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

[smx1313]

18 minutes ago, scorecard said:

That's not my experience, I often bring US dollars from a neighboring country, I use 2 exchange places, they both do several checks, i've seen both totally reject very dirty notes. 

Not doubting you, I've just never gone thru that. The only currency I've had rejected was Indian, but I just took it to the exchange across the street and they accepted it. Oh wait! I had Vietnamese Dong rejected because the currency (which I got as change in a purchase) was discontinued and no longer valid. Meaning I got scammed by a merchant in Ho Chi Minh, which ironically makes its on topic for this thread.

Edited March 18, 2018 by smx1313

[smx1313]

On 3/2/2018 at 8:42 AM, Scott said:

Counterfeit money is handled by the Secret Service.

Technically correct but not always in practice. I've been working in cash based business's for allllllooooonnnggg time.

After decades of coming across counterfeit bills, I've seen the police get involved only 1 time.

If a bank teller finds a fake in your deposit they usually just confiscate it and give you a form/receipt for it. I've even had bank tellers simply just hand it back to me if rejected. Thats why in small shops you will often see counterfeit bills taped to the wall behind the cashier, the bill just refused, handed back.

 

That is why my theory about this little scandal is the women thought if the bills where detected as fake they would simply be handed back or confiscated, no big deal.

Edited March 18, 2018 by smx1313
typo

[rott]

9 hours ago, Makara said:

Why, they found money in a remote place while backpacking and it was on a muddy road strewn about, dirtied, tattered and thought it was real money. So they went to exchange it. The right thing would have been to turn it in after they found it. And if it actually was real and the authorities kept it (as I have heard WOULD happen) then the karma would have been placed on their hands. My personal thought is they should not have kept what they thought was real money. But they are not me. They made the wrong choice and are now in this mess. That's the real truth.

Possibly differences in US/UK terminology confused things here. I interpreted "turn it in" as "hand it in".  My understanding was that you were saying they were trying to do the honest thing by handing it in. Hence my confusion that they would be handing it in to a currency exchange. I think I now get your drift.

 

To whoever said about personal information re arrest and charging details, this is very much not personal/private information but is in the public domain. Do you think all the people paraded before cameras after being arrested volunteered for all that.? I think it unlikely that the people cheated by ladyboys want it made public, but they do not seem to have much choice.

 

So I think the argument that arrest and charging details cannot be made public because of forum privacy concerns does not hold water. Bullxxxx in fact. Just lying and dissembling.

Edited March 18, 2018 by rott

[sanemax]

11 minutes ago, rott said:

So I think the argument that arrest and charging details cannot be made public because of forum privacy concerns does not hold water. Bullxxxx in fact. Just lying and dissembling.

As far as I am aware , privacy issues on TV refer only to TV members , TV members private info .

   As this is a public issue , those rules probably do not apply , please correct me if I'm wrong about that 

   There names and photos are already in the public domain , along with their alleged crimes , so, posting a charge sheet detailing this (hiding any other personal info)would not be adding anything to the info that is already in the public domain

[rott]

3 minutes ago, sanemax said:

As far as I am aware , privacy issues on TV refer only to TV members , TV members private info .

   As this is a public issue , those rules probably do not apply , please correct me if I'm wrong about that 

   There names and photos are already in the public domain , along with their alleged crimes , so, posting a charge sheet detailing this (hiding any other personal info)would not be adding anything to the info that is already in the public domain

'kinhell maxy we agree on something for once.

[sanemax]

9 hours ago, Makara said:

Bangkok Post had a small article on this, Coconuts wrote an article, 2 US articles, a person on this forum got information from the police of their arrest, I know one of the women arrested, but none of that is good enough for some of you. Because it is not plastered on every media station or paper there you claim it is fishy or a scam.

No, that is not correct .

The BP did mention it , as did coconuts , BUT , they were just writing info obtained from the original local U.S newspaper , which were reporting on the GFM page.

   All info from this case stems from their GFM page .

The issue of it being "not plastered on every media station" isnt the issue, the issue that its NOT written on ANY media station .

