Udon Man killed in Taiwan

She also told reporters that she had to pay a company 130,000 baht to send her son abroad.

Yes I have come across this before, although the amount seems a bit excessive to me..

It ain't excessive Bob - I have a family member trying to get to Libya. So far has paid out 30k, on a promise.

When (if) he goes, there is a further 100k to pay.

Ah, it has gone up then Jack-the recession I guess.
Last time I knew anything about the cost was 3/4 years ago when it was about 60K. & I gathered it had been that for quite a while.
Commiserations to the family, in what would appear to be a quite deliberate & hideous act.

The story has been reported here on Taiwan News: http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_con ... _news&pg=6

We've met many Thais who have worked in Saudi, Libya, Taiwan, Sweden, etc. The ones who went to Saudi made lots of money.....some gambled it away, some came back and bought shophouses, cars, houses, etc. Back in 1991, there were 20k Thais in Riyahd alone. Today few if any as a result of the gem theft.

Seems like lots of Thais get ripped off by labor brokers in Udon (according to Thai papers anyway). Most put land papers up as collateral. If they return home before their contract is complete, or they don't otherwise pay off the commission, they kiss the land paper goodbye.

Some folks from Udon were involved in the latest problem in Sweden........5000 Thais went to Sweden this year to pick blueberries. Turns out the weather wasn't good for the harvest and there were far too many pickers (the year before only 3000 went). The end result: folks didn't make the money they expected and many probably weren't able to pay the commission charges.

I'd be surprised if a real bank would loan money for this sort of thing. Most of the folks who go are at the lower end of the ladder and have little ability to repay if anything goes wrong at the work end. I'd guess most use land as collateral, loans from relatives, or the neighborhood shark.

parrot wrote:I'd be surprised if a real bank would loan money for this sort of thing.

Wrong! Most Amphurs have a "Land Bank" which specializes in just this sort of thing, they are real banks complete with ATMs. In fact ours in Ban Dung is holding one of our Chanoots as collateral on a 120,000 Baht loan for a cousin to work in Israel. A moment of weakness on my part for allowing it but the tenants of the house (Sister in Law with family and zero rent BTW) have been told in no uncertain terms that if it goes tits up they WILL NOT BE moving in with us. TW has been paid 20,000 Baht for the 'loan' of the Chanoot, that's the way it works.

EDIT: And I might add the whole deal required my signature at the Amphur. They would not complete their formalities because the Chanoot had a Farang name on it (My wifes married name - my name surname) so it looks like we have a little protection even though the Thai's own the land.