Video: Find these nasty farang thieves - there's a 5,000 baht reward if you do.

[bkk6060]

5 minutes ago, jimster said:

Not a good thing to do, but omg this isn't exactly the crime of the century. Happens all the time everywhere in the world.

Well, you most certainly do not understand Thai thinking and the opportunities to add negativity toward Falang in the minds of Thais.

What if they were Americans in France and did this?  What would be the impression and thinking about it?

Hey, lets take those UCLA basketball player petty thieves in China.  Turned out to be a international incident.

It just is another chip chip away toward Falang negativity.

On the big picture it is not a good thing for Falang to witness these scum bags thieves no matter where you are from.

 

[Here It Is]

1 minute ago, jimster said:

Fair enough. A 5000 Baht reward for a crappy phone that's probably barely worth 5000 Baht if you tried to sell it at MBK - what's on that phone that the owner is willing to basically buy back their own phone?

Not relevant, whatsoever.  I might steal your pet canary and people will observe the same lack of regard.  But you loved your pet canary!  Who are we to judge?

[poanoi]

1 minute ago, bkk6060 said:

Well, you most certainly do not understand Thai thinking and the opportunities to add negativity toward Falang in the minds of Thais.

What if they were Americans in France and did this?  What would be the impression and thinking about it?

Hey, lets take those UCLA basketball player petty thieves in China.  Turned out to be a international incident.

It just is another chip chip away toward Falang negativity.

On the big picture it is not a good thing for Falang to witness these scum bags thieves no matter where you are from.

 

agreed, i am embarrassed on their behalf,

still, it feels slightly less shameful it was chiang mai falangs that did it

rather than pattaya falangs, of whom i pride myself to belong to

[jimster]

1 minute ago, bkk6060 said:

Well, you most certainly do not understand Thai thinking and the opportunities to add negativity toward Falang in the minds of Thais.

What if they were Americans in France and did this?  What would be the impression and thinking about it?

Hey, lets take those UCLA basketball player petty thieves in China.  Turned out to be a international incident.

It just is another chip chip away toward Falang negativity.

On the big picture it is not a good thing for Falang to witness these scum bags thieves no matter where you are from.

 

I know what the thinking is, I just think that after decades upon decades in which farang have been coming to Thailand as tourists that Thais would eventually stop making ridiculous stereotypical assumptions like all farang are good people. Or blowing minor crimes out of proportion - having said that, a crime is a crime so cudos to the police for being able to find the culprits. In just about every part of the world if you lose your valuables such as a wallet or mobile phone it's highly unlikely you'll ever get it back.

 

I'm sure westerners don't judge Thai people living in Thaitown in Sydney or Thaitown Los Angeles for every little thing and have the need to make an international incident whenever a member of that community does something strange or commits a crime.

 

To answer your question - some French people would go: "oh dear, not some more American criminals. Why do they let those people travel?"

[wvavin]

I think it was just a spur at that moment. It is difficult for any human to overcome greed. Hope they can adapt themselves well with their free orange uniforms and the confined resort.

[Love66]

why thieves ?

It's a partial refund  :D

 

I think people who steal had to be stolen.

 

why else?

[jimster]

4 minutes ago, poanoi said:

agreed, i am embarrassed on their behalf,

still, it feels slightly less shameful it was chiang mai falangs that did it

rather than pattaya falangs, of whom i pride myself to belong to

I feel nothing. Because I know there are criminals everywhere of every race and nationality. Just because someone shares the same skin color or nationality as me, means nothing. Most farang don't say hello to me when we walk past each other on the streets and there's basically no sense of community among westerners save for the odd moment when Brits come together in a pub to watch the cricket or soccer or Aussies watch the "footy" and have a few beers so why would I care if one commits a crime like this?

 

It's stupid, but there is no such thing as collective punishment - I'm not responsible for the actions of others even if their actions may cause the authorities to use it as an excuse to implement new laws. Just like Thais shouldn't be made to feel responsible if a Filipino thief happens to steal a local white American's handbag in downtown Dallas because the Filipino happens to share the same skin color as the Thai.

[Here It Is]

4 minutes ago, wvavin said:

I think it was just a spur at that moment. It is difficult for any human to overcome greed. Hope they can adapt themselves well with their free orange uniforms and the confined resort.

Didn't seem spur of the moment.  In fact, they worked like a well rehearsed gang of urchins and obviously not the first, or the last, time.

[Eaglekott]

Sorry I dit not read through all 9 pages so it might have been told already... Its an iPhone, it's useless unless you have the Apple ID its connected to, maybe you can sell the battery and Screen, but for what amount of money? 500 Baht? its secondhand, also there is a huge risk that you will be tracked by "Find My iPhone"

[woofwoof]

I think everybody covered as to what my thoughts were. YES I HOPE THEY CATCH THEM !

[sirocco]

Good evening jimster post 125,

And no, the many new French people would say: oh! Allah, why are these American criminals coming to take our job?

[samsensam]

12 minutes ago, jimster said:

I feel nothing. Because I know there are criminals everywhere of every race and nationality. Just because someone shares the same skin color or nationality as me, means nothing. Most farang don't say hello to me when we walk past each other on the streets and there's basically no sense of community among westerners save for the odd moment when Brits come together in a pub to watch the cricket or soccer or Aussies watch the "footy" and have a few beers so why would I care if one commits a crime like this?

 

It's stupid, but there is no such thing as collective punishment - I'm not responsible for the actions of others even if their actions may cause the authorities to use it as an excuse to implement new laws. Just like Thais shouldn't be made to feel responsible if a Filipino thief happens to steal a local white American's handbag in downtown Dallas because the Filipino happens to share the same skin color as the Thai.