  Apart from coverage of the GFM campaign ,  there is no reports of it actually happening in the media  

[sanemax]

10 hours ago, Makara said:

Why, they found money in a remote place while backpacking and it was on a muddy road strewn about, dirtied, tattered and thought it was real money. So they went to exchange it.

More like , they found the money for sale in a market , where its available to buy , bought it and tried to exchange it for real currency .

  You cannot "find" a 1000$ , you can only steal $1000 . If you see something laying in the street , you cannot just pick it up and claim it as yours .

A "wet muddy road" in the dry season , when it hasnt rained for months!!!!!!!

 

 

[jenny2017]

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

No, that is not correct .

The BP did mention it , as did coconuts , BUT , they were just writing info obtained from the original local U.S newspaper , which were reporting on the GFM page.

   All info from this case stems from their GFM page .

The issue of it being "not plastered on every media station" isnt the issue, the issue that its NOT written on ANY media station .

  Apart from coverage of the GFM campaign ,  there is no reports of it actually happening in the media  

It seems that the whole bs has started here:

 

   https://www.mtdemocrat.com/news/two-area-women-held-in-thailand/

 

   A woman from Placerville and one from Citrus Heights are being held in Thailand, suspected of passing a counterfeit bill?

 

Eichholz’ boyfriend Brandon Berlanga declined to elaborate on the case under advice from the women’s attorney.? The Go Fund me "Emergencies" creator....

 

Is the GFM set up only some holiday money for Berlanga to meet his gf? 

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

No, that is not correct .

The BP did mention it , as did coconuts , BUT , they were just writing info obtained from the original local U.S newspaper , which were reporting on the GFM page.

   All info from this case stems from their GFM page .

The issue of it being "not plastered on every media station" isnt the issue, the issue that its NOT written on ANY media station .

  Apart from coverage of the GFM campaign ,  there is no reports of it actually happening in the media  

 

 

Do you think the two major English dailies and c.nuts etc., actually do any real investigative journalism, check things, etc? No, except for a couple of their man staff who do n depth articles about society issues etc.

 

So how do they fill their pages? Easy, they have sources to scan all sorts of media world wide and just copy the details into their local rage. It's called 'reporting' with tongue in cheek. 

 

 

[sanemax]

43 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Do you think the two major English dailies and c.nuts etc., actually do any real investigative journalism, check things, etc? No, except for a couple of their man staff who do n depth articles about society issues etc.

 

Coconuts , No , they just copy and paste from other sources .

Thats quite usually for small independent websites .

Newspapers check facts before publishing , or at least check that the story actually happened .

   This story was reported on on Cocunuts and not in the newspapers .

(Although the BP did mention this story in a few sentences on a round up hearsay page , they did not do an article on this story .

   The Bangkok post mentioned  the GFM campaign , but they didnt do a report on the story of the girls getting caught changing money, which, says it all really )

[ChouDoufu]

2 hours ago, sanemax said:

More like , they found the money for sale in a market , where its available to buy , bought it and tried to exchange it for real currency .

  You cannot "find" a 1000$ , you can only steal $1000 . If you see something laying in the street , you cannot just pick it up and claim it as yours .

A "wet muddy road" in the dry season , when it hasnt rained for months!!!!!!!

 

 

it's a good story.  in the dry season it gets dusty.  shopowners

will spray the street in front of their shops to keep the dust

down.  mud-covered spirit money in the gutter?  plausible.

 

taking some as a souvenir?  sure.

running short of cash on vacation?  absolutely.

"hey, maybe we could exchange......?"  possible.

 

story falls apart when they claim to get caught.  no bank or exchange

office will accept soiled currency.  they won't inspect it, won't

run it through the currency scanner.  they simply won't touch it.

 

can't imagine a local police office missing the opportunity to

get in the papers.......unless they get an offer too good to refuse.

but those offers need to be immediate; they won't wait a month

for you to run a gofundme campaign and hold a bake sale.

 

[sanemax]

6 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

it's a good story.  in the dry season it gets dusty.  shopowners

will spray the street in front of their shops to keep the dust

down.  mud-covered spirit money in the gutter?  plausible.

 

................and the mud covers up the "copy" written on the front and the big "Bank of the dead" written on the back on ALL 10-50 of the notes .

