ftpjtm

Not sure if it has occurred to the statistical gurus at TCT, but a government in turmoil grappling with the potential of a war with Cambodia, probably won't do much to attract tourists into Thailand either. And is likely a stronger deterrent than "global economic tensions".

A friend of mine dates a Thai girl that many mistake as underage. She's actually 38 years old and mother of 3.

Finally some sanity during "Pride Month".

Somewhat off topic but Immigration actually does have a pretty well functioning system, which in at least one case solved a crime. My daughter was visiting Thailand and shopping in an upscale department store. Her wallet was stolen and the dope who stole it was dumb enough to pay for a purchase with his credit card after stealing her wallet. Security identified him and viewed his act of stealing the wallet via the store's security cameras, and ID'd the thief via his credit card. He was a tourist and Immigration gave security his hotel information. Within 2 hours the wallet was returned.

I was in a Walking Street club that was raided by several dozen police a few years ago. We were prevented from leaving for about an hour while they harassed the manager, finally arresting her for improper licenses (per news reports in the morning). Maybe just me but being locked in a bar for an hour so the police could check licenses didn't boost my confidence as a tourist, nor convince me that Pattaya is a fun nightlife destination.

Only criminals can justify paying for the Thailand Privilege Card

Ordered a review? Sounds like an indecisive move.

STD's?

7-11 was the one glaring holdout, not accepting QR payments when nearly every other establishment in Thailand did, in order to keep their parent company's True Wallet relevant. Not a great business decision IMO, it only caused me to avoid 7-11 in favor of Family Mart/Tops, Mini Big C etc who all accept QR. The 10k digital wallet was the last straw, 7-11 couldn't get a piece of the action without accepting QR payments. The timing is clearly related to 7-11 wanting a boost from the digital wallet scheme. That shows nothing about who's running the country, except that perhaps CP isn't quite as powerful an influence as some thought, being unable to own the most popular digital payment platform. The government has acted pretty responsibly RE cashless payments IMO, not allowing banks to profit from the major platform with fees, or CP to dominate while earning profit by holding "top up" balances in True Wallet accounts.

"We" - the 5.5B mobile banking useres - are are a pretty large group. And we're going to outnumber your group of fear mongering technophobes soon. In Thailand more bank account holders use mobile banking than not, and usage will likely increase again with the digital wallet scheme. You're swimming against the tide. RE scanning QR codes, as has already been pointed out that doesn't relate to Prompt Pay. I'll spare you the technicalities (which have already been explained on this thread) and leave it at this. Not using Prompt Pay due to fear of malicious QR codes is roughly equivalent to fear of on-online computer banking (which you claim to be comfortable with) because emails with malicious links are sent to computers. You may want to look for a new place to live soon. Thailand is way ahead of the curve on becoming a cashless society. And the vast majority of Thais don't care what a handful of technophobe fear mongering farangs think about it.

Damn shame that made it harder to cheat people out of money you owe them.

Yes, there are risks associated with mobile apps. There are also risks associated with taking cash from ATM's and carrying it around with you. I take precautions and have never had any issues with either but prefer the convenience of mobile banking. I do acknowledge that guys who struggle with technology are probably better off using cash though, if nothing else for peace of mind. And as some have pointed out, guys who struggle with mobile phone usage probably would slow down check out lines attempting to scan QR codes. We can only hope they've mastered their coin counting skills.

According to a Google search 5.4 billion people worldwide use mobile banking apps. Do you distrust them only in Thailand, or not realize that countries other than Thailand have banks? Meanwhile, Thailand is a nation with one of the highest percentage usage of mobile banks, with 68.1% of Thai bank a account holders using mobile banking. But we're all wrong and you're right.

Ok, I'll admit it. I, along with the other 5 billion people who do banking on line are wrong, in spite of the fact that I don't know a single person who's had a problem with it. To me it's no more or less secure than doing transactions on a computer. RE Thai banks, as mentioned I have 3. I also typically have less than 50k baht spread across the 3, with 99%+ of my financial assets held in US institutions. If all 3 Thai accounts were emptied at the same time it would be a minor inconvenience. I'm far more concerned with international transactions set up from my computer than the perils of scanning QR codes at Big C or to buy 20 baht BBQ sticks from a street vendor.