Report Welshman Fights for Life in Pattaya Hospital After Vanishing from Bangkok Nightclub

[bendejo]

19 hours ago, RAZZELL said:

Bizarre that he was in a "Bangkok nightclub" then ends up in Chonburi which is at least 1hr 15 mins away?

 

 

 

Cherchez la Femme ?

On the road to Pattaya . . . 

 

[ryandb]

46 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

I applied via AA insurance brokers while seated at my house in Phuket. Took less than an hour to swap e mails, send them copies of my passport and receive the policy certificate in my inbox.

 

i believe AA insurance have several offices throughout the country. I originally contacted them via a recommendation on here.

Thank you! 

[thailand49]

17 hours ago, cdemundo said:

The thing is if you have an insurance claim and it gets paid there isn't much of a story.

When you don't get paid it is a big story for the insured who feels cheated.

So there is a bias to hear about unpaid claims.

 

17 hours ago, cdemundo said:

The thing is if you have an insurance claim and it gets paid there isn't much of a story.

When you don't get paid it is a big story for the insured who feels cheated.

So there is a bias to hear about unpaid claims.

Sure, but it would be nice especially when we are talking about Thailand, to see some stats and data as to claims being paid or not being paid?

[thailand49]

13 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

So much cobblers.  Contravene policy conditions and claims will, obviously and justifiably, be denied.   The vast majority of travel insurance claims are successfully paid out by insurers just do some simple research.  That you have not had one case reported to you is irrelevant.

You got it wrong a bit, maybe it is your ORGIN!  I didn't say that I needed to have a case " REPORTED TO ME " PERSONALLY!  which yes if that is what I expect is not RELEVANT!  I've not read any stories that in Thailand claims have been successfully paid!  Sue if I did the research data, it isn't relevant all I express was I haven't read one!  Like always because of your ORIGIN  you always like to add in non relevant to try to look good!🤣 just end up shooting yourself in the foot🤣

[NoshowJones]

22 hours ago, FlorC said:

Who pays the 50k if he doesn't make it ?

That is a question that will never be answered in public, either by the family, hospital, or any authority.

 I am really referring to if he doesn't die and recovers, which I sincerely hope he does.

[morrobay]

So in the middle of the night while partying in Bangkok he decides to go to Pattaya. Maybe you can get away with things like this in the UK .But insurance/no insurance- that is living dangerously here. 

[NoshowJones]

20 hours ago, sfbandung said:

He is a young bloke, travel insurance would have been very cheap. Sad.

I would just love to know how many times insurance companies have actually paid out in circumstances like this in the past year.

[NoshowJones]

19 hours ago, renaissanc said:

Thank you for this. I didn't think it would be so cheap. 

I take it that this is only accident insurance and does not cover illnesses.

[NoshowJones]

18 hours ago, Magictoad said:

That's not necessarily true. In my experience including being beaten up whilst asleep the insurance company covered the cost. It's ALWAYS better to have insurance and assume they WILL PAY. ALWAYS.

There will always be cases where an insurance company will pay out, but so many times they don't. Supposing insurance companies never or very rarely paid out, they would all be out of business long ago.

[Burma Bill]

20 hours ago, khunPer said:

Sad story, but same old story repeating: Don't travel without an insurance...

 

Unfortunately some of us do, because we cannot get insurance. I am an 81 year old insulin dependent Type 2 diabetic and no reputable insurance company will insure me. Fortunately I have financial means to take care of myself. Lack of insurance is not going to stop me travelling while I can. I shall be flying from Siem Reap to Khon Kaen in August, and from SR to Chiang Mai in November.

[Kerryd]

I only came here to see if there was a GoFundMe link already in the article. I expected that would be the case and wasn't disappointed.

That is literally the red flag that it's a scam. 

NOT reported in local news - that literally reports on ANY incident involving a foreigner. Whether it's an Indian having a gold chain snatched, a drunk Euro tearing up a shop, a drunk trying to scam out of paying his bar bill. Pretty much ANY vehicle accident involving a foreigner. Especially one that results in severe injuries to someone.
If it has a foreigner involved it pretty much always ends up in the news.

UNLESS it ONLY appears in a foreign tabloid media site and has a GoFundMe already linked to it for some strange reason. Then it never seems to appear in the local media.
Odd how that happens, isn't it ?

