George Anderssen the boss of ThaiVisa.com, the largest and most controversial English language web forum in Thailand is not really George Anderssen but a ‘cone-headed’ and somewhat dodgy visa salesman called Lars Janson (sic), it’s now being claimed.
 |
| Could George or Lars look like this? |
The revelation is made on the website StickmanBangkok and may account for the reason we have found ThaiVisa linked with the same lawyers, addresses and ‘gofers’ as are Bangkok’s fraudsters doing boiler room trading – and indeed why the site carries adverts for some definitely dodgy businesses.
Stickman relates a tale how he went with a friend of his went to see Lars Janson many years ago when he was running Express Service Sabai Company, Ltd., out of a small office in Sukhumvit.
The friend successfully got a visa on his passport which had successfully taken a trip to Malaysian by itself and carried on doing so.
Janson at some time went out of business and mentioned are a smashed window and blood on the street.
There was talk of George being a scapegoat and being set up by other people and fleeing to Malaysia to start up something like EThailand. But no evidence George or Lars was prosecuted for anything.
Stickman gives some accounts of the secretive George or Lars:
‘(He’s) a bit of a character who eschews the ways of his homeland. His appearance is sloppy; he is often unshaven and usually has an unkempt look.
The other neighbour reports that ‘George’ has alcoholic tendencies and is quick to anger.
That neighbour attributes the police callouts to his house and fights (usually vocal, at least once physical) with his on again / off again wife as most likely due to alcohol.
Once the sun is high in the sky, he says a glass of beer or wine is usually within George’s reach.’
Well that exactly does not narrow down the list of suspects in Hua Hin where George and/or Lars lives.
Stickman also says he has a photo of Lars/George which he won’t publish. Maybe that’s because George had a picture of him. Whatever it does seem in Thailand people are becoming more and more aware of where they are walking and I’m guessing the story will go on hold.
Stickman goes on about the ‘moderators’ on ThaiVisa.com some of whom have obviously been given power for the first time in their lives and don’t actually know how to use it.
He recounts the hilarious tale about how ThaiVisa banned a poster who made an appeal on behalf of the Santisook Dog and Cat Rescue Shelter for dog and cat food to feed strays. I guess Santisook was not advertising with ThaiVisa like ‘Pattaya Lawyer’ Drew Noyes or their famous in house bent lawyer.
George Anderssen is however starring under this name in an action being taken against him for fraud in Hua Hin relating to ThaiVisa Property Co.
For Stickman’s story go here.
He concludes:
“Is “George” a bully in the cyber world too? One ThaiVisa.com moderator, furious that he was promised shares in a company which unbeknownst to him was worthless in return for moderating, spoke on the promise of anonymity. He alleges “George” has a number of different usernames and recent posts from a Hua Hin IP address attacking Thailand’s foremost investigative journalist, Andrew Drummond, are the words of you-know-who.
Visiting ThaiVisa.com is not a fun experience and time on the site feels like being in a schoolyard with a bunch of spotty-faced teenagers bickering and talking shit about stuff they know little or nothing about. The sad part is that ThaiVisa.com was the one and only vehicle which could have been an advocate for the rights of Westerners in Thailand. Alas, it is not to be. Bickering, tyranny and lording it over the community is the preferred option. Talk about a sly geezer.
But ultimately “George” deserves the plaudits. That someone who it is believed was not just deported from Thailand, but also blacklisted from the country after operating a business which deliberately sought to circumvent Thailand’s immigration laws – yet manages to return to the country he is banned from and build up and operate the best-known, highest traffic and most profitable expat website in all of Asia – making an estimated $30,000 a month – is an amazing achievement.
It’s just a shame he is such a tyrant and that his attitude has been adopted by the forum’s moderators and some of its users.”
I think stickman is just being cautious especially as he seems to have abandoned the idea of leaving Thailand…if you Google who is stickman' there's plenty of photos and info'…he would say he's not a journalist hence pulling his punches and not naming names all these years despite having the info unlike the owner of this site.
As for 'george' being basically a bumper, well he or someone using the name is up at the crack of dawn everyday posting tweets so he does have some discipline….I say this though as someone who has never been a member of thaivisa….
Crack of dawn here is not so elsewhere in the world.
I'm not so sure that Stickman has abandoned the idea of leaving Thailand, Tim. He says he received a phone call recently, apparently out of the blue, which has changed things – but it may be the way the website is run.
It could be that the website continues but with Stickman out of Thailand – rather like AD's Flying Sporran.
Stickman has promised to reveal more details in this weekend's column.
correction – how twitter account is 'suspended'…I stopped following some time ago
Why are we so happy to know that Thaivisa is getting closer to problems ? Because they deserve it ?
I met the guy once…could identify a pic of him…cannot forget that look…creapy
I know of at least one decent moderator on TV – BONOBO. At least my own experience was positive with him, even though I was permanently suspended through other moderators..I had the audacity to challenge a very popular Gay poster who said around 2011 that Jesus Christ was Gay. I think he was TV poster of the year for 2014.
He got away with posting that drivel of course, but I was roasted for daring to challenge that allegation, whether absurd, false, true or otherwise…I wasn't given a platform to challenge his assertion, needless to say..
Those old rice queen moderators were certainly a piece of work. Hypocrites every one and quite laughable too. I recall being suspended for querying why they could discuss the antics of their gay chums in boy brothels around Patpong when similar exchanges couldn't be held about places in Soi,Cowboy etc.
