simon43

Well, although Sheryl will no doubt disagree with me, I'd say that you "dodged a bullet" by not taking out insurance with April International. Because I feel strongly that I never mislead this company when I completed their application form, I have submitted a formal complaint to the insurance ombudsman in France, with a claim for financial damages. I'll let all know what the outcome is ????

Based on my own experience of April Insurance (France) completely cancelling my insurance cover after I made a pre-authorisation claim for a prostate cancer biopsy, I would say that if you do apply for cover from this company, that you declare every absolutely minor injury or illness that has occurred in your lifetime! (ingrowing toenail, botox injections, bunions etc etc). April rejected my claim because I had failed to declare an unrelated condition (slight BPH), even though that condition had never been formally diagnosed by any doctor..... Prior to these events, I had confidence that insurance companies would not try to 'wriggle' out of their responsibilities by citing some totally unrelated clause in their fine print. As a result, I wasted thousands of $ paying April for several years when I could have been saving that money instead. It's very unlikely that I will take out health insurance in the future because now I simply do not trust any insurance company. I'll save my $ and self-insure and hope for the best.

[quote] ... Just like cobolt which is not radioactive until an electron is added ... [/quote] Electron??? Check your text-book again ????

Don't let them in Athens hear you talking like that - Crete is part of Greece ????

Don't let them in Athens hear you talking like that - Crete is part of Greece ????

The volunteer rescue workers always have - for the most part they were established by the Thai-Chinese community.

One reason why I started to think about my own mortality occurred one week before I travelled to the UK for prostate cancer diagnosis/treatment. I never mentioned this event on this forum but did cover it in detail on the 'wooden' forum. I was stung on the back of my neck by a box jellyfish on Koh Phangan. I was utterly convinced that I was going to die in the next 10 minutes because: - Most people die from these stings and the last person to be stung by a box jellyfish on Koh Phangan died within 10 minutes. - All the Thais in the beach restaurant where I collapsed were also convinced that I was about to die as I writhed about on the floor while they rubbed vinegar into me, because I heard them saying in Thai 'look at him, he will be dead in a few minutes' and - I felt that I WAS dying as I lay on the ground repeating the mantra 'I do not want to die today'. It was an absolutely terrifying experience. I was asked if I had medical insurance. Well, not right now because those bastards at April International Insurance had cancelled it!! So I was taken to the government hospital where there was no competent doctor, no medication and nothing that anyone could do except wait for me to either live or die. Fortunately I lived ???? Anyway, this is the reason for my consideration of serious ailments that can be avoided. I should be able to avoid box jellyfish if I don't swim in seas where they are found. So that risk is eliminated, now what about the others!

Well not 'remote' (as in the North Pole). Think rural, in a village.

Same here. All my mates are dead from alcoholism, cancer, motorbike accidents, diabetes and suicide! [quote] ..and get vaccinated against pneumonia [/quote] Since returning to the UK and registering with the NHS I have been offered a free colon cancer test (waiting for the result), free Covid booster, free flu shot and free pneumonia shot ???? [quote] I guess your future health lies in the hands of your health insurance company. [/quote] Well I thought it did, but my health insurance company had other ideas...!

I forgot - diabetes is also a major cause of death...

Some will have read my post about my ongoing prostate cancer diagnosis and possible treatment. This situation has really made me think long and hard about where I live in the future (ie in a city or rural location, regardless of the country), and what actions I can take to ensure that I am unlikely to suffer a major illness or accident. I checked the data about what illnesses or causes of death are the most common for men aged 60+. (This also depends on what country you live in, lifestyle etc etc) Heart attack Stroke Cancer Lung diseases Diabetes Pneumonia Kidney disease Alzheimer's disease Accidents/suicide etc Out of these ailments only heart attack, stroke and accidents are sudden-onset ailments, (well, suicide as well, but unless you're suffering from severe depression or mental illness, then I'll discount this as a likely cause of death). So if one is living in a rural area, far from a decent hospital, all the other ailments may give you time to travel to a suitable hospital for treatment etc. I'm thinking how one can avoid sudden-onset, life-threatening illnesses or accidents. Add into the pot detached retinas, appendicitus as urgent ailments that need one to quickly travel to a suitable hospital. So apart from accidents (slip in the shower, have a motorbike accident, cut your leg off with the power saw in the garden etc), it looks like only stroke and heart attacks are the likely sudden-onset illnesses, (unless you know better - please comment!) I took an online survey as to the likelyhood of me having a stroke or HA, based on my lifestyle and my risk was minimal ???? I have no idea what causes appendicitus (blockage?), so I'm not sure how to be proactive to avoid that. Accidents? Hold onto things in the bathroom, avoid slippery tiled floors, wear a crash helmet when riding a motorbike (and maybe in the bathroom as well!!), don't ride drunk, don't pick fights with anyone etc You can't protect yourself from all the health risks in life, but what other actions can one take? I ask because I need to consider whether living in remote locations is a sensible option for me in the future, or whether I should ;lve within striking distance of a decent hospital. Please feel free to add your own advice and any other (realistic) health risks that might befall the older person.