You'd think a foreigner that somehow mysteriously ends up in a Chonburi Hospital (not a Pattaya hospital) would be a major news story. Especially if they (the hospital) was supposedly claiming that he'd been the victim of a "violent attack".

(The version that shows up in the Sun says it was a Bangkok hospital and then later says Chonburi. The ASEAN Now version says it's a Pattaya Hospital. Little disappointed as I would happily go to any of the Pattaya hospitals and bring the guy some flowers and - what goes good with scam story - some black "pudding" maybe ?).

And it's the same thing with almost all of these stories. Lots of generalities and literally no specific details that can be checked. A generic photo that could be anyone. Judging from that photo, whoever it is is in a "general ward" of a gov't hospital.

So this guy has the money to just up and "fly to Thailand on a whim". But doesn't buy travel insurance of course.
Meets up "with friends" and goes out partying.
Note the guy supposedly has epilepsy. And was out partying in "nightclubs". And ends up with a traumatic head injury. In a hospital nearly 90kms away.

Sounds more like someone who was drinking and had a motorcycle accident while not weaing a helmet, doesn't it ? With no insurance.
This is usually a "Phuket" kind of story.

And here's another clue - the Wales News Service - 


Other similar tabloid outlets also offer cash for your "vacation horror stories" that they then "buff" and edit (to remove specific details) and they sell those stories to other outlets.

Which is why you see this story suddenly appear in a dozen different little minor tabloid sites and then a day later suddenly it appears in a bunch more.

And then the people running ASEAN Now/The Thaiger just copy/paste any of those stories that supposedly involve Thailand.

And they almost all have the same basic details. A "mysterious" accident - that was never reported in the local news. Generic details - like a "Chonburi" hospital. Nothing about his friends, what hotel he was staying in, what nightclubs they supposedly visited. No police reports of course.

And they are first reported in a UK tabloid "media" site - that pays for people's horror stories and resells them. And the articles already have GoFundMe links set up. This one was actually set up the day BEFORE the story was reported in the news. (It's critical to the scam that you set up the GoFundMe link before you sell your story to the media. Better exposure and the media site isn't likely to edit the article to include the GoFundMe after they've already published (and paid for) the story.)

And I've run down a couple "Ashton Jones" profiles, including one that lives in Cwmbran, and not a single mention of travelling to Thailand. 

Got a blouse-lifting, window licking friend that's overly fond of sheep living about 50kms away from where this guy is. Asking him to give the guy a call. Would be funny if the guy answered the phone, wouldn't it ?

It's almost hilarious how many people just automatically assume that - because the guy is from the UK - that automatically means it's on the "up and up" and there's no way it could be a scam.

That reminds me, how is that guy who had the motorcycle accident (without a helmet) - the day after his insurance expired ?

And what about the 2 different stories of 2 different people from the UK who both supposedly both went to India, then travelled to Thailand and ended up in the hospital - but their insurance only covered them while they were in India supposedly.

And who can forget the elderly couple that travelled to Thailand for their anniversary and were robbed and beaten "at gunpoint" on their first night ? Their GoFundMe was cancelled when it turned out they'd been seen on CCTV trying to break into rooms at a different hotel and the guy was hurt while jumping off a 1st floor ledge. They skipped out of the hospital and got a flight to Dubai before the cops could catch them.

Or the Australian girls who skipped out on their hotel bill and flew back to Oz and then went to the media (not the police of course) to claim that they did that because one of the girls had been raped at the hotel. Except that the police reviewed the CCTV footage and it showed her bringing 2 guys back to her room and then a couple hours later standing at the door in a towel waving goodbye to them. And then the three of them snuck out of the hotel, got in a cab, went to the airport and flew home, leaving a large unpaid bill behind.

Or the two Irish guys who claimed they'd been drugged and raped and their insurance wouldn't pay for HIV tests ? Turns out they'd been partying and having unprotected sex with some Thai boys and tried to get their insurance to pay for HIV tests and when they were turned down, they returned to the UK and made up a story about being drugged and raped so they could get tested - for free.

And what about the girl (a self-proclaimed "model") who set up a GoFundMe because her "friend" had a motorcycle accident (in Phuket of course) and she needed money to fly there and help her friend get home.
And then posts pics of the hotel she stayed at and the beaches she went to - but none of her friend she was supposedly there to help. The friend she cared so much about, but had no photos of on her Facebook and never mentioned in any of her posts - until suddenly she needed to publicize the GoFundMe - to finance her vacation apparently.

