The Fugitive

Thanks for your information. The extensive medical cover plus 1,000 per day whilst a hospital in-patient is an extremely attractive feature!

Exactly! If I died during year 3 it's maximum gain. If during year 19 it's maximum loss. Best to hold on in case of the latter until 20 and get premiums back plus bonus. You have to laugh!

I'm definitely way over the top here at 2,800 baht per month. However, with pay-out of 300,000 upon death maybe it isn't so bad?

Unbelievable! Both how a plan like that operates and why people take them out? My Mrs was worried because several of her friends have been left in debt when their falang husbands died from alcoholic poisoning. They had spent all their savings and ended up living (or rather boozing) from day to day on their pensions. I worked out that according to the policy she has taken out on me, if I die in year 0 or 1 it's a total loss. Between year's 2 and 9 she would make a profit. Between 10 and 19 it would be a loss. The plan ends (matures?) at year 20. However, the refunded premiums plus bonus would be a loss.

Good idea! The other day I was looking into organ donation. Signed up in UK with no problem. However, Thailand has a cut-off age of 65.

Same as at home. Paupers funeral paid out of public funds. I've read somewhere that a hospital mortuary gets cleared out after 30 days if bodies remain unclaimed.

Thanks for this. Maybe something lost in translation with me. I've never looked into a 'Funeral Plan' as they seem to be termed in the UK. The three policies my Mrs took out appear to all be the same, with a twenty-year term. Does that mean they can't be funeral plans? Surprisingly, the insurance agent said that my medical history was irrelevant. Or maybe she just said that to sell the policy? My Mrs got paid out without any difficulty when her Mum died.

My Mrs had three (now down to two) life insurance policies with; www.ThaiLife.com Policies taken out with a local insurance agent who also collects the monthly premiums.

My brother-in-law died last year, total cost £3,500 GBP. Mother-in-law died a few weeks later, total cost £4,800 GBP. My Mrs had taken out life insurance to provide for her Mum. My brother-in-law's wife was unable to find the money so I paid for his.

Many thanks for mentioning the life insurance! My Mrs took it out upon her mother, her uncle and myself. 20 year term, annual premiums £760. Pay out on death £7,142. I'm aiming to survive the twenty year term, after which you get all your premiums returned plus a bonus of £1,428 totalling £16,628. If you die within the first two years you get nothing. I'll have you know she got a free continental quilt and an umbrella for each policy!

I think they call them 'columns'. We had two deaths (my mother-in-law and my brother-in-law) within a few weeks last year. Mother-in-law was keeping four cremation urns in her house so we bought a column which was installed at our nearest temple and now all six have been placed inside it.

First time I went to a dentist in Thailand I was asked if everything was OK at my last annual medical? At the age of 66 I'd never had one. I answered "yes". I assumed it was an American thing and my dentist believed all falangs had them. I suppose it depends upon your age, medical history, whether you need to take regular medication etc. From reading your most informative report it does sound as though it's a money making racket. No doubt there is (eventual) benefit for some in an annual 'MOT' but I don't consider myself at the stage where it's warranted. Maybe better safe than sorry though. Are there any suitable high street clinics locally that offer thorough health checks (vitals, full blood count analysis and physical examination?).

a) Pleasant beaches and islands easily accessible and affordable b) Coffee and cheese/ham toasties from 7/11 c) Economical and reliable water and electricity supply (ass pistols are wonderful) d) Great value internal flights, rail and coach services. e) Warm weather (sometimes a little too hot but you can’t have everything).

Possibly but not a certainty. The poor lady victim may be exaggerating how much the scammers knew in order to save face and maximise her chances of getting her cash back. Provincial Land Office is a universally known organisation in Thailand, as is PEA, MEA etc. There are subtle ways of obtaining information from someone and then, using assumptions, the law of averages and/or taking a gamble confidence tricksters can convince people they already know their details. I had a friend who believed in spiritual mediums and would come away honestly believing that there was 'no way the lady could have known that in advance'. They do this all the time for their living.

Sounds like she installed the scammers APP of the same name. Possibly by clicking upon a hyperlink that they sent to her?

That made me think! Would it be necessary to take a fresh photograph via a mobile APP presumably linked to special face recognition software in order to carry out a biometric scam? Or, if a good enough photograph of yourself was available (on Facebook for example), could a biometric security defeating image be made from it?

Possibly in Cambodia (initially). Understand foreign gangs pay locals to open bank accounts for them in border areas. A UK policeman once told me that after several onward transfers the original bank cannot track the money.

My Mrs had five Schwannoma tumours cut out of a leg under local anaesthetic at a Thai Government Regional Hospital. No pain involved whatsoever.

Any doctor should warn you that a general anaesthetic carries it's own risk. For this reason, local would be my preferred option when available.

'LMDE aims to be as similar as possible to Linux Mint, but without using Ubuntu. The package base is provided by Debian instead'. Thank you for your information.

https://linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php We're talking about Linux Mint. Linux Mint is offered with a choice of either a Ubuntu or a Debian base.

Good solution. There are two options for Linux Mint; Ubuntu based and Debian based. You may find the Debian based runs a little lighter. Debian versions of SlimJet browser will install upon both.

For a lightweight browser try Slimjet. They recommend installing their 32 bit version (even on a 64 bit machine) for speed. Works well for me; https://www.slimjet.com/en/dlpage.php

Absolutely agree! A self-employed contracting plumber/gas central heating installer friend has to have health/public liability insurance. That involves annual medicals. At his most recent his doctor asked him if he would like him to install a stent. No problem at the moment but thinking long-term that 'prevention is better than cure'. He agreed. His next insurance premium tripled. They told him; 'because you've had a heart attack'. He replied he hadn't. Well then, 'because you're at risk of having one'. He replied I'm not. Well, 'they certainly don't fit them for fun'. He has to pay 3X more!

Last year, around our corner, two teenage girls on a moto died at the scene after colliding with the rear of a six-wheeler. They were friends of my nephew and customers of my wife's shop. Our First Responders took photographs of the scene and uploaded them to Facebook. A motorcycling friend in UK asked me to stop sharing such images.