(10-50 notes depends on whether the bills were 100s or 5 $ bills)

The fake money would have disintegrated, had it got wet , run over, blown around .

[ChouDoufu]

Just now, sanemax said:

................and the mud covers up the "copy" written on the front and the big "Bank of the dead" written on the back on ALL 10-50 of the notes .

(10-50 notes depends on whether the bills were 100s or 5 $ bills)

The fake money would have disintegrated, had it got wet , run over, blown around .

not entirely correct.  i've got some cambodian ghost money right here

next to me that i picked up while traveling.  have posted photos previously.

 

printed on cheap recycled paper, but won't disintgrate when wet.  will

wrinkle, mud stains will be permanent.

 

not all have "copy" or alterations to the printing.  some are simply

exact copies on plain paper.

[roo860]

So wait. After laying out a very complex answer, that's your takeaway from the post?
Funny, someone else made the same objection.
There is no attempt to address the issues she points out. Only focusing on 3 words in a long detailed post. She's not presenting a legal defense to a court, or a PHD thesis to a peer review.
Perhaps "many" or "most" would be better than "all", but to be offended by, focus only on a very minor syntax issue? That's a Artful Dodger move.
Speaking as a man, going on gut instinct, not facts, I think that about 90% of the responses  from the Prosecutions table are men, so she's not inaccurate in her post.

'Complex answer' , if you like waffle.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[sanemax]

15 hours ago, smx1313 said:

So wait. After laying out a very complex answer, that's your takeaway from the post?

Funny, someone else made the same objection.

There is no attempt to address the issues she points out. Only focusing on 3 words in a long detailed post.

All the points that she raises have been answered numerous times in this thread and she just keeps on making the same points over and over again 

[JohnThailandJohn]

This gals are lucky they are in Thailand --- they'd be in big trouble in the US for trying to pass $1,000 in fake bills in the US and there excuse was the found the money in the street.

[Makara]

6 hours ago, ChouDoufu said:

not entirely correct.  i've got some cambodian ghost money right here

next to me that i picked up while traveling.  have posted photos previously.

 

printed on cheap recycled paper, but won't disintgrate when wet.  will

wrinkle, mud stains will be permanent.

 

not all have "copy" or alterations to the printing.  some are simply

exact copies on plain paper.

So as you just said not all have the word copy on them. Both of these bills are fake monies or "ghost monies?" 

 

Some of these stories are getting elaborate. They did not find up to 50 bills, they did not try to exchange all of the money. And just to stick up for the women here, on my friends page which is private there was pictures of that day as they set off for thier biking/backpacking journey. In all of the pictures there were rainclouds in the sky and muddy roads. Yeah so we have dry season here too, and yes in our summer it does randomly rain. Are you telling me (not who I qouted in paticular) but for the whole forum that it had never rained in Cambodia during that time. Damn wow I am so AMAZED at her EXTERME Photoshop skills. Smh.

 

I will also say this...do people really think that they took wet and dirty bills in to exchange? I mean common sense tells me that any person who found money and thought it was real would dry them and clean them off regardless if they were going to turn them in or not!

 

Some people's ridiculous speculations are so off base. What's even more ridiculous is you would rather continue on with speculations than listen to a word I have said. 

[Makara]

2 hours ago, sanemax said:

All the points that she raises have been answered numerous times in this thread and she just keeps on making the same points over and over again 

Perhaps I say the same things, make the same points because they are all true! You don't care to hear the truth. You really want these women to be making up this story and really want this to be a scam, so you can be "right" but sorry to say your outrageous speculations are off base and farther than the truth. The only reason why I came on here was to spread the truth. I have been called a troll, a sammer, a liar, a fraud, a lowlife and all sorts of things. But nobody has stopped to think that maybe the reason I come on here is for good not bad. A lot of you are very quick in your judgements rather than stopping and thinking for a second that what I may be saying is true. I'm not a fraud, a liar, a scammer, a lowlife, a bad person. I will not give any of their personal info to please this forum. That doesn't make this story a scam or untrue. 

