Aussie Couple In Phuket Arrested Over Fake Robbery Claim

[outofoz]

This type of insurance claim is part of every day life amongst certain communities in Australia. In Australia it is dodgy car accidents, personal injury, workers comp claims..

while travelling the same mentality is to claim whatever you can get.... have the police report, must have happened!

[outofoz]

As an Aussie, I hang my head in shame, I thought as a nation we were better then this.

Without trying to raise the raciest card the 'victims' names of Abdul Karim Al-Rajab and Zeidan Nouha are not common names for Australian born citizens and more akin to a resettled Australian then one born in my country.

But he and his partner are (and could always have been) Australian ... so apologies for their actions.

Bit over the top isn't it? Hang your head in shame? bit cringeworthy mate...

They tried an insurance scam, happens every day in OZ.

I don't apologise because they are Australian. They are obviously dodgy characters, but every country has them.

[monty1412]

Becoming more common by the boatload

yes unfortunately... I mean leaving the stuff you had filed claim for in your safe... kangaroos loose in the top paddock me thinks.

Abdul is soon going to get close and friendly with some other men....

I hope the papers back home pick up on this and have a field day with it.

They will be in trouble if they are applying for an immigrant visa to australia at present thats for sure.

Throw the book at em....

[Arkady]

As an Aussie, I hang my head in shame, I thought as a nation we were better then this.

Without trying to raise the raciest card the 'victims' names of Abdul Karim Al-Rajab and Zeidan Nouha are not common names for Australian born citizens and more akin to a resettled Australian then one born in my country.

But he and his partner are (and could always have been) Australian ... so apologies for their actions.

If they have genuine Australian passports, aren't they just as Australian as you? So what's your point?

[jehricaholic]

Going on their names i would say middle east, must be australian citizens, these people give the real aussie a bad name, hope they get what they deserve.

It wasn't long ago that Australia had a reputation of it's citizens having bloodlines from it's past as a former British empire penal colony outpost. At least this is what was told to us North Americans 30+ years ago. Since then I've heard they've become proficient at somehow combining shellfish with a famous toy doll brand.

Edited November 2, 2011 by jehricaholic

[outofoz]

Going on their names i would say middle east, must be australian citizens, these people give the real aussie a bad name, hope they get what they deserve.

It wasn't long ago that Australia had a reputation of it's citizens having bloodlines from it's past as a former British empire penal colony outpost. At least this is what was told to us North Americans 30+ years ago. Since then I've heard they've become proficient at somehow combining shellfish with a famous toy doll brand.

The reputation is very true. Many Australians can trace some part of their family tree to the Convicts of days gone by (no matter how tenuous the link -- we will claim a 3rd cousin to a great great Uncle type of thing - myself included )...

Rather than hiding the fact the family has a criminal past, many Australians revel in this part of their history and will proudly inform you of their convict linkages. Why Australians can be so proud of their link to uneducated petty criminals of the 1800s is a mystery.

Perhaps these newer Australians, as in the Phuket robbery debacle, are merely trying to assimilate into Australian culture?

[scotto]

Yes we all aussies will proudly tell you if asked about our ancestors sent out many moons ago

Edited November 2, 2011 by LivinginKata
racist remark removed

[ukrules]

the couple have have been charged with intentionally providing false information to police officers

This is a very minor crime to be caught for. If they had filed an insurance claim they would be looking at a fraud charge in Australia.

[janverbeem]

i hope the aussie papers pick up on this story ,those names are not typical aussie. as another poster pointed out . but i hope they dont walk away scott free. james

G-day mate,, no trying to a smart ass but have a look at the Sydney phone book, the most common name in it is Nu,,,, never was a typical aussie name but sure as hell is now, many names in there like this two, sad but are now very typical,, poor old Smith lost out many moons ago.

I guess the Smiths were not longer required to stay anymore.

[TechnikaIII]

As an Aussie, I hang my head in shame, I thought as a nation we were better then this.

Without trying to raise the raciest card the 'victims' names of Abdul Karim Al-Rajab and Zeidan Nouha are not common names for Australian born citizens and more akin to a resettled Australian then one born in my country.

But he and his partner are (and could always have been) Australian ... so apologies for their actions.

Streuth! Unless you are an Aborigine you only have to go back a few generations of your own bloodline to find resettled Australians.

... and outside Greece, Melbourne has the largest Greek population in the world.

However, insurance fraud is insurance fraud - period. But as these idiots hadn't managed to complete their fraudulent insurance claims, so far it is only the Thai police who can charge them for the false report. I hope the insurance company, the intended victim, will be advised. Had the crime been committed entirely on Australian soil, they could still be charged for Conspiracy to commit fraud. I don't know where they stand on that one now, but lets hope the cue to the court room is a very long one, just in case the judge is lenient.

Very good work on the part of the Thai police.

Take note of what Patong Police Superintendent Arayapan Pukbuakao said: "Tourists of all nationalities commit these kinds of crimes."

Quoting myself, I mention the insurance company, as "the intended victim", but of course it is all of us who become the ultimate victims. The insurance companies have to budget for fraud, and load premiums accordingly, just as retailers must cost in for shoplifting. The honest customer is the loser, so it is important that this point is made in court when sentence is handed down. (Then there is the cost of incarceration, which we again must pay for through taxation. I'm an advocate for productive labour in prisons, but that is another subject.)

The sarcasm directed at the police in this thread is out of order.

[manarak]

Abdul Karim Al-Rajab and Zeidan Nouha

wow, reading the names I feared for one moment that they were French! whheew!

[Derifo]

As an Aussie, I hang my head in shame, I thought as a nation we were better then this.

Without trying to raise the raciest card the 'victims' names of Abdul Karim Al-Rajab and Zeidan Nouha are not common names for Australian born citizens and more akin to a resettled Australian then one born in my country.

But he and his partner are (and could always have been) Australian ... so apologies for their actions.

Moroccans.

[Daewoo]

When my Pommy boss was migrating to Australia, and was asked whether he had a criminal record, he replied "I didn't realise it was still required"... :D:D

Untrue - 'many Aussies can trace their family back to Convicts'... Convict Bloodline is considered 'Australian Royalty'... while many would like to have convict blood, almost none do... over 90 years of transportation, 162,000 total convicts were shipped to Australia, at the time of the final shipment, Australia's population was 1 Million...

Now Australia's population is 22.5m... Most of Australia's population growth (60% in 09/10) is through immigration, which has always been at very high levels, but it wasn't until the abolision of the White Australia policy in 1973, that a significant number started to come from countries other than UK and NZ...

I would bet money that these two are either 2nd or maybe 3rd generation Australians, probably their parents that left Lebanon in the early 1980's, where Australia accepted many Lebanese migrants escaping the Civil War... I would bet that they have done all their schooling in Australian schools, and other than a few trips back to 'the old country' with the family, lived their entire lives in Australia... to say they are not likely to be real Australians isn't true, they just aren't Anglo-Celtic Australians...

For sure, the Lebanese community is over represented in all areas of crime... for sure they are over represented in fraud... Personally, I think it is a cultural thing, about dedicating time to sitting around socialising, not working, and a different attitude within the community to what is acceptable and not... All information points to most of these problems being with 2nd and 3rd generation Lebanese Australians (where there is a Lebanese link), and very little problem with the original immigrant community...

That insurance fraud is so rife within the Australian Lebanese community, to the point that a claim for back injury is called 'lebo back' and whiplash from a car accident is always said with a Lebanese accent, makes me question Australian investigators, when the BiB can get this result...

Cheers,

Daewoo