Latvian tourist arrested in Nong Khai for using fake visa stamps

[Lite Beer]

Latvian tourist arrested in Nong Khai for using fake visa stamps

BANGKOK: -- A Latvian tourist was arrested at the First Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge border checkpoint in Nong Khai's Muang district at noon Saturday for using Thailand's exit and re-entry visa stamps.

Valentins Sevecs, 26, was arrested while leaving the kingdom for Laos. He entered Thailand for the first time on April 27 and later hired a firm in Pattaya to get a re-entry visa on June 25 but he did not know that both the exit and re-entry visa stamps on his passport were fake.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Latvian-tourists-arrested-in-Nong-Khai-for-using-f-30249795.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-14

[jacknorman]

How can the exit stamp be fake, you only get that at immigration checkpoint when leaving, unless he thought he could by that as well, people never learn, or maybe a mr fixer (it's a lot of them in pattaya) could make it easy

[steve187]

maybe he and his passport never left Pattaya

Edited December 14, 2014 by steve187

[paz]

There is more in this story than just fake stamps, because a visa shop doing simple counterfeiting would not last long, not worth the risk.

[Mario2008]

This is a good reminder of the warning immigration issued about 2 months ago about fake stamps.

Apparently the man used a visa agent to extend his stay by exiting and re-entering without himself leaving the country. He knew that was illegal and now faces the consequences, with the addition of the use of fake stamps. That is taken very seriously and he will appear in court.

[paz]

I think that even the person that brought the passport to the border should be brought to justice. "Interesting" how these shops can find lookalikes to fool checks at the border.

Edited December 14, 2014 by paz

[stevenl]

I think that even the person that brought the passport to the border should be brought to justice. "Interesting" how these shops can find lookalikes to fool checks at the border.

What would be the need to go to the border if using fake stamps?

His passport never left Pattaya until he got busted.

[bkkcanuck8]

If you do not go to the border with your passport, the stamps are at least fraudulent which is just as illegal as just making fake stamps in your passport. You are only suppose to give your passport to either a government official or agent authorized by the government. Hiring a 3rd party to break the law for you .... there are no excuses.

[bkkcanuck8]

I think that even the person that brought the passport to the border should be brought to justice. "Interesting" how these shops can find lookalikes to fool checks at the border.

Any diligent border officer will have no problem spotting the fakes.... no record in the computer.

[smedly]

I think that even the person that brought the passport to the border should be brought to justice. "Interesting" how these shops can find lookalikes to fool checks at the border.

What would be the need to go to the border if using fake stamps?

His passport never left Pattaya until he got busted.

I think it's pretty obvious that someone took money off this guy by updating his passport as if he had done a visa run without actually doing it, the problem is of course that the immigration computer record will not reflect what is in his passport, rather stupid and naïve to think this would actually work

[ubonjoe]

Dates match a tourist visa entry originally and then fake departure and entry stamps for a 2nd entry on a tourist visa perhaps. But to just be leaving yesterday would be much longer than tourist visa entry.

It seems immigration's computer records got him.

[klauskunkel]

The guy will go to court. He will implicate the 'visa service'. They will deny everything and won't have a record. The guy will be sentenced for passport/document forgery et al, the 'visa service' will continue business as usual.

[OJAS]

A graphic example of the dangers of using so-called "visa agents" for extension of stay applications, I think.

[darrendsd]

I think that even the person that brought the passport to the border should be brought to justice. "Interesting" how these shops can find lookalikes to fool checks at the border.

If the stamps were fake the Passport was not taken to the Border, they were fake stamps not ones issued at the Border

If the Passport was taken to the border the stamps would be real even if the person did not exit/enter, Immigration officials have been known in the past to be involved in this.

I think yourself and others on this thread are missing the point of the story.

Edited December 14, 2014 by darrendsd

[SOTIRIOS]

....and business as usual for the other party.....???

[greenchair]

I used a visa agent 20 years ago. We all remember the wall. I really did not know it was illegal until the news reports started coming out. My stamp was fine but many were not. People who live in Thailand know. People who have not been here long do not. It is the company that is at fault not the tourist.

[greenchair]

That immigration should get their finger out and give out some warnings at the airport.

[Sviss Geez]

I used a visa agent 20 years ago. We all remember the wall. I really did not know it was illegal until the news reports started coming out. My stamp was fine but many were not. People who live in Thailand know. People who have not been here long do not. It is the company that is at fault not the tourist.

"It is the company that is at fault not the tourist."

It's the fault of both. It's also the fault of any publications or forums that benefit from the advertising revenue for these places.

Edited December 14, 2014 by Sviss Geez

[bkkcanuck8]

I used a visa agent 20 years ago. We all remember the wall. I really did not know it was illegal until the news reports started coming out. My stamp was fine but many were not. People who live in Thailand know. People who have not been here long do not. It is the company that is at fault not the tourist.

