Two American women held in Thailand after allegedly caught with fake US dollars

[Makara]

1 minute ago, smx1313 said:

There is probably away to do a search that allows you to see only the commenters posts. As they are new here there won't be many. From my recollection most of the info is in the first 2 or 3 posts which is why they are long. The poster goes over a lot of info. His/her relationship with the 2 women, their histories, a summery of their friends FB posts and the thinking behind them. Actually impressively summarized. 

I can re-post if you like?

[farcanell]

39 minutes ago, Makara said:

I thought that those people were disgusting to say those things that way. However nobody can control how people choose to promote themselves. Doesn't prove it is a scam. It proves that guy is an ass****

Promote themselves... lol.... fail.

 

if whoever is running this plea for help, leaves (permits) postings such as those, they need a damn good reality check... one involving nobody donating

 

birds of a feather, flock together.... if this chap knows these women.... well... tar and brush.

 

 

[OldSiamHand]

4 minutes ago, Makara said:

I can re-post if you like?

that would help.  I think I've looked through all your posts.  You live in Oregon,  you are a friend of a friend of one of the girls.  Everything that they have claimed that has happened to them is true according to you, because they have said so.  Is there anything else?  

[Makara]

2 minutes ago, farcanell said:

Promote themselves... lol.... fail.

 

if whoever is running this plea for help, leaves (permits) postings such as those, they need a damn good reality check... one involving nobody donating

 

birds of a feather, flock together.... if this chap knows these women.... well... tar and brush.

 

 

Tar and brush because of another person's comment which is out of everyones control except the person commenting? Hasty don't you think? Are you saying you don't know any a-holes for friends, or relatives, that have said or done something you don't approve of? And hope you don't get judged by others behavior? 

[farcanell]

22 minutes ago, Makara said:

Maybe a friend of boyfriend? Maybe a friend of her?  Who knows. I don't know him nor care to. But we can't control who says what. I mean the things said on here have been pretty horrid too.

But we’re not begging for money.... big difference... huge difference

 

and..... things said here, don’t really compare, if your fair.... lol... because the mods won’t allow it, as a minimum, and quite rightly so

[smx1313]

57 minutes ago, scorecard said:

How's that? local enquiries indicate that this matter has never been reported to the Thai police and they are not being held by any Thai authority.

 

So:

Can you show a link or source for this? I've been following this with great interest and I'm surprised that I missed that. Where is the post saying that this has not been reported and are not being held by any Thai authority?

[KneeDeep]

26 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

This story 

 

It is getting more and more absurd by the hour. 

 

One thing I find truly amazing / confusing / baffling is that they are American. They will have used $ for their entire life. They randomly stumble across a load of notes in the mud in the sticks of Cambodia, yet neither of them have the nous or the common sense to work out that the notes might be counterfeit.

 

A quick Google search would have given them some answers as to the use of $ in Cambodia. 

 

I don't think they are criminals per se, but they are absolutely thick as s ***. 

 

If it was spirit money...they knew.

[sanemax]

Coincidentally enough , the very day before this story was published on TV , the guy running the fund raising page (Brandon Berlanga ), posted this on his FB page

 

***SCAM WARNING IN CAMBODIA: Also if you have any advice on this I would really appreciate it!!!

My boyfriend and I pulled money out of the ANZ bank atm and later realized it gave us COUNTERFEIT $100 dollar bills! When we told the bank, all they could tell us was their atms have counterfeit detection and that it was impossible that they gave us counterfeit money. We kept asking for the manager and the supervisor even told us that it was impossible. Has anyone had this issue and was it ever resolved?! We didn't even think to look at the bills when we took them from the atm because this is a bank that we know and trust in Australia and it didn't even occur to us that a reputable bank would give us counterfeit money!!! When they refused to help us, we googled counterfeit money in Cambodia and it was all over trip advisor, etc. that ANZ bank was known to do this. Please share so no one else get scammed!!

 

   What a coincidence that is !!!!!!!!!!

[Makara]

Just now, OldSiamHand said:

that would help.  I think I've looked through all your posts.  You live in Oregon,  you are a friend of a friend of one of the girls.  Everything that they have claimed that has happened to them is true according to you, because they have said so.  Is there anything else?  

