Couple fake Thai mugging to raise more than $17,000
<p>Michael Laverty and his wife Denise, a couple from the UK, have been accused of faking a mugging in Thailand to raise more than $17,000 through crowdfunding.</p>
<p>The pair launched the fundraising campaign to pay for hospital bills after the army veteran suffered multiple leg fractures, launching a crowdfunding page where they pleaded for more than $17,000 (£10,000) “to get them home”.</p>
<p>Mr Laverty claims to have been the victim of a mugging in a marketplace when his wife ventured into a bar to use the bathroom, but Thai police say CCTV tells a different story.</p>
<p>“The man’s story... it didn’t happen," Phuket Tourist Police Captain Ekkachai Siri told local reporters.</p>
<p>Police have released CCTV footage from a random hotel showing Mr Laverty venturing into a random hotel, trying to open several doors before entering a room.</p>
<p>From there, he reportedly threw himself off a balcony.</p>
<p>“CCTV shows him jumping off the edge of a hotel balcony. Staff heard him shouting and called an ambulance," Captain Siri added.</p>
<p>"This was on Saturday night, tourist police received a report from his wife on Saturday morning that said he had been attacked.</p>
<p>"We took that claim very seriously and investigated it, but it did not take long for the story to become clear.”</p>
<p>What are your thoughts?</p>
<p><em>Hero image credit: Facebook / GoFraudMe</em></p>