And then there was guy who claimed he'd been "kidnapped by people dressed like police who were demanding a ransom to let him go". His friends set up a GoFundMe (of course) and then went to a local media outlet to cry about how their poor friend was in such desperate need.
Turns out the guy had flown to Thailand and 3 days (!!!) later was caught trying to sell drugs to an undercover cop - in a section of Bangkok notorious for "African" drug dealers. He'd been taken to a Police station (not some "basement" like his friends claimed) and told how much his BAIL would be (not a "ransom").

But the truth wouldn't generate any sympathy, would it ?

Yeah, his GoFundMe was cancelled as well when it turned out he was a low level drug dealer trying to raise money to buy his way out of jail. 

I had TOLD the reporter at the Edmonton Sun what was really going on - but she didn't want to believe me. Until she found out from Foreign Affairs that yes, a Canadian had been arrested in Bangkok on "that" date. She tried to do a follow up with the "friends" that set up the GoFundMe and told her the story - but they wouldn't answer her calls for some reason.

And ALL of those stories had the same basic elements. NEVER reported in any local media. ALL had GoFundMe's set up before the story appeared in a tabloid media site "back home".
No specifics (i.e. no names of Hotels, bars or restaurants that could be checked, vague dates like "last fall" or "in September"). Generic photos that could be of literally anyone with no distinguishing marks of course.
And the GoFundMe scams are always set up by "a friend". Literally never by an actual, named relative. Because those names could be checked. 

But a random "friend" doing that out of the "goodness of their heart" ? How are you going to ask a comatose patient in an unknown Thai hospital if "Jane Doe" is really his bestest friend - especially when she isn't in his friend's list, he has no photos of her or any posts that include her in his profile.

And if Jane Doe just collects the money and disappears - who's going to do anything about it anyways, right ?

It's not like GoFundMe vets the people who set up the scams or checks that they are who they say they are, or that they've actually given the money to the people they claim they were raising it for.

You can get an "appeal" cancelled if you can prove it's fraudulent and GoFundMe will refund the money back to whoever donated it.

But it's kind of hard to prove an appeal is fraudulent when you only have a few, generic details to work with (and the "victims" always seem to be halfway across the country from you so you can't just "drop in" to wherever they are and say hi and wish them well.

Would be kind of embarrassing if someone stopped into the Chonburi Hospital to drop off flowers for Mr Ashton here and found out they've never heard of him and don't have any foreign patients at the hospital. 

I had my hopes up when I saw "Pattaya" hospital in the ASEAN Now cut and paste hack job.

Oh well. I can wait until they scan the Brit tabloids and find another "vacation horror story" that was never reported in the local media and has a GoFundMe already set up. Maybe one day it will be something that happened in Pattaya.

Kind of glad I don't live in Phuket. Seems every other week another person from the UK is in a life-threatening accident tht doesn't make the local news and ends up in a "hospital" without any insurance.

I wonder if all the Indians who claim they were "robbed by ladyboys" set up GoFundMe scams and sell their stories to Indian tabloid sites the same way the Brits do ?

 

[GinBoy2]

1 hour ago, Kerryd said:

I only came here to see if there was a GoFundMe link already in the article. I expected that would be the case and wasn't disappointed.

That is literally the red flag that it's a scam. 

NOT reported in local news - that literally reports on ANY incident involving a foreigner. Whether it's an Indian having a gold chain snatched, a drunk Euro tearing up a shop, a drunk trying to scam out of paying his bar bill. Pretty much ANY vehicle accident involving a foreigner. Especially one that results in severe injuries to someone.
If it has a foreigner involved it pretty much always ends up in the news.

UNLESS it ONLY appears in a foreign tabloid media site and has a GoFundMe already linked to it for some strange reason. Then it never seems to appear in the local media.
Odd how that happens, isn't it ?

You'd think a foreigner that somehow mysteriously ends up in a Chonburi Hospital (not a Pattaya hospital) would be a major news story. Especially if they (the hospital) was supposedly claiming that he'd been the victim of a "violent attack".