I will re-post. I feel in my heart, and from the info I have gathered that this is not a scam and they are truly in trouble. Yes according to me and the info I have gathered. I came here to share with you because this thread was really intense and a lot of misinformation happening. I will just re-post.

 

[Makara]

Re-post for OldSiamHand...

 

 

Well I gotta say I am quite saddened to see some of this conversation, and in the same breath I understand some of the concerns and why there’s such broad speculation happening.

 

Let me clear a few things up, and reiterate that I too have a lot of legitimate questions too, some unanswered as of now, and some answered.

 

Let’s start with the clearing up that his is not a scam. I can see why so many people think so. To be honest I was so concerned by the discrepancies from one article to another, from one update to the next, from one fb post (statement) to the next post, from one group funding to the next, and I was starting to fear in the beginning stages that they were kidnapped. Luckily my worst nightmare was not the case, at least 95% sure now.

 

These women are real people.

 

What happened really happened.

 

Their significant others are real people and not trying to scam the public. With that being said a lot of this was done (such as gofundme pages) out of emotional response of their young significant others, and how the ladies may be in danger/trouble, as well as what was being told to them as far as how much money they were going to need for everything. There is no plan to take peoples money. And most of the donors are friends, know them, family, or friends of friends. The last thing people are going to do so publicly, is rip people off. I mean do you even understand what would happen to them if this was a scam? This story is extremely public (on our end--US) and they would be in a lot of trouble if this was a scam. So please understand this is not a scam. Put that thought to rest.

 

The Citrus heights incident and their incident are completely separate issues and have absolutely no connection. Very strange, seems somewhat coincidental, yeah? I know. But it isn't connected.

 

These two women have no criminal background whatsoever. None. Zelch.

 

Where they extremely naive and wrong? Yes. Did they know it was counterfeit--I would hope the f*** not, but only they know, and as it stands I feel like they did not. Would that’ve been how I would have handled the situation? No. Which leads me to the next clear up the next point.

 

They did not find the money in a bag, in an envelope, on the side of a street, or took it out of graves. They found the money in a small town in Cambodia, in a remote area where no other people were, in a mud puddle sand the money was strewn out down a back road. They assumed it had flew out of someone's pocket that was on a bike. One thing's for certain it was a really dumb move to keep the money, and they did not take the right steps at all in returning the money; I agree with this. I cannot speak for them on the why they did what they did, I can only focus on the now. It is purely up to them to place their defense in Thailand and speak their truth and hope for the best. Are they lowlifes? Seriously!? One can be so judgemental to consider them lowlifes. That’s so incredibly sad that people would truly wish the worse on someone when this is in no way any type of caliber to murder, or assault, or other horrific crimes on this planet.

 

It’s not up to us to weigh out the morality of their decisions. It is up to us to find out facts. Again, I am not in agreement to what they did and I would have done it differently if I found $1000 USD. But I am not heartless.

 

Reality is, it was fake money, most likely dropped there on purpose (speculation) to stoop someone. I personally wonder if it was spirit money or really good counterfeit money. That question is still unanswered.

 

Before you cast so much hatred and spread so much speculation, perhaps open your heart a little. We are not speaking of a heinous crime involving hurting someone physically. They have to live with this mistake and possible prison time in a country they do not live in, isn't that enough for the people spitting so much volatility.

 

I have concerns, I have questions, some things aren't adding up on how this is being handle on EVERY angle; but instead of going to the worse, saying it is a scam, and claiming they have no moral standards, casting judgement on them, wanting to throw the book at them, maybe we should remember that no matter how undeniably dumb it all sounds, people make mistakes.

 

The people in their corner are not scamming thousands of people in the states. Let that rest.

 

There is a lot to say after all I have seen on this thread, but I will leave at that for now.

[BobbyL]

3 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Coincidentally enough , the very day before this story was published on TV , the guy running the fund raising page (Brandon Berlanga ), posted this on his FB page

 

***SCAM WARNING IN CAMBODIA: Also if you have any advice on this I would really appreciate it!!!

My boyfriend and I pulled money out of the ANZ bank atm and later realized it gave us COUNTERFEIT $100 dollar bills! When we told the bank, all they could tell us was their atms have counterfeit detection and that it was impossible that they gave us counterfeit money. We kept asking for the manager and the supervisor even told us that it was impossible. Has anyone had this issue and was it ever resolved?! We didn't even think to look at the bills when we took them from the atm because this is a bank that we know and trust in Australia and it didn't even occur to us that a reputable bank would give us counterfeit money!!! When they refused to help us, we googled counterfeit money in Cambodia and it was all over trip advisor, etc. that ANZ bank was known to do this. Please share so no one else get scammed!!