I've also never heard of this word ???? But I can't understand why a life-scare (cancer) should cause you to shun 'toxic' people. IMHO, you should be shunning such people anyway regardless of a sudden health care.

They can't access my Wise account - I have 2-step authorisation in place and the mobile phone is always in my possession.

Just ask for 'dork boon' (actually 'bpoon'), which means drill bit for concrete. Or 'dork sawan boon' ) (power drill bit for concrete).

Update: Wise has notified Mastercard/Visa of these fraudulent transactions and has fully refunded my funds ???? They have offered to send a new card by a more secure means (DHL), but I'll wait to see if the thief can be identified (if it's the slimy youth at my hotel, then he will no doubt sign for the DHL package etc). But I can certainly freeze the card before it is sent so that no online transactions can be made.

Nope, I think it's true, judging by how most other people are paying! I've been away for so many years that I had to ask the Sainsbury staff to show me how to use the self-scanning check-out tills....

Er ... I pay cash for everything! (I use ATM cards in the UK/Thailand) to withdraw cash to pay for whatever. I never use these cards to buy anything except for plane tickets etc.

Update: Now the plot thickens! Checking into the details of this new physical ATM card, I see that Wise has sent it to my brother's address, not to my UK address (I forgot to update my postal address). WAIT! No they didn't!! I just checked again! My Wise account still has my brother's address, but Wise shipped the card to my UK address in Blackpool that I entered into the Wise website after requesting the card. In other words, Wise were happy to post this card to an address that wasn't yet associated with my Wise account! (Duh...) My brother hasn't yet received the card, which is likely so if the expected delivery date is by March 19th. Now looking at the actual Uber Eats purchases, it says that the actual authorisation method was 'online'. The Wise website says that one can actually use the card for purchases online before the actual card arrives. So how did the defrauder get hold of my ATM card details to make the purchases? (I wish I knew where the Uber Eats order was made).

2 points: The Wise ATM card is a debit card, not a credit card. Secondly, I recently opened a bank account with Halifax Bank. As expected, they sent me an inactive ATM debit card and then the PIN number by separate post. For this Wise card, I was asked to choose a 4-digit PIN on their website and then they confirmed that the card would be sent to me, (which apparently it was, but someone stole it before I received it). Naturally, I considered that maybe my Wise account had been hacked. Unfortunately, I see no way of requesting a log of log-in attempts to my account. In any case, every log-in has to be confirmed by my mobile phone, which is with me at all times. I scanned my laptop for viruses and keyloggers, but nothing was found. I only access the Wise website from my laptop, never from my mobile phone, and I always have to enter the URL and confirm the log-in using my mobile phone. So I'm still perplexed how this scam was committed! Interestingly, the email from Wise after I requested/signed up for the card says that it has to be activated before use (it doesn't say how), AND that it would arrive by 19th March. Well, it was used on 9th March, 10 days before I should have received it!

In fact I normally add funds to Wise from my Payoneer account (I am paid by iTalki that way), and then I send those funds immediately to Bangkok Bank. But on this occasion I kept some funds in my Wise a/c to send them to a USA bank account in payment for a power amplifier for my ham radio equipment. This problem only started when I ordered the ATM card, never had an issue using Wise previously.

I already have that and I use the 2-step authorisation process all the time. That is why I can't figure out why Wise was so lacking in sending out a 'live' ATM card by unregistered post and which can apparently be used without need to enter a PIN or 2-stage OTP when an item is purchased.

Because that was required on the Wise website. After I clicked to request the card it then asked me to enter a 4-digit PIN for the card. I did this and I then received an OTP on my mobile phone to confirm this PIN. This was not a phishing website - it was the real Wise website because I had just used it in the same session to send funds to my Bangkok bank account.

To confirm, I only access my Wise account using my laptop, not my phone. I have 2-step authorisation set up and have never had any security issues receiving/sending funds to/from Thailand etc. When I requested the ATM card on the Wise website it specifically asked me to choose a 4-digit PIN number, which I did. The website made no mention that the card would need to be activated upon receipt and there is nothing on the website under 'My cards' that mentions entering an activation code or whatever. I find that very strange.... Anyway, I'm waiting for the response from Wise.

Unfortunately no. The large transaction actually says 'Uber Eats Pending' which sounds to me that it isn't yet authorised. But below on the transaction details it says 'spent' which suggests that the purchase has been completed. At no time was any OTP or 'click to approve' push message sent to my mobile phone. I certainly will forgo the convenience of having this ATM card if the security is so lax that anyone can charge their big fat Uber meal to my account.....

Thanks - it would make sense that these fraudalent charges didn't require the PIN/OTP etc. In that case, either the postman stole the card or the slimy youth who is employed at this guesthouse where I'm staying - I suspect the latter.... I hope I get my money refunded from Wise.