(The version that shows up in the Sun says it was a Bangkok hospital and then later says Chonburi. The ASEAN Now version says it's a Pattaya Hospital. Little disappointed as I would happily go to any of the Pattaya hospitals and bring the guy some flowers and - what goes good with scam story - some black "pudding" maybe ?).

And it's the same thing with almost all of these stories. Lots of generalities and literally no specific details that can be checked. A generic photo that could be anyone. Judging from that photo, whoever it is is in a "general ward" of a gov't hospital.

So this guy has the money to just up and "fly to Thailand on a whim". But doesn't buy travel insurance of course.
Meets up "with friends" and goes out partying.
Note the guy supposedly has epilepsy. And was out partying in "nightclubs". And ends up with a traumatic head injury. In a hospital nearly 90kms away.

Sounds more like someone who was drinking and had a motorcycle accident while not weaing a helmet, doesn't it ? With no insurance.
This is usually a "Phuket" kind of story.

And here's another clue - the Wales News Service - 


Other similar tabloid outlets also offer cash for your "vacation horror stories" that they then "buff" and edit (to remove specific details) and they sell those stories to other outlets.

Which is why you see this story suddenly appear in a dozen different little minor tabloid sites and then a day later suddenly it appears in a bunch more.

And then the people running ASEAN Now/The Thaiger just copy/paste any of those stories that supposedly involve Thailand.

And they almost all have the same basic details. A "mysterious" accident - that was never reported in the local news. Generic details - like a "Chonburi" hospital. Nothing about his friends, what hotel he was staying in, what nightclubs they supposedly visited. No police reports of course.

And they are first reported in a UK tabloid "media" site - that pays for people's horror stories and resells them. And the articles already have GoFundMe links set up. This one was actually set up the day BEFORE the story was reported in the news. (It's critical to the scam that you set up the GoFundMe link before you sell your story to the media. Better exposure and the media site isn't likely to edit the article to include the GoFundMe after they've already published (and paid for) the story.)

And I've run down a couple "Ashton Jones" profiles, including one that lives in Cwmbran, and not a single mention of travelling to Thailand. 

Got a blouse-lifting, window licking friend that's overly fond of sheep living about 50kms away from where this guy is. Asking him to give the guy a call. Would be funny if the guy answered the phone, wouldn't it ?

It's almost hilarious how many people just automatically assume that - because the guy is from the UK - that automatically means it's on the "up and up" and there's no way it could be a scam.

That reminds me, how is that guy who had the motorcycle accident (without a helmet) - the day after his insurance expired ?

And what about the 2 different stories of 2 different people from the UK who both supposedly both went to India, then travelled to Thailand and ended up in the hospital - but their insurance only covered them while they were in India supposedly.

And who can forget the elderly couple that travelled to Thailand for their anniversary and were robbed and beaten "at gunpoint" on their first night ? Their GoFundMe was cancelled when it turned out they'd been seen on CCTV trying to break into rooms at a different hotel and the guy was hurt while jumping off a 1st floor ledge. They skipped out of the hospital and got a flight to Dubai before the cops could catch them.

Or the Australian girls who skipped out on their hotel bill and flew back to Oz and then went to the media (not the police of course) to claim that they did that because one of the girls had been raped at the hotel. Except that the police reviewed the CCTV footage and it showed her bringing 2 guys back to her room and then a couple hours later standing at the door in a towel waving goodbye to them. And then the three of them snuck out of the hotel, got in a cab, went to the airport and flew home, leaving a large unpaid bill behind.

Or the two Irish guys who claimed they'd been drugged and raped and their insurance wouldn't pay for HIV tests ? Turns out they'd been partying and having unprotected sex with some Thai boys and tried to get their insurance to pay for HIV tests and when they were turned down, they returned to the UK and made up a story about being drugged and raped so they could get tested - for free.

And what about the girl (a self-proclaimed "model") who set up a GoFundMe because her "friend" had a motorcycle accident (in Phuket of course) and she needed money to fly there and help her friend get home.
And then posts pics of the hotel she stayed at and the beaches she went to - but none of her friend she was supposedly there to help. The friend she cared so much about, but had no photos of on her Facebook and never mentioned in any of her posts - until suddenly she needed to publicize the GoFundMe - to finance her vacation apparently.