 

   What a coincidence that is !!!!!!!!!!

Jesus Christ. 

[giddyup]

18 minutes ago, Makara said:

 it was a desolate place where nobody was, was my understanding. 

Nobody except the person who was wealthy enough to carry around $1000 and let it blow out of their pocket.

[OldSiamHand]

4 minutes ago, Makara said:

Re-post for OldSiamHand...

 

 

Thank you Makara, I was beginning to think I was losing my mind.  I read your original post that you re-posed and had the following questions for you a few pages back.  Perhaps you missed these? 

 

Lot's of moral indignation in your post, but it was the above comment in light of all your others that made me take notice.

 

You seem to know a lot of the facts we are questioning.  How?  For example, how do you know that the girls had no criminal background?  How do you know that the events in california are unrelated to the events in Thailand (e.g. that the girls are unrelated to the accused fellow from CA)?  How do you know that they found the money in cambodia? 

 

You'd get a lot of people on board with your position if you could establish some basis of how you know of all these facts.

[yogavnture]

2 hours ago, Makara said:

Well I gotta say I am quite saddened to see some of this conversation, and in the same breath I understand some of the concerns and why there’s such broad speculation happening.

 

Let me clear a few things up, and reiterate that I too have a lot of legitimate questions, some unanswered as of now, and some answered.

 

Let’s start with the clearing up that his is not a scam. I can see why so many people think so. To be honest I was so concerned by the discrepancies from one article to another, from one update to the next, from one fb post (statement) to the next post, from one group funding to the next, and I was starting to fear in the beginning stages that they were kidnapped. Luckily my worst nightmare was not the case, at least 95% sure now.

 

These women are real people.

 

What happened really happened.

 

Their significant others are real people and not trying to scam the public. With that being said a lot of this was done (such as gofundme pages) out of emotional response of their young significant others, and how the ladies may be in danger/trouble, as well as what was being told to them as far as how much money they were going to need for everything. There is no plan to take peoples money. And most of the donors are friends, know them, family, or friends of friends. The last thing people are going to do so publicly, is rip people off. I mean do you even understand what would happen to them if this was a scam? This story is extremely public (on our end--US) and they would be in a lot of trouble if this was a scam. So please understand this is not a scam. Put that thought to rest.

 

The Citrus Heights incident in California and their incident are completely separate issues, and have absolutely no connection. Very strange, seems somewhat coincidental, yeah? I know. But it isn't connected.

 

These two women have no criminal background whatsoever. None. Zelch.

 

Were they extremely naive and wrong? Yes. Did they know it was counterfeit--I would hope the f*** not, but only they know, and as it stands I feel like they did not. Would that’ve been how I would have handled the situation? No. Which leads me to the next point  clear up...

 

They did not find the money in a bag, in an envelope, on the side of a street, or took it out of graves. They found the money in a small town in Cambodia, in a remote area where no other people were, in a mud puddle and the money was strewn out down a back road. They assumed it had flew out of someone's pocket that was on a bike. One thing's for certain it was a really dumb move to keep the money, and they did not take the right steps at all in returning the money; I agree with this. I cannot speak for them on the why they did what they did. I can only focus on the now. It is purely up to them to place their defense in Thailand and speak their truth and hope for the best. Are they lowlifes? Seriously!? One can be so judgemental to consider them lowlifes. That’s so incredibly sad that people would truly wish the worse on someone, when this is in no way any type of caliber to murder, or assault, or other horrific crimes on this planet.

 

It’s not up to us to weigh out the morality of their decisions. It is up to us to find out facts. Again, I am not in agreement to what they did and I would have done it differently if I found $1000 USD. But I am not heartless.

 

Reality is, it was fake money, most likely dropped there on purpose (speculation) to stoop someone. I personally wonder if it was spirit money or really good counterfeit money. That question is still unanswered.

 

Before you cast so much hatred and spread so much speculation, perhaps open your heart a little. We are not speaking of a heinous crime involving hurting someone physically. They have to live with this mistake and possible prison time in a country they are not from and do not live in; isn't that enough for the people spitting so much volatile comments.

