Gang of thieving Don Muang Airport staff exposed by woman using ‘Find My iPhone feature

 

 

A gang of thieving staff from Don Muang Airport underestimated the Find My iPhone feature after they helped themselves to a passenger’s iPhone X.

 

A Thai woman whose iPhone X was stolen from her luggage after she took a flight to Don Muang airport managed to track down the stolen phone using the Find My iPhone feature.

 

Tithalie Wongchawakronkul posted about the incident on Facebook, where the post has since gone viral after being shared more than 20,000 times.

 

Tithalie said that on March 21st she took a flight from Udon Thani to Don Muang. Before the flight she placed her iPhone X in her luggage that was checked in by airline staff and loaded onto the plane.

 

When she arrived at Don Muang she collected her luggage but the iPhone was missing. 

 

She then reported the phone missing to officers at Chokchai Police Station. 

 

Using the Find My iPhone feature she was able to track the device to an address in Pathum Thani. She visited the address and to her astonishment saw staff uniform from Don Muang hanging on the washing line outside.

 

She took photos of the house and reported the address to police.

 

Police spoke to the owner of the house who said he bought the iPhone for 4,000 baht from a woman who works as a cleaner at Don Muang airport.

 

When the cleaner was tracked down, she admitted that the iPhone X had been given to her by her boyfriend, who it was claimed was a staff supervisor at the airport.

 

Police believe that there could be a gang of employees who are stealing items from passenger’s bags by using the luggage X-Ray machines to help identify potentially valuable goods.

 

It is understood a warrant has been issued for the arrest of one staff member but it wasn’t immediately clear if anyone has yet been arrested.

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-03-31

I am in two minds as to which is more incredible, The fact that people still place expensive items in the check in baggage, or the fact that she could do without her phone for several hours.....( unless she had more than one of course ). 

The biggest risk is not that they will take something from your bag.  It is that they can put something in it.

"A warrant has been issued for the arrest of one staff member" is glossing over what seems to be an organised theft ring operating at BKK,s second biggest airport....Big Joke what are you going to do about this ????

24 minutes ago, Khaeng Mak said:

The biggest risk is not that they will take something from your bag.  It is that they can put something in it.

It is the bigger risk but smaller chance, stealing is far more common.

Don Muang airport staff are not the friendliest bunch I've ever met ..... and especially the immigration ladies.  I will avoid Don Muang in future for international flights.

 

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

 

It is understood a warrant has been issued for the arrest of one staff member but it wasn’t immediately clear if anyone has yet been arrested.

The powers that be are too busy organising a cover up. With the video cameras in baggage handling this must be a large scale operation and if details get out it could harm tourust numbers.

In most other countries it would be the police who did the tracking, not the victim, no doubt they were too busy with their brown envelopes

5 minutes ago, dcsw53 said:

The powers that be are too busy organising a cover up. With the video cameras in baggage handling this must be a large scale operation and if details get out it could harm tourust numbers.

In most other countries it would be the police who did the tracking, not the victim, no doubt they were too busy with their brown envelopes

I think that you flatter non-Thai police in error. Certainly in the UK the police would not track down the thief and in some cases, they did not even arrest the thief when the owner had tracked them down. The police are now too busy with PC and gender complaints.

57 minutes ago, Khaeng Mak said:

1 hour ago, robblok said:

It is the bigger risk but smaller chance, stealing is far more common.

Tell that to Schapelle Corby.

Nonsense, She was GUILTY. Full Stop. No one set her up.

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Police spoke to the owner of the house who said he bought the iPhone for 4,000 baht from a woman who works as a cleaner at Don Muang airport

When a cleaner at an airport is offering you a 25k+ phone for 4K, there’s obviously something rotten in Denmark. You’re obviously buying stolen or Ill gotten gained goods. 

2 hours ago, steven100 said:

Don Muang airport staff are not the friendliest bunch I've ever met ..... and especially the immigration ladies.  I will avoid Don Muang in future for international flights.

 

Always avoid the ladies at Immigration, only Drama will unfold

2 hours ago, steven100 said:

Don Muang airport staff are not the friendliest bunch I've ever met ..... and especially the immigration ladies.  I will avoid Don Muang in future for international flights.

 

Too true:  Immigration totally sucks at DMK, and all you ever hear about is thievery.  Always avoid international arrivals at DMK.  It use to be a great airport with lots of warm people.  Now it is just a hassle

6 hours ago, petermik said:

"A warrant has been issued for the arrest of one staff member" is glossing over what seems to be an organised theft ring operating at BKK,s second biggest airport....Big Joke what are you going to do about this ????