 

well said. you'd be surprised, or maybe not, at the number of thais who seem to think all white faced foreigners come from the same place.

[Here It Is]

2 minutes ago, jimster said:

It was implied, because one poster said it's about making all foreigners look bad. 

 

Okay, one or two posts have intimated this.  No need to get too hung up about it and they are quite right, by the way.  It makes us falang look bad when we are generally far more affluent than our Thai friends.  If you can afford to holiday in LOS then why the need to steal a smartphone?

 

Overall, the forum is pleased these two gamins have been caught and deserve their punishment.  

[samsensam]

16 minutes ago, Here It Is said:

Didn't seem spur of the moment.  In fact, they worked like a well rehearsed gang of urchins and obviously not the first, or the last, time.

 

in one was they did seem to know what they were doing, on the other hand professional thieves, in this day and age, would surely check for cctv?

[jimster]

Just now, samsensam said:

 

well said. you'd be surprised, or maybe not, at the number of thais who seem to think all white faced foreigners come from the same place.

True. But not as much as the Chinese. For some reason the Chinese have got it in their head that every white person living/travelling in China comes from America. Thais at least recognize that there are white people from Europe, Australia and America. Most Thais would be familiar with the different European countries even if they don't really know the differences between them.

[jimster]

Just now, Here It Is said:

Okay, one or two posts have intimated this.  No need to get too hung up about it and they are quite right, by the way.  It makes us falang look bad when we are generally far more affluent than our Thai friends.  If you can afford to holiday in LOS then why the need to steal a smartphone?

 

Overall, the forum is pleased these two gamins have been caught and deserve their punishment.  

I'm certainly glad they were caught too but either way it doesn't matter to me or make even a tiny bit of difference to my life. I consider the seriousness of a crime more important than who commits it. However, I disagree that most westerners are far more affluent than most Thais. If Thais are so poor, there wouldn't be 15 million registered passenger cars in a country of 69 million people, there wouldn't be 1 million Thai visitors to Japan every year as tourists and there wouldn't be a 99% mobile phone penetration rate. I think most Thais know quite well that not all white people are richer than they are. Otherwise there wouldn't be any cheap western backpackers in Khao San Road but all foreigners would be blazing around Thailand in Ferraris.

 

However, one advantage of living in Thailand is the presence of a huge number of westerners, which makes it unlikely that the average Thai would start associating a random foreigner on the street with this couple's behavior. If this had happened in a random city like Lanzhou, China where there are only like 3 white people in the whole city, then the locals might start making such assumptions, but China and Thailand are vastly different places. Most places in China have 0 westerners, whereas I can go to virtually any village in Thailand and find at least a westerner or two, or find a westerner stopping at a PTT service station with his Thai wife/girlfriend.

[BigC]

Most phones have Gps 

 

if they havent turned their Gps on then.... well the phone owner has made things harder for themselves 

[metisdead]

An off topic bickering session has been removed. 

[Jingthing]

I noticed when watching the video that the lovely pasty couple seemed to be coordinated in their theft dance without any need to discuss what they were doing. That indicates they might be seasoned PROS. 

 

Yes they seem at big risk of getting caught now. Assuming they hear about the video would dying their hair and separating save them? Or does Thai immigration have facial recognition technology happening? 

[Aforek]

1 hour ago, bkk6060 said:

 

What if they were Americans in France and did this?  What would be the impression and thinking about it?

 

I have never heard of American thieves in France; maybe there are some, but it must be rare, very rare ;  Romanians, yes, but American, no 

[metisdead]

Troll posts and the replies have been removed. 

[katana]

It's being reported in the Thai press that the married couple who stole the phone are both employed as teachers in France.

The husband is a special needs teacher for children.

The husband has initially refused to speak to investigating officers and is calling for consular assistance from the French Embassy.

[shy coconut]

8 hours ago, robblok said:

Im sure they look more American than European.. though.. they do have a low BMI.. so your probably right. (joking here why do you think they are European ?)

I'm pretty sure most white Americans can trace their DNA/ancestry  back to some European country,

Usually only a few generations.

[snoopy21]

8 hours ago, Just Weird said:

Who says that the very same thing would have happened?  Not everyone is a thief.

Absolutely! At least, I am not. Twice, I found unattended iPhone inside the toilet of a mall. I waited the owner to call and gave the phone back to the owner and refused any reward. It is not about the matter of race; it is about the family education and personal characteristics.

[TPUBON]

9 hours ago, ezzra said:

Hang on to your enthusiasm everyone, the very same would have happened had a non farang person see that unattended phone and that phone would be gone as quick if not quicker.. so what is all the fuss here?

just because they're foreigners? talking about casting the first stone...

Disagree. I left a laptop at Suvarnabhumi. The next day I went to lost and found and it was turned in. Now if this couple of slime balls found it, I doubt it would have been turned in.

[metisdead]

Some more troll posts have been removed. 

[jamieoutlook]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I noticed when watching the video that the lovely pasty couple seemed to be coordinated in their theft dance without any need to discuss what they were doing. That indicates they might be seasoned PROS. 

 

Yes they seem at big risk of getting caught now. Assuming they hear about the video would dying their hair and separating save them? Or does Thai immigration have facial recognition technology happening? 

Do try and keep up with things if you want to make comments jingthing/

They were arrested 7 hours ago.

[patrick1968]

what a dog

[Jingthing]

what a dog

The mademoiselle is no prize either!

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[chris a]

Two "opportunist" low life scum.

They are everywhere ...... stop them at the airport and make them miss their flight.

They will have pay again to get back home ..... that`le teach `em.

Oh, and fine them 20,000 baht  each.

I detest people like this pair.