 

I truly have concerns, I have questions. Some things aren't adding up on how this is being handle on EVERY angle; but instead of going to the worse, saying it is a scam, and claiming they have no moral standards, casting judgement on them, wanting to throw the book at them, maybe we should remember that no matter how undeniably dumb it all sounds, people make mistakes.

 

The people in their corner are not scamming thousands of people in the states. Let that rest.

 

There is a lot to say after all I have seen on this thread, but I will leave at that for now.

very well  put. my thoughts exactly. the guys with the white hoods and fire pits , please back off

[Makara]

Here is the point here...I came here to clarify that if you think this is a scam...think again. It is not and these women are facing prison time for what they have done. If it was a scam with all this publicity people would be arrested by now. Believe that. 

[sanemax]

From the gofundme page comments 

"I am in Thailand and its all over the news and media here. J'sayin"

 

    No it isnt Danny

 

[giddyup]

13 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Coincidentally enough , the very day before this story was published on TV , the guy running the fund raising page (Brandon Berlanga ), posted this on his FB page

 

***SCAM WARNING IN CAMBODIA: Also if you have any advice on this I would really appreciate it!!!

My boyfriend and I pulled money out of the ANZ bank atm and later realized it gave us COUNTERFEIT $100 dollar bills! When we told the bank, all they could tell us was their atms have counterfeit detection and that it was impossible that they gave us counterfeit money. We kept asking for the manager and the supervisor even told us that it was impossible. Has anyone had this issue and was it ever resolved?! We didn't even think to look at the bills when we took them from the atm because this is a bank that we know and trust in Australia and it didn't even occur to us that a reputable bank would give us counterfeit money!!! When they refused to help us, we googled counterfeit money in Cambodia and it was all over trip advisor, etc. that ANZ bank was known to do this. Please share so no one else get scammed!!

 

   What a coincidence that is !!!!!!!!!!

The mystery of where the counterfeit money came from seems to have been solved. Not.

Edited March 2, 2018 by giddyup

[Justfine]

9 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Coincidentally enough , the very day before this story was published on TV , the guy running the fund raising page (Brandon Berlanga ), posted this on his FB page

 

***SCAM WARNING IN CAMBODIA: Also if you have any advice on this I would really appreciate it!!!

My boyfriend and I pulled money out of the ANZ bank atm and later realized it gave us COUNTERFEIT $100 dollar bills! When we told the bank, all they could tell us was their atms have counterfeit detection and that it was impossible that they gave us counterfeit money. We kept asking for the manager and the supervisor even told us that it was impossible. Has anyone had this issue and was it ever resolved?! We didn't even think to look at the bills when we took them from the atm because this is a bank that we know and trust in Australia and it didn't even occur to us that a reputable bank would give us counterfeit money!!! When they refused to help us, we googled counterfeit money in Cambodia and it was all over trip advisor, etc. that ANZ bank was known to do this. Please share so no one else get scammed!!

 

   What a coincidence that is !!!!!!!!!!

What a lie. ANZ doesn't scam people.

[Justfine]

2 minutes ago, sanemax said:

From the gofundme page comments 

"I am in Thailand and its all over the news and media here. J'sayin"

 

    No it isnt Danny

 

On this forum.

[OldSiamHand]

2 minutes ago, Makara said:

Here is the point here...I came here to clarify that if you think this is a scam...think again. It is not and these women are facing prison time for what they have done. If it was a scam with all this publicity people would be arrested by now. Believe that. 

Great, I want to believe that this is not a scam.  Could I ask that you please help me restore some faith in humanity?  It sounds like you know some of the facts behind these various questions the skeptics keep raising:

 

How do you know that the girls had no criminal background? 

 

How do you know that the events in California are unrelated to the events in Thailand (e.g. that the girls are unrelated to the accused fellow from CA)? 

 

How do you know that they found the money in Cambodia? 

[yogavnture]

2 hours ago, sanemax said:

They may have though that Thais are simplistic and wouldnt have noticed fake money. And they proabably thought that the money changer would just refuse to change the money and nothing more would come of it

   And they probably thought that they could just say "We found it and didnt know that it was fake" and that would be the end of it .

they thought the money changer would just refuse it. i doubt that.  we are not hearing the whole story i am afraid...........if they found it in cambodia.   why did they wait to change it over in Thailand. ?????? i dont know what side of fence to sit on this issue

[Justfine]

6 minutes ago, Makara said:

Here is the point here...I came here to clarify that if you think this is a scam...think again. It is not and these women are facing prison time for what they have done. If it was a scam with all this publicity people would be arrested by now. Believe that. 