And then there was guy who claimed he'd been "kidnapped by people dressed like police who were demanding a ransom to let him go". His friends set up a GoFundMe (of course) and then went to a local media outlet to cry about how their poor friend was in such desperate need.
Turns out the guy had flown to Thailand and 3 days (!!!) later was caught trying to sell drugs to an undercover cop - in a section of Bangkok notorious for "African" drug dealers. He'd been taken to a Police station (not some "basement" like his friends claimed) and told how much his BAIL would be (not a "ransom").

But the truth wouldn't generate any sympathy, would it ?

Yeah, his GoFundMe was cancelled as well when it turned out he was a low level drug dealer trying to raise money to buy his way out of jail. 

I had TOLD the reporter at the Edmonton Sun what was really going on - but she didn't want to believe me. Until she found out from Foreign Affairs that yes, a Canadian had been arrested in Bangkok on "that" date. She tried to do a follow up with the "friends" that set up the GoFundMe and told her the story - but they wouldn't answer her calls for some reason.

And ALL of those stories had the same basic elements. NEVER reported in any local media. ALL had GoFundMe's set up before the story appeared in a tabloid media site "back home".
No specifics (i.e. no names of Hotels, bars or restaurants that could be checked, vague dates like "last fall" or "in September"). Generic photos that could be of literally anyone with no distinguishing marks of course.
And the GoFundMe scams are always set up by "a friend". Literally never by an actual, named relative. Because those names could be checked. 

But a random "friend" doing that out of the "goodness of their heart" ? How are you going to ask a comatose patient in an unknown Thai hospital if "Jane Doe" is really his bestest friend - especially when she isn't in his friend's list, he has no photos of her or any posts that include her in his profile.

And if Jane Doe just collects the money and disappears - who's going to do anything about it anyways, right ?

It's not like GoFundMe vets the people who set up the scams or checks that they are who they say they are, or that they've actually given the money to the people they claim they were raising it for.

You can get an "appeal" cancelled if you can prove it's fraudulent and GoFundMe will refund the money back to whoever donated it.

But it's kind of hard to prove an appeal is fraudulent when you only have a few, generic details to work with (and the "victims" always seem to be halfway across the country from you so you can't just "drop in" to wherever they are and say hi and wish them well.

Would be kind of embarrassing if someone stopped into the Chonburi Hospital to drop off flowers for Mr Ashton here and found out they've never heard of him and don't have any foreign patients at the hospital. 

I had my hopes up when I saw "Pattaya" hospital in the ASEAN Now cut and paste hack job.

Oh well. I can wait until they scan the Brit tabloids and find another "vacation horror story" that was never reported in the local media and has a GoFundMe already set up. Maybe one day it will be something that happened in Pattaya.

Kind of glad I don't live in Phuket. Seems every other week another person from the UK is in a life-threatening accident tht doesn't make the local news and ends up in a "hospital" without any insurance.

I wonder if all the Indians who claim they were "robbed by ladyboys" set up GoFundMe scams and sell their stories to Indian tabloid sites the same way the Brits do ?

 

I'm sorta with you on this one..

 

I did a scan of local Welsh local newspapers and I could see anything, since this the sort of thing that local newspapers thrive on is odd

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62vyzenq9do

The whole thing, Bangkok nightclub ending up in a hospital in Pattaya, doesn't really pass the sniff test

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

 

Unfortunately some of us do, because we cannot get insurance. I am an 81 year old insulin dependent Type 2 diabetic and no reputable insurance company will insure me. Fortunately I have financial means to take care of myself. Lack of insurance is not going to stop me travelling while I can. I shall be flying from Siem Reap to Khon Kaen in August, and from SR to Chiang Mai in November.

Thanks for your reply. Good to hear you have funds instead of insurance. The problem arise when travellers "forget" travel-insurance – it's travel insurance, not health insurance, which is the subject here for a tourist – and family need to open a go-fund-me.

[Reddavy]

21 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

OK.. My insurance company never asked it me

 

I think if you check whoever you got insured with there would have been a question asking anout any previous medical problems. All insurance companies wether holiday or domestic cover ask in their quesionaire on the forms. 

[garsmx]

I mean why bother with a reputable insurance Company which would provide fully comprehensive cover including repatriation for about 3000 Bhat when you can start a good old GoFundMe page and get someone else to pay for it.

 

I often wonder how long it will be before some of these "cheapo" travellers start a GoFundMe page before they even set out .... just to be on the safe side !!