"It is the company that is at fault not the tourist."

It's the fault of both. It's also the fault of any publications or forums that benefit from the advertising revenue for these places.

"It is the company that is at fault not the tourist."

Almost sounds like the Thai officials talking about must be a foreigner because a Thai would never do that.... Now we have foreigners basically acting as apologists for individuals that do illegal acts... it is not the tourists fault.

[ukrules]

I think it's highly likely that these tourists went into a visa agent and had a pack of lies told to them. They paid money for stamps which turned out to be fake, were probably assured that everything will be ok and is fully above board by the agent in question.

Everyone is quick to point the finger but I suspect it's highly likely that these tourists are the victims in this crime.

Most people know absolutely nothing about visas and the hoops you need to jump through when travelling.

If they knew they had fake stamps in their passport they wouldn't present themselves at immigration with their passports on exit would they ? These fake stamps might be enough to get past a police check if you're stopped in the street but when it comes time to leave the country they would 'lose' their passports, get new ones and pay the overstay fine on exit if they were being dishonest all along.

Arresting the victims : this is not the way forward.

[Eselkaken]

Stamps are concidered FAKE as soon as they are put in your pasport in any illegal way.

That means that the stamp itselve can be genuin , but the way it got in the pasport is FAKE.

Imagine you hand over your pasport to an immigration officer that will provide his "service - Thai - style. "

The officer can even 'log' the exit-entry in the computer , but he will not be able to get the picture taken ( unless he holds the pasportpicture for the camera )

In this event , i guess that he used a landborder with "prepared" ( pre-payed ) services.

Remember that in the event an official officer that makes a mistake with the entry-stamp and let's say he notes down a wrong date ( entry + 90 days ) , that stamp can be considered fake as well as it is doesn't comply with the procedures.

On the other hand, if you want to brake the law, just but the stamps and ink at Kow San Bangkok .. for 500 Thb you have a full set.

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I think that even the person that brought the passport to the border should be brought to justice. "Interesting" how these shops can find lookalikes to fool checks at the border.

If the stamps were fake the Passport was not taken to the Border, they were fake stamps not ones issued at the Border

If the Passport was taken to the border the stamps would be real even if the person did not exit/enter, Immigration officials have been known in the past to be involved in this.

I think yourself and others on this thread are missing the point of the story.

[WhizBang]

Interesting story. So is at fault? Most likely not the tourist.

This morning I took the border run van at 5am from Sukhumvit near Robinsons to the border at Poipet.

We (all 12 of us) exited Thailand personally at Thai immigration. We then regrouped at the exit and handed our passports to our 'agent'. He took our passports, paperwork (all properly filled out) and photographs to the Cambodian immigration while we went into the casino (in no man's land) and had breakfast. After breakfast we met the 'agent' outside the casino where he handed us back our passports, complete with new Cambodian visa sticker and entry/exit stamps. We then each personally reentered Thailand through Thai immigration.

So.... did we do anything illegal?

Edited December 14, 2014 by WhizBang

[stevenl]

Stamps are concidered FAKE as soon as they are put in your pasport in any illegal way.

That means that the stamp itselve can be genuin , but the way it got in the pasport is FAKE.

Imagine you hand over your pasport to an immigration officer that will provide his "service - Thai - style. "

The officer can even 'log' the exit-entry in the computer , but he will not be able to get the picture taken ( unless he holds the pasportpicture for the camera )

In this event , i guess that he used a landborder with "prepared" ( pre-payed ) services.

Remember that in the event an official officer that makes a mistake with the entry-stamp and let's say he notes down a wrong date ( entry + 90 days ) , that stamp can be considered fake as well as it is doesn't comply with the procedures.

On the other hand, if you want to brake the law, just but the stamps and ink at Kow San Bangkok .. for 500 Thb you have a full set.

You're confusing 'fake' with 'obtained in an illegal manner'.

[paz]

I think that even the person that brought the passport to the border should be brought to justice. "Interesting" how these shops can find lookalikes to fool checks at the border.

If the stamps were fake the Passport was not taken to the Border, they were fake stamps not ones issued at the Border

If the Passport was taken to the border the stamps would be real even if the person did not exit/enter, Immigration officials have been known in the past to be involved in this.

I think yourself and others on this thread are missing the point of the story.

I think you are missing the points I made

1. the Thai piece of new would report stamps as 'fake' even if they were obtained as you described in your second sentence above.

and 2 - In either case the foreigner is not the only one that committed a crime

since we can't know, I'll leave this discussion.

Edited December 14, 2014 by paz

[Eselkaken]

Stamps are concidered FAKE as soon as they are put in your pasport in any illegal way.

That means that the stamp itselve can be genuin , but the way it got in the pasport is FAKE.