 

Really it doesn't matter what I say most of you spin it the way you want, make up your own speculation and stories in your heads. I clearly know more than you in this situation, but it doesn't matter. 

[Henrik Andersen]

17 minutes ago, Makara said:

So as you just said not all have the word copy on them. Both of these bills are fake monies or "ghost monies?" 

 

Some of these stories are getting elaborate. They did not find up to 50 bills, they did not try to exchange all of the money. And just to stick up for the women here, on my friends page which is private there was pictures of that day as they set off for thier biking/backpacking journey. In all of the pictures there were rainclouds in the sky and muddy roads. Yeah so we have dry season here too, and yes in our summer it does randomly rain. Are you telling me (not who I qouted in paticular) but for the whole forum that it had never rained in Cambodia during that time. Damn wow I am so AMAZED at her EXTERME Photoshop skills. Smh.

 

I will also say this...do people really think that they took wet and dirty bills in to exchange? I mean common sense tells me that any person who found money and thought it was real would dry them and clean them off regardless if they were going to turn them in or not!

 

Some people's ridiculous speculations are so off base. What's even more ridiculous is you would rather continue on with speculations than listen to a word I have said. 

Do you never get tired of trying to convince us people there just believe this is a scam 

I have long time believe you are in this more than you will say 

But the fact there are no facts in this story 

[Makara]

Just now, Makara said:

Perhaps I say the same things, make the same points because they are all true! You don't care to hear the truth. You really want these women to be making up this story and really want this to be a scam, so you can be "right" but sorry to say your outrageous speculations are off base and farther than the truth. The only reason why I came on here was to spread the truth. I have been called a troll, a sammer, a liar, a fraud, a lowlife and all sorts of things. But nobody has stopped to think that maybe the reason I come on here is for good not bad. A lot of you are very quick in your judgements rather than stopping and thinking for a second that what I may be saying is true. I'm not a fraud, a liar, a scammer, a lowlife, a bad person. I will not give any of their personal info to please this forum. That doesn't make this story a scam or untrue. 

 

Really it doesn't matter what I say most of you spin it the way you want, make up your own speculation and stories in your heads. I clearly know more than you in this situation, but it doesn't matter. 

I am thinking after reading the qoute again that it was for AmyKat but what I said still applies! 

[Makara]

Just now, Makara said:

Perhaps I say the same things, make the same points because they are all true! You don't care to hear the truth. You really want these women to be making up this story and really want this to be a scam, so you can be "right" but sorry to say your outrageous speculations are off base and farther than the truth. The only reason why I came on here was to spread the truth. I have been called a troll, a sammer, a liar, a fraud, a lowlife and all sorts of things. But nobody has stopped to think that maybe the reason I come on here is for good not bad. A lot of you are very quick in your judgements rather than stopping and thinking for a second that what I may be saying is true. I'm not a fraud, a liar, a scammer, a lowlife, a bad person. I will not give any of their personal info to please this forum. That doesn't make this story a scam or untrue. 

 

Really it doesn't matter what I say most of you spin it the way you want, make up your own speculation and stories in your heads. I clearly know more than you in this situation, but it doesn't matter. 

I am thinking after reading the qoute again that it was for AmyKat but what I said still applies! 

[ericthai]

7 minutes ago, Makara said:

So as you just said not all have the word copy on them. Both of these bills are fake monies or "ghost monies?" 

 

Some of these stories are getting elaborate. They did not find up to 50 bills, they did not try to exchange all of the money. And just to stick up for the women here, on my friends page which is private there was pictures of that day as they set off for thier biking/backpacking journey. In all of the pictures there were rainclouds in the sky and muddy roads. Yeah so we have dry season here too, and yes in our summer it does randomly rain. Are you telling me (not who I qouted in paticular) but for the whole forum that it had never rained in Cambodia during that time. Damn wow I am so AMAZED at her EXTERME Photoshop skills. Smh.

 

I will also say this...do people really think that they took wet and dirty bills in to exchange? I mean common sense tells me that any person who found money and thought it was real would dry them and clean them off regardless if they were going to turn them in or not!

 

Some people's ridiculous speculations are so off base. What's even more ridiculous is you would rather continue on with speculations than listen to a word I have said. 