Who are you in relation to this?

[KneeDeep]

32 minutes ago, Makara said:

No answer for that. Could be an easy explanation. I believe they where backpacking...it was a desolate place where nobody was, was my understanding. 

 

Rubbish. Do you really think two girls were wondering around in a "desolate place where nobody was". 

Why would they be doing that pray tell me?

Weren't they looking for beachfront accommodation at a busy time? Doesn't sound like a desolate place.

 

 

Edited March 2, 2018 by KneeDeep

[yogavnture]

why did the money have the word COPY on the front of it.  is it Cambodian play money?

[Makara]

1 minute ago, OldSiamHand said:

Thank you Makara, I was beginning to think I was losing my mind.  I read your original post that you re-posed and had the following questions for you a few pages back.  Perhaps you missed these? 

 

Lot's of moral indignation in your post, but it was the above comment in light of all your others that made me take notice.

 

You seem to know a lot of the facts we are questioning.  How?  For example, how do you know that the girls had no criminal background?  How do you know that the events in california are unrelated to the events in Thailand (e.g. that the girls are unrelated to the accused fellow from CA)?  How do you know that they found the money in cambodia? 

 

You'd get a lot of people on board with your position if you could establish some basis of how you know of all these facts.

Criminal records are public here. They have also stated they are not criminals and as far as I have known her I have never known her to have any criminal background. So I am saying this from my understanding only. California events are weird but the ages of the men are different, and the build is different, and it was actually stated here that they weren't the same men. So that should also be easy to prove otherwise. The money was found in Cambodia it was stated from the very beginning, but I don't know for certain I suppose. I don't know the facts 100%. I am only here to say what I feel and that I can for certain say that a scam would be close to impossible of this stature. Most of the people donating are not strangers. A lot of people know each other. The North West is a pretty close tied place. The people donated know them, they care for them, and they want to see the best possible outcome for them. 

[giddyup]

2 minutes ago, KneeDeep said:

 

Rubbish. Do you really think two girls were wondering around in a "desolate place where nobody was". 

Why would they be doing that pray tell me?

Weren't they looking for beachfront accommodation? Is that usually in a desolate place?

 

The food poisoning may have been karma.

[yogavnture]

2 minutes ago, KneeDeep said:

 

Rubbish. Do you really think two girls were wondering around in a "desolate place where nobody was". 

Why would they be doing that pray tell me?

Weren't they looking for beachfront accommodation? Is that usually in a desolate place?

 

the plot thickens.......why would they post they found 1000 if they knew it was counterfeit?  

[giddyup]

1 minute ago, Makara said:

Criminal records are public here. They have also stated they are not criminals and as far as I have known her I have never known her to have any criminal background. So I am saying this from my understanding only. California events are weird but the ages of the men are different, and the build is different, and it was actually stated here that they weren't the same men. So that should also be easy to prove otherwise. The money was found in Cambodia it was stated from the very beginning, but I don't know for certain I suppose. I don't know the facts 100%. I am only here to say what I feel and that I can for certain say that a scam would be close to impossible of this stature. Most of the people donating are not strangers. A lot of people know each other. The North West is a pretty close tied place. The people donated know them, they care for them, and they want to see the best possible outcome for them. 

How do you explain the FB page claiming that an ANZ ATM gave them counterfeit dollars?

[scorecard]

9 minutes ago, Makara said:

Here is the point here...I came here to clarify that if you think this is a scam...think again. It is not and these women are facing prison time for what they have done. If it was a scam with all this publicity people would be arrested by now. Believe that. 

 

What? you say:

 

- '...and these women are facing prison time for what they have done'.

 

-  'If it was a scam with all this publicity people would have been arrested by now'. Strange comment considering you say '...people would have been arrested by now..' and on the other hand you make a definite statement 'they are facing jail time'.

 

IMHO it'a scam and i wonder if you are part of the mechanics of the scam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[yogavnture]

how many people here think the girls are guilty. im going with the they are innocent vote.....