Imagine you hand over your pasport to an immigration officer that will provide his "service - Thai - style. "

The officer can even 'log' the exit-entry in the computer , but he will not be able to get the picture taken ( unless he holds the pasportpicture for the camera )

In this event , i guess that he used a landborder with "prepared" ( pre-payed ) services.

Remember that in the event an official officer that makes a mistake with the entry-stamp and let's say he notes down a wrong date ( entry + 90 days ) , that stamp can be considered fake as well as it is doesn't comply with the procedures.

On the other hand, if you want to brake the law, just but the stamps and ink at Kow San Bangkok .. for 500 Thb you have a full set.

You're confusing 'fake' with 'obtained in an illegal manner'.

Stamps are concidered FAKE as soon as they are put in your pasport in any illegal way. yes .... either way

[ubonjoe]

Interesting story. So is at fault? Most likely not the tourist.

This morning I took the border run van at 5am from Sukhumvit near Robinsons to the border at Poipet.

We (all 12 of us) exited Thailand personally at Thai immigration. We then regrouped at the exit and handed our passports to our 'agent'. He took our passports, paperwork (all properly filled out) and photographs to the Cambodian immigration while we went into the casino (in no man's land) and had breakfast. After breakfast we met the 'agent' outside the casino where he handed us back our passports, complete with new Cambodian visa sticker and entry/exit stamps. We then each personally reentered Thailand through Thai immigration.

So.... did we do anything illegal?

Not for the Thai side of it.

The Cambodia side probably not.

[bkkcanuck8]

Interesting story. So is at fault? Most likely not the tourist.

This morning I took the border run van at 5am from Sukhumvit near Robinsons to the border at Poipet.

We (all 12 of us) exited Thailand personally at Thai immigration. We then regrouped at the exit and handed our passports to our 'agent'. He took our passports, paperwork (all properly filled out) and photographs to the Cambodian immigration while we went into the casino (in no man's land) and had breakfast. After breakfast we met the 'agent' outside the casino where he handed us back our passports, complete with new Cambodian visa sticker and entry/exit stamps. We then each personally reentered Thailand through Thai immigration.

So.... did we do anything illegal?

When you entered Thailand you had your passport stamped by Thai Immigration. So you did nothing wrong or potentially wrong in Thailand. Thai immigration arrested him with fake stamps in the passport -- not Cambodian, not Laos. Whether the stamps were entered into the passport at the border while he sat in a cup sipping tea in Pattaya, or he just paid for the fake stamps in his passport.... he is responsible in both cases. There are a lot of warnings about it being illegal to send your passport to the border without you actually exiting. You are responsible for your passport. I am not prepared to give the tourist a walk on this one -- it is his passport, and he is responsible for it. Passports are worth a fortune on the black market, easily worth $40,000+. That is why you should not allow your passport to be taken by agents that are not agents of the government. Would you hand $40K to some stranger for them to handle for you?

[John1thru10]

5 years ago, on my first visa run (and a complete novice) I was definitely offered the option of paying extra - as we all filed into the van, to Laos - that I could pay 6k instead of 3k (or something like that) and just send my photo, pp and paperwork with them. I didn't do that, for obvious reasons. But looking back, 5 years ago that might have actually gone smoothly, with real stamps and stuff.

In this day and age, you could not pay me to alter or fake one thread in my passport, because you are automatically taken to a whole new level of <deleted>, no matter what the reason or extent - every country, in all cases. No fly list for all eternity, special watch lists, plus plus plus.

Edited December 14, 2014 by John1thru10

[Travelman868]

I think that even the person that brought the passport to the border should be brought to justice. "Interesting" how these shops can find lookalikes to fool checks at the border.

What would be the need to go to the border if using fake stamps?

His passport never left Pattaya until he got busted.

AND when you enter and leave Thailand the details are put on computer, SOOOOOOOO if you don't leave they will pick you up when you do. I don't

understand why these idiots try to fiddle the system when with the correct visa it just means a visa run every 90 days.

[darrendsd]

I think that even the person that brought the passport to the border should be brought to justice. "Interesting" how these shops can find lookalikes to fool checks at the border.

If the stamps were fake the Passport was not taken to the Border, they were fake stamps not ones issued at the Border

If the Passport was taken to the border the stamps would be real even if the person did not exit/enter, Immigration officials have been known in the past to be involved in this.

I think yourself and others on this thread are missing the point of the story.

I think you are missing the points I made

1. the Thai piece of new would report stamps as 'fake' even if they were obtained as you described in your second sentence above.

and 2 - In either case the foreigner is not the only one that committed a crime

since we can't know, I'll leave this discussion.

The story clearly states that the stamps were fake, it does not suggest that they were obtained in a illegal manner as you state

Maybe it is better if you read the OP and THEN leave the discussion