<deleted>. 

This story pretty much sums up everything one needs to know about thailand.

 

3 hours ago, steven100 said:

Don Muang airport staff are not the friendliest bunch I've ever met ..... and especially the immigration ladies.  I will avoid Don Muang in future for international flights.

 

Actually they are fine, it's just some clusters are cr=p

3 hours ago, steven100 said:

Don Muang airport staff are not the friendliest bunch I've ever met ..... and especially the immigration ladies.  I will avoid Don Muang in future for international flights.

 

For once I agree with you! ????

2 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

I think that you flatter non-Thai police in error. Certainly in the UK the police would not track down the thief and in some cases, they did not even arrest the thief when the owner had tracked them down. The police are now too busy with PC and gender complaints.

 

Agree with that. Don't think many Western police forces are now the A1 standard some seem to think they are.

 

UK police regard theft as a matter between the victim and their insurance company!

rather than use xrays to do security screening they screen for valuables to lift.  makes you wonder if they are focused on security or theft

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

a staff supervisor at the airport.

????

 

It really is in their nature to steal and skim and scam at any opportunity where they believe they can get away with it, 

DMK still has some issues.  On our last trip into Bangkok, we met up with some friends that came in from Canada.  My wife organised a "care package" (3 packs of Crest white strips, Clarins beauty products, professional manicure tools and a few other bits) with them.  The care package items arrived with our friends, through swampy, no problems.   The +/- $800 CDN ziplock with almost everything in it, went missing from our luggage when we flew home from DMK to KKC.  Priority seating and priority luggage (FD), meant we were mere minutes in KKC on arrival......DMK-checked baggage in +/- 2 hours prior to departure.   Que será, será 

10 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

The game at my place of work is to collude with vendors and suppliers to get them to overcharge for goods and services then receive kick-backs as a reward.

 

We are a medium sized Thai company in a professional industry and thievery and scams are rife here.

 

My 31 years experience of working here tells me every company and organisation is the same and not one of the locals can be trusted. Ever.

Yes one can only trust white skinned people. You got such a colonial attitude its unbelievable. You got cheats everywhere no matter where they come from.

Off topic posts and replies have been removed. 

7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Police believe that there could be a gang of employees who are stealing items from passenger’s bags by using the luggage X-Ray machines to help identify potentially valuable goods.

The police is tarnishing the good name of Don Mueang, AoT and Thailand and they should be charged for defamation and making their allegations public via internet media. Big Joke, go get 'em.

4 hours ago, Ireland32 said:

Always avoid the ladies at Immigration, only Drama will unfold

Agreed. I always look for the oldest male immigration officer.  He is the least likely to feel that he has something to prove. Generally just a gruff old bastard marking time until his retirement.

7 hours ago, Khaeng Mak said:

The biggest risk is not that they will take something from your bag.  It is that they can put something in it.

Therefore always locked and with no possibility to open the zip a few centimeters at the locking point.

6 hours ago, dcsw53 said:

The powers that be are too busy organising a cover up. With the video cameras in baggage handling this must be a large scale operation and if details get out it could harm tourust numbers.

In most other countries it would be the police who did the tracking, not the victim, no doubt they were too busy with their brown envelopes

Exactly! What is the point of having a police force if you have to solve the crime yourself? Derilection of duty

Interesting report and the owner of the phone did well to track it down.  Not saying that she deserved to have it stolen, but there are also other aspects of having iPhones in checked luggage. Every now and then I read about the lithium battery in a phone or a laptop catching fire in the cabin and the airline crew having to extinguish it. The crew can extinguish it because they can get to it and because they have equipment (eg, an ice bucket) where they can dunk the offending phone.  It's only a matter of time before a battery in a device in the hold catches fire and I hope I'm not anywhere in the vicinity when that happens. Fire extinguishers in the hold aren't necessary effective against lithium battery fires, especially if the fire in one device sets off multiple fires in others. 

5 hours ago, quadperfect said:

This story pretty much sums up everything one needs to know about thailand.

 

If you don't like it here, don't come.

A person can get ripped off in any country, not just Thailand

8 minutes ago, monkeycu said:

If you don't like it here, don't come.

A person can get ripped off in any country, not just Thailand

Yup.

Until a few years ago, Heathrow used to be known as 'Thiefrow'.

Few years ago , I had very valuable real gemstones in my check-in bag,  they were missing when I pick-up my bag,,,  this is Thailand  mai pen rai,,,