I always find it odd how any anti-Thaivisa threads on here and other forums always deteriorate into this kind of homophobic nonsense. What is it about Thaivisa that brings out the homophobe in so many people?
Can you point out the homophobic part? I can't seem to find it. Appears to be two people sharing their TV experiences. Neither shared an opinion pro or con regarding the LGBT community.
"Old Rice Queens", "Gay chums in boy brothels". Why is there such an obsession with Thaivisa's gay moderators? They comprise of 2 or 3 people out of 50 or so mods.
Because they are held to a different standard of posting their sex exploits through fear of Political Correctness. Goes along with holding known members to arbitrary standards through clique mentalities.
Following your logic that would make Tiffany's homophobic as they crown a Miss International Queen every year. Now let's replace "Gay chums in boy brothels" with "Straight chums in girl brothels". Would that make the poster heterophobic? The posters' point wasn't to highlight the sexual orientation of the people they interacted with but the lack of opportunity to express their responses. It appears you are the only one with an obsession with TV's gay moderators.
"Why are we so happy to know that Thaivisa is getting closer to problems ? Because they deserve it ?"
Yes Tim, in spades.
Signed,
Karma
Creepy you say?
Mocking someone simply because of appearances is poor form. On the other hand, indulging in schadenfreude when another expat shyster is exposed as a serial fraudster undermining immigration law of a country, threatening its security and conspiring to deceive immigration officials is quite acceptable. Carry on.
Tim Sharky.
ARE you still running errands for the RTP pretending that they are your enemies?
You are a clown. When are you going back to the circus you big bully
300,000 on the member rolls..bullshit – how many are repeating users? Take note, TV no longer " ban" users either, you just cannot post on the forums. I should know I'm on my 12 th or so user name. I go along just fine sometimes for a year or so with a 1000 posts under a (presumed male) persona until the Phuket sexpat clique out me, then bam, Living in Kata makes up some excuse.
BTW I have been taking screen shots of the last few months of a lot of the highly derogatory posts regarding the coup, govt and prime Minister, which was exactly what the excuse was in my last " banning" Quite a few of the more objectionable tirades are from moderators.
This story is hardly convincing, which is not surprising given the source. Wouldn't a more likely scenario be that George simply bought the domain name from Lars? Lars might have even let it expire, as it would seem he had no further need for it if after leaving Thailand. George and Lars might perhaps have been partners in the ill fated visa company… but surely any of this is more likely than Lars and George being the same person???
And George isn't as elusive as Stickman makes out. He's been at loads of Thaivisa parties and other events and plenty of people have met him.
Odds are you are one of Georges team. Make up your mind, either plenty of people have met him and therefore there is no doubt about his identity, or "surely any of this is more likely than Lars and George being the same person???". Anyone really knowing who he is or not wanting to throw others of the scent wouldn't be making your last statement. He hasn't been to a single one of the several "parties" held at New Wave/Lounge Bar since the association between those two was made.
Andy, since George has been to "loads of parties", please send AD a picture of him. If you are correct, I'm sure he won't mind. If Stickman is wrong we can can call him a liar. If he's not wrong then you are the liar. Put up or shut up. I won't be holding my breath.
I seem to remember none other than Andrew Macgregor Marshall promising an exposé of thaivisa last year but nothing appeared….
Err, I rather doubt a bunch of retired farang, frazzled or otherwise, actually count as ' people' of any relevance in the scheme of things. Thaivisa parties may well constitute society in your book but most of us would probably consider a night in front of the television as more on the zeitgeist than some awful congregation in a dreary cod European boozer drinking discounted beer and spouting banalities to a bunch of geriatric bores and their Isaan paramours.
Anyway, everyone knows ' Lars' is 'George ' , a fact not denied on his Thaivisa website which so far has seen fit to delete every single reference to the fraudster and his previous skullduggery.
I don't know Gerry. I've never been to one but I imagine Thaivisa parties must be quite entertaining. Is there a special section for moderators? Do people wear lots of nametags or do they put all their nicks on one?
Stick met the conehead Lars. Stick also saw conehead George in a photo. Stick realize George and Lars is the same conehead. That's the link.
If plenty of people have seen George , its strange that there's not one photograph of him any where on the internet , why would you not want to have your photograph taken at a Thai Visa event when your the boss , unless you are trying to keep a low profile , or hide some thing .
I met the guy several years ago and to my recollection he presented himself as Erik..
He can be seen in his ThaiVisa pub opposite Hilton in Hua Hin. I don't think he is hiding.
I heard he gave up drinking because of his issues..
Frankly, "George" is little better than the boiler room boys. Like them, he seeks to muzzle revelations about his nefarious past and just like them, he's using a front to reinforce his pretensions to legitimacy.
I started a thread asking if the allegations made in Stickman's article were true; it disappeared in seconds to be replaced by a pointless, sycophantic "Cheer up, George" thread started by the forum's most vapid and asinine poster, Costas2008 a fat, 68 year old Greek who, if not for the blessing of good timing, would have been lobbing Molotov cocktails at police in Athens during the bailout riots in 2010 instead of retiring to Thailand to pay a local woman 25 years his junior a monthly stipend to let him poke her battered snatch with a penis he's not actually been able to SEE without the aid of a mirror since he was 30.
In the final analysis, all said and done, the owner of Thaivisa is a crook, and a fraudster. That he can still operate within Thailand is simply a testament to just how bent the country is.
Frankly, what more is to be said?
your website is blocked in thailand now, i had to use vpn!