reader Posted March 15 Posted March 15 From Pattaya Mail By Barry Kenyon The UK inspired T-shirt says that good guys go to heaven and bad ones to Pattaya. There has been a recent spate of juicy reminders such as naughty boys urinating on the beach, arrests for poker enthusiasts and Liverpool “kiss” street fights involving knuckleheads outside a mobile brothel in a city red light district. Now there’s benefit fraud, with TikTok celebrity Ellis Matthews – arrested in Pattaya for visa overstay – having allegedly cheated the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) out of 2,300 pounds monthly maybe for years. Ms Matthews says she enthusiastically advised her followers on social media how enjoy luxury in Thailand at British taxpayers’ expense. How much of her cash story to believe, as detailed in UK newspapers, is an open question. Why would someone so rich go into overstay in the first place? Extensions and border hops are very easy and cheap to obtain lawfully in Thailand. Why wouldn’t a jealous TikTok reader report her to the well-publicized phone number of the DWP fraud and error service? There’s no denying benefit fraud (90 percent of it within the UK) costs the UK government a lot of money, perhaps 8 billion pounds a year according to one DWP estimate. Yet Thailand is not amongst the front runners. A DWP report has Spain as number one and there’s even a special fraud hotline number based there. Then comes Pakistan, Turkey, India, the US, France, Bangladesh and finally the Land of Smiles with a modest 172 cases known. Continues at https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/uk-benefit-fraud-keeps-pattaya-in-the-headline-news-494069 vinapu and Ruthrieston 2 Quote
vinapu Posted March 15 Posted March 15 few weeks ago while walking with friend streets of Phu Quoc main and in fact , only city we commented that there's lot of energy there , everybody is doing something and idleness almost not existing. My friend comment ' because there's no welfare here and they know they need to do something to keep going ". There's bit of truth in that unfortunately as so called 'welfare states ' while helping needy enormously, as by product, created whole class of people who did not get dirty with work even day of their lives sucking in funds which otherwise could be used to help those really in need. Quote
Popular Post floridarob Posted March 17 Popular Post Posted March 17 On 3/15/2025 at 11:12 PM, vinapu said: There's bit of truth in that unfortunately as so called 'welfare states ' while helping needy enormously, as by product, created whole class of people who did not get dirty with work even day of their lives sucking in funds which otherwise could be used to help those really in need. There's a bit of fraud in everything, it's miniscule in comparison to other government programs for corporations or military contracts. I'd rather the people get the help they need rather than suffer because of the few bad apples.... like school lunch programs, kids shouldn't be embarrassed to receive it and be made fun of for being poor... omega, reader, vinapu and 3 others 6 Quote
reader Posted March 17 Author Posted March 17 30 minutes ago, floridarob said: There's a bit of fraud in everything, it's miniscule in comparison to other government programs for corporations or military contracts. I'd rather the people get the help they need rather than suffer because of the few bad apples.... like school lunch programs, kids shouldn't be embarrassed to receive it and be made fun of for being poor... Trump and Musk very likely already have school lunch programs in crosshairs. floridarob 1 Quote
