313]

From all the recent Thai Visa posts about Russians working without permits here, aren't they referring to this slew of complaints aimed at Russians? It would be very easy to identify them as well based on appearance, generally.

[SOTIRIOS]

...welcome to Thailand....

...so many illegal activities in Thailand...perpetrated by Thais...

...DSI is supposed to be stopping big crime and corruption....which is rampant...again...perpetrated by Thais.....but 'never mind'...

...get the foreigners....

[Cardiff1963]

well racism roars its ugly head in public

so the next time i see a foreigner working i will ask for show me his/her WP and if they want to pose for me on a picture

i'm sure they will al comply smiling

Hardly think it's racist. Illegal workers are illegal in all countries, except your highly enlightened country maybe.

[MILT]

The point of money not making it's way to the locals in not entirely true.

Even when people are booking in their home countries monies have to be paid to the companies here in Thailand

that are facilitating the tours. Tourist spend additional monies to eat, party, buy other tour packages once they are here.

This is a weak argument being made.

As far as the scams here in Thailand, that will be what hurts the industry, not people paying for their trip back at home.

[Jimi007]

well racism roars its ugly head in public

so the next time i see a foreigner working i will ask for show me his/her WP and if they want to pose for me on a picture

i'm sure they will al comply smiling

Hardly think it's racist. Illegal workers are illegal in all countries, except your highly enlightened country maybe.

You're right, it's not racism, it's xenophobia.

[Locationthailand]

This guy is completely off the planet.

"... The money paid upfront in countries abroad never enters Thailand,”

Err, the travel agents offshore send the money for the plane tickets and the hotels to where....

As to DSI investigating Facebook - you gotta be joshing me. I would think people avoiding 'legality' wouldn't put themselves on social networks like FB but of course there are always a few exceptions. Another FAIL for DSI.

Edited April 26, 2013 by Locationthailand

[NomadJoe]

It's really quite simple. All foreigners should begin to spam this facebook page with photos as much as possible; rendering it impossible to sort through. Shame on these racist scum for engaging in these tactics to profile people based on their skin color and subsequently bring them under police scrutiny as potential criminals. Fight fire with fire in this case and Spam 'em I say.

No point. Spam or noy they aren't going to followup with anything. Just a face saving gesture like all the rest,

[bangkokheat]

what a bunch of hypocrites, you can never find a baseball bat when you need it most, pffft, taking money from thais or thais not getting benefit, so its alright to not charge those thais responsible for that bomb detector scam which seen sooo much wasted tax money, which i would have to assume came from the hard working thais because falangs dont benefit the thais.

the laws of thailand,,,thais are never wrong

never argue with a thai, it will hurt your brain

[notmyself]

Talking about taxis - It's more affordable for me to rent a car for a day than take a taxi to Tesco and back. And I do collect friends from the airport with a rental car - when will I see my photo in the "wanted" scetion of Facebook?

Same here (Samui). BigC and Makro are only 25 minutes away but the return trip by taxi will cost minimum 1000 Baht. I can rent a Suzuki jeep @ 600 Baht a day. Airport is maybe 35 minutes away... 700 Baht there and 700 back. Might get it for 1200 using the same driver.

[Docno]

When do western countries apply same laws to Thais moving to the west?

Thais who come to Germany through marriage for example can open a business/start to work right away "stealing income and work from germans" (what a bullshit, I know. Not much brain around in Thailand but even high ranked officials suck...)

Western countries are unusual in this regard (and I'm sure so-called Western countries vary in their policies too). Here where I live in Singapore, it's not so easy for a spouse to start working. Also, Thais can only be hired to do certain kinds of work. They cannot be maids here, for instance (that's reserved for Filipinas, Indonesians, and Sri Lankans). I don't think anyone would accuse Singapore of 'lacking brains', but that's how it works here...

So Singapore is backwards also

Come here and see for yourself... you're in for a surprise. Certainly more advanced in most things than where I come from (Canada). Just because you don't agree with their employment policies doesn't mean it's backwards.

[LuukKoeyKorat]

I'm more and more glad that I sold up after 8 years and left Thailand 2 years ago.

[rattler]

So Thais can report foreign companies working illegally but not Thai companies working illegally?

[dressedingreen]

Oh well! I guess I'll just have to pack up my grilled entrail BBQ parked outside the local police station at 4am on weekends. Pity! It was good business, especially when the late shift arrived back from their mia nois, before sloping off home to their families. They were always good tippers too. Particularly after the tea money was divided up and the local bars were done over by the 'catch em young' division. Still. I've made enough money to be able to buy this years visa, and a little left over for the wife to have her hair sent to Chiang Mai to be washed, colored, plaited and mailed back via EMS. A treat she looks forward to every year since the onset of serious post entrail shedding.

Seriously ... which mafia boss has his hand so deep in this gentleman's rectum he's able to twang his vocal chords?

DIG

[Thaddeus]

So Thais can report foreign companies working illegally but not Thai companies working illegally?

That would seriously screw with the bandwidth.

[mrdome]

Samart Duwao, a taxi driver, brought the DSI’s attention to the fact

that it is easy for foreigners to operate black plate taxis to and from

the airport.

“A foreigner can just rent a car and pick up passengers at the airport.

It’s too hard for law enforcement agencies to check because they can

just claim they are picking up a friend,” Mr Samart explained.

“I want government officers to look into this problem,” he said.

Anyone ever come across this? This whole thing must be targeted at other Asians mostly anyway, so we 'big noses' can all relax.

[Unkomoncents]

Thank GOD I don't live in Thailand anymore. As Thais slowly wake up to the fact that countless foreigners have been using their country as a place to lie low (while on the lam) and work illegally, in many cases for decades, these kinds of stories will only crop up more and more frequently. It just isn't a safe place to do business, for this and so many other reasons (many of them by no intentional fault of the Thais). It may be cheap, but you get what you pay for, especially in Thailand, as anyone who's done a little shopping at the famous night-markets can attest to.