Original Software

[Baz]

Just came back from my webdesign company and they have put the shutter down on there main entrance have to use the side door.

Why???

well a high ranking thai cop from bangkok and a lawyer are around phuket looking into web design companies and architects using fake programmes and checking there licences.

There neighbour had a visit and she heard a few architects got caught using fakes and had heavy fines.

He does go back next tuesday but im sure there be back.

The visit by bill gates a few weeks ago im sure was not about talking about getting a sun tan.
maybe having the title top fake software country made him pay thailand a visit.

Baz

[LivinLOS]

Dual boot linux as default OS with a short timeout / selection time.. Hit the power when they walk in..

That should stump em..

[Jacques]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

Dual boot linux as default OS with a short timeout / selection time.. Hit the power when they walk in..

That should stump em..

Only work when you don't have an UPS connected.

But some years ago my house was raided by some sort officials in uniform very short after setting up our company.
But is was a scam, after some confusion it turned out that they were from an army/police organisation and the collected money for disabled people.
Complete with ID cards, albums with newspaper articles and pictures of one of the visiting officials.
Very intimidating but we didn't give money and after 45 minutes they gave up and left.

[cyber_surfer]

heard this also from a few sources, 1 company in Kamala busted and apparently the Phuket Post got done also!

Thought it was only autocad they were after but no, Adobe products, macromedia and windows all being inspected.

gives me the jitters also, any idea what the penalty is if caught?

[Nicke]

There was similar raids few years ago at internet cafees and they started to inspect computer shops/sellers aswell, at that time some shops stopped selling computers pre-loaded with a copy of windows.

[Jacques]

I had a visit of a client who runs an internet cafe, they closed Monday because the rumors about the raids and the owner bought for 20000 Baht WinXP licenses in Bangkok.
I advised him and other clients to switch over to Open Office.
An internet cafe can probably use Ubuntu Linux as well.

I found this post on the Thai Visa forum posted last April ;
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This is VERY likely to be a money grubbing scam: Below from Pattaya News;

An interesting story now from the Dum Phone Shop in South Pattaya. The owner of the shop is Khun Pichai aged 37 who called in journalists to his shop at 10.30pm on Friday regarding an incident which occurred on Wednesday Night at his shop which was caught on tape. He explained that a group of 6 armed men claiming to be Police Officers working in the Copyright Department entered his shop and demanded to inspect his laptop.
Khun Pichai correctly asked the men for their Police Identification Badges and a search warrant issued by the court. Both failed to materialize which aroused suspicion. The 6 men were not polite and one of the men was even carrying his firearm in his hand as if he was either about to use it or was prepared to threaten the shop owner with the weapon. Khun Pichai decided to film the men and gave us a copy of the tape. The men were clearly not happy with the filming and initially demanded the filming to cease. The brave shop owner stated that this was his shop and he was fully within his rights to take the pictures.
Eventually the men decided to leave the shop without checking the laptop despite them wanting to take the man and his computer to Pattaya Police Station for further investigation. Khun Pichai made a police report of the incident on Friday Night and officers at Pattaya Police Station promised to investigate this matter. We have had it confirmed from an anonymous source that the group are genuine Police Officers who will now most likely be disciplined.
We advise all business operators watching this program to not panic if confronted by so-called Copyright Police. Firstly, check their Police ID cards and then demand they produce a search warrant. If neither are produced call the emergency Police number 191 and refuse access to any computer until the local Police arrive.