Immigration's BMW "smart car" nabs snitched on overstaying Australian pensioner - he thought hiding in a country village would keep him safe

[Stargeezr]

 The guy was caught because someone snitched on him, not because of technology.

You do know of course that in Asia, you are not a someone unless you drive a BMW.

That is why this tech equipment is not installed in some lowly Honda or Toyota.

See the Thai logi here?

Geezer

[sahibji]

naive or senile?

[Oziex1]

Does the smart car come with smart drivers?

[sambum]

1 hour ago, emptypockets said:

That's all part of the cost of living in a foreign country by choice.

Easily avoided by making a different choice.

No, it's all part of living in Thailand by choice! Moving the goalpost is becoming a weekly event, which doesn't happen (as far as I know) in most other Asian countries!

 

And your last sentence reeks of "if you don't like it, go home"! 

[Scot123]

20 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

Or they get a call from a village about an unknown man wandering around. By the time the cops get there he has wandered off and they can't find him. Send in the facial recognition equipped vehicle and drive around scanning farang. Match faces with immigration database in Bangkok and there you have him . Computers are wonderful things.

Or are you suggesting you'd prefer stop, question and house to house every foreigner every time a report is made?

Seems pretty smart to use the technology available. Certainly saves time and resources.

Fingerprint scanning yes as a secondary check to confirm you have the right person.

Move with the times, facial recognition is here to stay. Australian immigration is considering using it instead of passport checks, and I don't mean the existing system, but where a couple of hundred people get of a plane and simply walk to customs with each and every one scanned.

It's a laptop. Lmao facial recognition cameras scanning people as they go about their day.... Lol. I must of been dreaming when 6 vehicles turned up at my door last year full of police and immigration police to interview me and take a photo of us all standing together outside my house. A house I had lived in for 9 years, a house I was registered at and had a yellow residence book for.... Lol it was all a dream now I see I was just scanned by a prowling BMW in the village.... 40ish visits to the same immigration filling in forms every 90 days having my photo continually taken annual photos of me, my wife and children sitting on my bed and outside my house every year.... 

[emptypockets]

4 minutes ago, sambum said:

No, it's all part of living in Thailand by choice! Moving the goalpost is becoming a weekly event, which doesn't happen (as far as I know) in most other Asian countries!

 

And your last sentence reeks of "if you don't like it, go home"! 

My last sentence means exactly what I said. If you think I reeks of something else that's your problem. You yourself said the problem doesn't happen in other Asian countries.

[Denim]

Reminds me of a song.

 

Don't Bogart that Lao Khao my friend , pass it over to me.

Don't Bogart that Lao Khao my friend, or I'll Have to dob you in.

 

Buy another one,

Just like the other one

You've been hanging on to it

And I sure could use a hit

[RJRS1301]

36 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

Match faces with immigration database in Bangkok and there you have him . Computers are wonderful things.

Or are you suggesting you'd prefer stop, question and house to house every foreigner every time a report is made?

Seems pretty smart to use the technology available. Certainly saves time and resources.

Fingerprint scanning yes as a secondary check to confirm you have the right person.

Efficient, effective, time resourcing intuitive and efficacy>> silly  Thais>> smarter than some are willing to give credit to.

????️‍♂️

[KenKadz]

"snitched on by fellow villagers"

Anyone know what the "Bounty" is on foreigners now?

[emptypockets]

6 minutes ago, Scot123 said:

It's a laptop. Lmao facial recognition cameras scanning people as they go about their day.... Lol. I must of been dreaming when 6 vehicles turned up at my door last year full of police and immigration police to interview me and take a photo of us all standing together outside my house. A house I had lived in for 9 years, a house I was registered at and had a yellow residence book for.... Lol it was all a dream now I see I was just scanned by a prowling BMW in the village.... 40ish visits to the same immigration filling in forms every 90 days having my photo continually taken annual photos of me, my wife and children sitting on my bed and outside my house every year.... 

I agree...you must have been dreaming or perhaps they had good reason to send 6 vehicles to your house. I have no idea.

But a one poster described in detail recently they DO use facial recognition in these cars.

[elliss]

7 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

Have you seen a Farang wandering aimlessly around? 

 

You don't know where he lives?

 

If the answer is yes to both the above questions then he is almost certainly an overstayer.

 

Call 1178 Immediately. Our BMW smart car is already on its way! 

 

 

 

           Many Farangs wander aimlessly around Big C , and Tops.

 

[RJRS1301]

12 minutes ago, Scot123 said:

It's a laptop. Lmao facial recognition cameras scanning people as they go about their day.... Lol. I must of been dreaming when 6 vehicles turned up at my door last year full of police and immigration police to interview me and take a photo of us all standing together outside my house. A house I had lived in for 9 years, a house I was registered at and had a yellow residence book for.... Lol it was all a dream now I see I was just scanned by a prowling BMW in the village.... 40ish visits to the same immigration filling in forms every 90 days having my photo continually taken annual photos of me, my wife and children sitting on my bed and outside my house every year.... 

