The days where Europeans and Americans looking to "find themselves" living and working in a exotic country like Thailand or Japan are coming to the end.
Japan pretty much shut down its visa-run trade on the late and early 20th/21st century with fingerprints and better computer software to flag the runners upon reading the passport's MRZ.
And now Thailand (the country that actually invented the term "visa run"; Google it) is following suit:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nationa ... 38504.html