Marka, you've taken allot of heat here and sorry about that, but this is typical TV. 

 

I'm on the boarder line if the girls got arrested or not.  The story about not knowing the money was fake is really difficult for me to understand.  They had to know it was fake. Have you ever seen or touched spirit money?  As soon as you touch it you know it's not real, it's way too light. I believe they found it and thought it's so close the the Thai's will never know. 

 

As for not hearing anything from the police or papers, that is odd as typically the police love to show off they caught foreigners doing something wrong.  

 

The girls boyfriend that setup the go fund me page is a real winner.  Anyone that questions that it's real he lets loose with a bunch of profanity, which just makes the whole thing look bad. 

 

I get that you and her friends dont believe it's a scam, as they are  asking friends and family for money. However, after living in working in Thailand for over 20 years I have seen people make up stories to tell family back home to get some money to stay longer. I know a guy that told him mom in the UK that he had to get operated on. He went to the hospital for something minor and then came up with this idea.  I know a guy that told his family he was arrested and needed money to pay the police and so on. I think allot the posters that have lived in Thailand a long time have seen and heard the same, that is way there is so much skepticism about this story.  Not sure any of us will ever know the real truth.

[FritsSikkink]

9 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

 

Do you think the two major English dailies and c.nuts etc., actually do any real investigative journalism, check things, etc? No, except for a couple of their man staff who do n depth articles about society issues etc.

 

So how do they fill their pages? Easy, they have sources to scan all sorts of media world wide and just copy the details into their local rage. It's called 'reporting' with tongue in cheek. 

 

 

After worki for a big news company for 17 years: No they don't check anything. Story is a hoax, never been in the news but outside Thailand.

[ChouDoufu]

49 minutes ago, Makara said:

So as you just said not all have the word copy on them. Both of these bills are fake monies or "ghost monies?" 

 

....... rained in Cambodia during that time. Damn wow I am so AMAZED at her EXTERME Photoshop skills. Smh.

 

I will also say this...do people really think that they took wet and dirty bills in to exchange? I mean common sense tells me that any person who found money and thought it was real would dry them and clean them off regardless if they were going to turn them in or not!

....

yep, both were picked up off the street in cambodia.  very

obvious fake bills.  absolutely no chance could be misteaken

for the real thing, especially not by americans.

 

really cheap paper.  feels like recycled plywood, or the rough

paper towels supplied in the deutsche reichsbahn waggons

in the old DDR.

 

once they get damp, they wrinkle.  any stains will be permanent.

they can not be washed or cleaned.  new ghost money is obviously

fake.  soiled money will not be accepted at any exchange.

 

anyhoo, no chance of getting that cambodian red clay washed out

of paper towel bills.

 

[Makara]

30 minutes ago, ericthai said:

Marka, you've taken allot of heat here and sorry about that, but this is typical TV. 

 

I'm on the boarder line if the girls got arrested or not.  The story about not knowing the money was fake is really difficult for me to understand.  They had to know it was fake. Have you ever seen or touched spirit money?  As soon as you touch it you know it's not real, it's way too light. I believe they found it and thought it's so close the the Thai's will never know. 

 

As for not hearing anything from the police or papers, that is odd as typically the police love to show off they caught foreigners doing something wrong.  

 

The girls boyfriend that setup the go fund me page is a real winner.  Anyone that questions that it's real he lets loose with a bunch of profanity, which just makes the whole thing look bad. 

 

I get that you and her friends dont believe it's a scam, as they are  asking friends and family for money. However, after living in working in Thailand for over 20 years I have seen people make up stories to tell family back home to get some money to stay longer. I know a guy that told him mom in the UK that he had to get operated on. He went to the hospital for something minor and then came up with this idea.  I know a guy that told his family he was arrested and needed money to pay the police and so on. I think allot the posters that have lived in Thailand a long time have seen and heard the same, that is way there is so much skepticism about this story.  Not sure any of us will ever know the real truth.