They have only just introduced the smart car technology, makes sense to make them interactive with other databases

Now you are part of the bigger database, you may well be scanned soon, somewhere, sometime, as we all may be, well will be, as the technology is wound out to public spaces/transport etc. 

Edited February 15, 2020 by RJRS1301

[sambum]

1 hour ago, emptypockets said:

And I never said he was. But maybe, just maybe, there is more to this story than is published - and why somebody put him in.

Bit like the 'I got denied entry posts'...... There is always a back story we will never hear.

Perhaps the Australian embassy or the Federal Police request immigration to get him. Who knows? I don't, but I bet there is more to this than meets the eye.

By virtue of the fact that you mentioned "paedo(phile) in your post and then saying "I'm not saying he is, mind you" is a clear insinuation and then denial on your part - why didn't you add "but he might be!" Chinese whispers?

 

 

 

[ThailandRyan]

41 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

Or they get a call from a village about an unknown man wandering around. By the time the cops get there he has wandered off and they can't find him. Send in the facial recognition equipped vehicle and drive around scanning farang. Match faces with immigration database in Bangkok and there you have him . Computers are wonderful things.

Or are you suggesting you'd prefer stop, question and house to house every foreigner every time a report is made?

Seems pretty smart to use the technology available. Certainly saves time and resources.

Fingerprint scanning yes as a secondary check to confirm you have the right person.

Move with the times, facial recognition is here to stay. Australian immigration is considering using it instead of passport checks, and I don't mean the existing system, but where a couple of hundred people get of a plane and simply walk to customs with each and every one scanned.

As far as I have been told, there is no facial recognition software onboard, just think if it had license plate reader capability, think of all the extra fines they could collect for unpaid tickets that the RTP are missing out on.  My point was that this is no different than running someone from the side of the road without technology like we did in the olden days.  Technology is only as good as those that run it and program it......

[RJRS1301]

4 minutes ago, sambum said:

Bit like the 'I got denied entry posts'...... There is always a back story we will never hea

But that obviously allows you to become Dame Barbara Cartland and invent the back story to suit your imagination 

[RJRS1301]

6 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

As far as I have been told, there is no facial recognition software onboard, just think if it had license plate reader capability, think of all the extra fines they could collect for unpaid tickets that the RTP are missing out on.  My point was that this is no different than running someone from the side of the road without technology like we did in the olden days.  Technology is only as good as those that run it and program it......

Traffic fines/ immigration deirrent budget line items.

One agency at a time for roll out.

Bet our northern neighbour selling the software, and upgrading it. Probably under belt and road

[Alex2554]

45 minutes ago, sambum said:

 

 

And who decides that he needs these amounts in order to be able to "afford to live here"? I know of many (farang) people who can afford to live here on substantially less than the figures quoted, and I would hazard a guess that there are MILLIONS of Thais who don't have that income!

If you (alien) live on less than these amounts you're a public charge.

Being an alien you use subsidized products and services intended for Thai citizens 

 

[Russell17au]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

So, it's all the BMW smart car that's finding these folks.  Let's back track a little.  Snitch calls in a possible scofflaw, police show up, find said scofflaw, check his ID against the data base and find out he is here on overstay.  How the heck is this any different than immigration stopping you, calling in to their command and having your info run, it's not, the smart car is a tool that should have a fingerprint reader as well as a daily updated data base such as we had in the US to find out who the person was on the side of the road that was lying to us and had no Identification.  Photos from the data base, linked to the print and other identifying information is what makes a smart car.  This smart car is only as smart or as dumb as the people using it.  Waste of Money.  Could be done from a smartphone with a wifi connection.  Sheesh.....

Sheesh....The camera on the roof of these smart cars are a facial recognition camera that is coupled to a computer in the car with a direct link to the immigration data base which is the same system that is used in other countries including Australia. No smartphone with wifi could handle anything like that not even in the US. We used this system in Australia several years ago.

[Russell17au]

1 hour ago, Hoppyone said:

If he was on disability pension would only be good for 28 days per year ,so income after that ,unless he had big bank balance to survive on.

The Australian Disability Support Pension carries the same portability as the Australian Old Age Pension. As long as he meets the portability requirements then he does not lose his pension. There is also another pension that he could be on and that is the Veteran Affairs Pension which also can be taken overseas after meeting the portability requirements.

[rexall]

8 hours ago, Psimbo said:

All this angst on many threads over the type of vehicle they are using. In the big scheme of things who gives a toss what sort of car they have? If I'm travelling long distances around the country I'd want a bit of comfort instead of a Hilux as well.

 

Get over it. 

Dude, you get over it!  It's Imm that is making a big deal of of this car and implying that it serves some actual crime fighting function other than comfort.

[euroflash]

I wonder if you can call those BWM cops to report that your mother-in-law has overstayed her welcome?