Thank you for being reasonable in your response and not throwing daggers. I have asked about the lack of media presence from a friend who is from Thailand, among other people and from my understanding there can be reasons for the lack of media exposure. It seems a lot of things revolve around money and pay-offs all across the board. As an American this is beyond foreign to me, and call me naive or whatever but I was shocked to hear from several sources how things happen over there when faced with these kind of issues and or similar issues. It is pretty cut and dry here when you get in trouble--commit an act--go to jail--depending on crime bail set (usually extremely high so you can't pay it) then you stay in jail until court. Then it is left to the lawyers to paint the story to the judge and juror. There it sounds like a lot of hoops to jump through, money involved from all directions, applied stress and pressure to try and break you down further (especially as a foreigner). Long drawn out process on purpose. Then add being a foreigner and not knowing who to believe or trust. I have heard the word pay-off umpteen-million times when people give me inside view as to what could be happening. I have also heard that the authorities in this situation have been extremely nice. But all in all it sounds like a very confusing process. It has also been explained to me that not every foreigner situation gets media. This seems to be one of them. IDK maybe I am wrong and what everyone has said to me is wrong. There is a lot of pieces to this puzzle--I get that--and it is not up to me to share any and all info I have. I won't do that. It is frustrating to me to know the back side of the story and watch all these people only make assumptions. But thanks for being kind. 

Edited March 18, 2018 by Makara

[Henrik Andersen]

2 hours ago, Makara said:

Thank you for being reasonable in your response and not throwing daggers. I have asked about the lack of media presence from a friend who is from Thailand, among other people and from my understanding there can be reasons for the lack of media exposure. It seems a lot of things revolve around money and pay-offs all across the board. As an American this is beyond foreign to me, and call me naive or whatever but I was shocked to hear from several sources how things happen over there when faced with these kind of issues and or similar issues. It is pretty cut and dry here when you get in trouble--commit an act--go to jail--depending on crime bail set (usually extremely high so you can't pay it) then you stay in jail until court. Then it is left to the lawyers to paint the story to the judge and juror. There it sounds like a lot of hoops to jump through, money involved from all directions, applied stress and pressure to try and break you down further (especially as a foreigner). Long drawn out process on purpose. Then add being a foreigner and not knowing who to believe or trust. I have heard the word pay-off umpteen-million times when people give me inside view as to what could be happening. I have also heard that the authorities in this situation have been extremely nice. But all in all it sounds like a very confusing process. It has also been explained to me that not every foreigner situation gets media. This seems to be one of them. IDK maybe I am wrong and what everyone has said to me is wrong. There is a lot of pieces to this puzzle--I get that--and it is not up to me to share any and all info I have. I won't do that. It is frustrating to me to know the back side of the story and watch all these people only make assumptions. But thanks for being kind. 

Sometimes I think you never been in Thailand because if this story was true it will be over the news in Thailand and police will be happy to point fingers 

Sorry for interrupting say this but I really think you in on this scam and I live here in Thailand so I know how the system works and all my Thai friends say too THIS IS A SCAM 

[Here It Is]

The GFM page seems to have stalled on a very healthy 10k+.  Hope they don't get their hands on a cent.

[Makara]

34 minutes ago, Henrik Andersen said:

Sometimes I think you never been in Thailand because if this story was true it will be over the news in Thailand and police will be happy to point fingers 

Sorry for interrupting say this but I really think you in on this scam and I live here in Thailand so I know how the system works and all my Thai friends say too THIS IS A SCAM 

So laughable. I don't care what your friends say and I don't care what you and a few others say. You're included in the ones who are quite rude and have a problem carrying on a decent conversation. I bet even if I posted some sort of document that shows an arrest record you would say, that is a fake document. ???? This is a scam. Even when a person on here that lived in Thailand found out they were arrested some of the posters called them a liar and a scammer too. Y'all are ridiculous. 

 

Edited March 18, 2018 by Makara

[Here It Is]

8 minutes ago, Makara said:

I bet even if I posted some sort of document that shows an arrest record you would say, that is a fake document. ???? This is a scam. 

Go on then, post it.  

[smx1313]

6 hours ago, sanemax said:

All the points that she raises have been answered numerous times in this thread and she just keeps on making the same points over and over again 

I agree. However, the same questions keep being asked over and over again.