[rexall]

8 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

Why do these people insist on overstaying knowing very well that the long arm of the law will eventually catch up with them? I can’t imagine that it would be a comfortable existence, having to look over your shoulder all the time. 
Could it be that they are fugitives from their own country? If so, then Thai immigration is doing everyone a big favor by rounding them up. 

What do you mean "them." The presence of someone "wandering about" is not reasonable cause to suspect that a crime has been committed. What does that even mean? As if most Thails go about their activities with purposeful vigor! 

[Pancho]

Keep all personal items with RFID chip in a faraday bag, or stainless steel case. 200 thb. There is no law against this.
the law regarding the use ( power) of a reader is meant to be very weak. Passive unit ( card /passport) becomes live  ( transmitting) at say 2 inches. Where there is no law it is possible to have a reader at 500 watts. You can read everything  @ 10 m distance. Rest assured this is the case in all airports where such laws are cheerfully disregarded, and ALL passports are read and recorded , Totally immoral and illegal. 
Have a nice day.   ????

[Mark mark]

1 hour ago, Mark mark said:

It probably depends on whether you are living with a Thai family or not. ... Positively ! (E.G. being of some use to them, one way or another) ... Like Thais are Loyal to their Families (To the Point of Nepotism ???) .... and their ethos is never <Deleted> with another Family !!! ... (Like then that Family will <Deleted> with you !!!! Right ! ? ..... And It sounds like in this case ? he was not living with any one family particularly ? .... Or he probably would NOT have got shopped.

.... My Wife just walked past, so I thought that I would ask her about what she thought about this occurrence, ? And what I just said about it, RE having to have a good family, and you MAY be able to get away with over staying ! ?  .... And she just laughed about the guy over staying for over a Year ! And then getting dobbed in !  .... Like NO malice .... It was just funny to her !!! ? ....

 

.... And she said that I would not get dobbed in here, if I did not have a visa, ...  d/t being part of her Family ! ... ?   ... Still I am NEVER thinking of testing this out myself !!! I CAN tell you all that !....

[scorecard]

5 hours ago, soalbundy said:

Have to agree there, after talking to some of my villagers it seems they have no idea what hoops we have to jump through, visa extensions and 90 day reports aren't on their radar. Even my mother-in-law doesn't understand why I have to travel to Bangkok every year to get my embassy letter from the German embassy, "why? You live here, you have a Thai son, a house, what do you need a visa for"? So I don't understand snitching for overstay, how would they even know? One would have to be down and out and be causing trouble to get a report made. Even my pu yai baan has no idea that I need visa extensions, after 14 years of being here he just considers me as a village inhabitant who has the right to be here.

 Agreed, however there is no reason why 99% of Thai folks would need such knowledge and/or have gained such knowledge.

 

But there's other variations I've come across: best example, Thai man claimed his Thai sisters' western fiance didn't need a visa to enter / to be in Thailand because he's a doctor (of science not medicine).

 

Same Thai man caused serious relationship problems between his Thai sister and her western fiance, they lodged an application for a visa for the Thai lady to visit fiances' country and it was rejected.

 

Lady's Thai brother then told his sister 'your fiance doesn't want you to go too his country because he already has a wife there, so he instructed his embassy to reject your application'. Followed by telling all the Thai family that for all countries a doctor can call their embassy and order them to grant visas and they have to do it.

 

Farang got the cold shoulder and some abuse by other members of his gf's family and eventually got a local Thai immigration officer to visit the family and tell them the truth of the situation.  

 

 

 

 

[sambum]

1 hour ago, CraigInBangkok said:

While I do agree with you in principle ... my wife actually goes to work, so it is cheaper for me to live here with my wife, than on my own

So you're a kept man? Nice!

[StevieAus]

8 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

63 year old pensioner, WOW, last check, you had to be 67 + to get the pension in the land of Oz. Maybe he is on a disability pension ?

 

I can tell you one thing, if these clowns think they are funny by claiming this guy to be a hiding kangaroo because of his nationality, it just goes to show how pathetic and child like minds they have, real "racists" trying to justify the taxpayer dollars spent for their BMW ride.

Not everyone is reliant on the so called Australian  government

pension and with the changes made in recent years in relation to the assets  test and other eligibility rules particularly affecting expats I suspect it will become harder to obtain.

I retired at 60 years old with my own private pension but I suppose I am still a “ pensioner”.

[CraigInBangkok]

1 minute ago, sambum said:

So you're a kept man? Nice!

For the last year I have been

[Bkkthebest]

Another story pertain to the almighty BMW smart car. It does sound like an anime story. 

[sambum]

1 hour ago, emptypockets said:

Irrelevant what you think, thems the rules. In my case my wife works and owns her own home. We can live very well on 40,000 baht. Much better than a single man on 65,000 I would bet.

"Irrelevant what you think, them's the rules"

 

I totally agree that THOSE are the rules but is this not a discussion forum? I am allowed to say that I don't agree with them or can not even understand the logic behind them, am I not ? Or even the fact that I was obviously talking "like for like" - not bringing somebody else's assets into the equation?