Remember those beggars in London who always used to say "Excuse me, can you spare a pound?" Well, now since I returned after a 5-year absence, they almost always say "Can you spare TWO pounds?" without "Excuse me" and if you say nothing, sometimes they abuse you.

21 hours ago, Pilotman said:

If we make a choice, any choice, we live by the consequences.  What we don't do, if we have any self respect at all, is expect perfect strangers to get us out of those consequences.  

You mean like Kinder Transport during the War? We should have told those Jewish children to sort things out with the SS, and don’t come whining to us with your problems?

 

At times we all might have to rely on the kindness of strangers, and it might not be down to any choices that we made in life.

47 minutes ago, AlexRich said:

You mean like Kinder Transport during the War? We should have told those Jewish children to sort things out with the SS, and don’t come whining to us with your problems?

 

At times we all might have to rely on the kindness of strangers, and it might not be down to any choices that we made in life.

A nonsensical  and insulting comparison.  You compare the worst horrors of the holocaust with a scammer at an airport.  Shame.  

I arrived in London to stay with my brother who was studying. At the end of the road near the tube station in Kensington a bag lady politely requested a cigarette, I obliged and as I passed every day a couple of times we exchanged a few words and I gave her a cigarette.

Two weeks later I passed on my way back home and offered her a cigarette, she took it, as I lit it she says "you are off now aren't ya"

Reached into her pocket and handed me a full pack

Jeeeez!...what's the world coming to...A guy tried to con me out of a few Baht today (amount un-important)...better get on the blower immediately and inform all in sundry about this audacious act?

An English guy in his 40s tried a similar con on me roughly 15 years ago in Pattaya. - Told me he had fallen on hard times and didn't have money for food. I didn't buy it, but still gave him a packet of potato snacks I had just bought; the quizzical look on his face was priceless and well worth the 30 or 40 baht...

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You mean like Kinder Transport during the War? We should have told those Jewish children to sort things out with the SS, and don’t come whining to us with your problems?
 
At times we all might have to rely on the kindness of strangers, and it might not be down to any choices that we made in life.

True. But with good ol' common sense, it is, fortunately, often possible to spot the scammers...

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in my drinking days, as often the case I struck up a conversation with a stranger in a pub, we chatted for a while and he offered to buy me a drink, I politely declined saying I could not afford to get into a 'round'

He told me he was enjoying the conversation and happy to buy me a drink not returned. we chatted for a while longer then as he turned to leave he put a fiver on the bar. enjoy he said, in the future you will certainly meet somebody who is in need, please pass the five pounds on.

I did, relating the story to a skint student a few years later, asking him to do the same.

Not really. It is all in a day’s work for him. Just like regular 9-5 hours. Also cannot be caught out without work permit because he scams foreigners only and on departure only  meaning departing foreigners minus the expats would not meet him again in the near future. All good. I have had the chinese middle age couple pulling this stunt at international airports in Malaysia, Bangkok as well as Singapore. They targeted only the Chinese whom I am also one. 

It always puzzled me why the Indian (and other South Asian) guys on Nathan Road in Hong Kong only approached Westerners to sell fake watches (even the same people again and again, if you just walked there and back). - After being hassled by one guy too many times, I asked him, why he didn't ask the (ethnic) Chinese, as this, statistically, would make more sense. But this idea didn't seem to be to his liking, cause he protested: "No, NEVER..." 

 

Later, accross the border in Shenzhen, I was pestered to buy fake watches again, this time by a Chinese national, so I asked him: "What are you? An Indian?"

 

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57 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

A nonsensical  and insulting comparison.  You compare the worst horrors of the holocaust with a scammer at an airport.  Shame.  

 

"If we make a choice, any choice, we have to live with the consequences" ... that statement is way beyond a scammer at an airport.

 

Your words, not mine. Any misfortune that befalls someone is due to their choices? You seem to believe that anyone who falls on hard times only have themselves to blame ... doesn't ever cross your mind that you can end up in a bad way through no fault of your own ... or that you could also end up in a situation where you rely on the kindness of others? 

 

 

29 minutes ago, AlexRich said:

 

"If we make a choice, any choice, we have to live with the consequences" ... that statement is way beyond a scammer at an airport.

 

Your words, not mine. Any misfortune that befalls someone is due to their choices? You seem to believe that anyone who falls on hard times only have themselves to blame ... doesn't ever cross your mind that you can end up in a bad way through no fault of your own ... or that you could also end up in a situation where you rely on the kindness of others? 

 

 

Going back to the original post, which I was replying to and that you conveniently ignore, you don't end up trying to scam people at an airport. Statements need to be in context, not taken out of it. 

42 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

Going back to the original post, which I was replying to and that you conveniently ignore, you don't end up trying to scam people at an airport. Statements need to be in context, not taken out of it. 

Your statement was clear, and not taken out of context ... and much wider than just a guy with a sob story at an airport. 

On 7/2/2019 at 5:57 PM, bkk6060 said:

Declining economy, frozen pensions, deteriorating exchange rates, Brexit and political dysfunction must be very stressful.

This Brit must be very desperate to be outside a foreign airport attempting to pull off an alledged scam.

Very sad indeed.

 

Not really - some were doing it years ago when you could get 70/71 ThB to the pound.

 

The scam then was some (usually fat 50s ish Geordie) would accost you from his bar stool as you walked by (often flanked by a couple of giggly bar girls). He'd ask if you were British and if you said yes would then ask for help. He and his wife had run up a big bar bill before Mrs. had gone back to their hotel and accidentally taken his wallet with her. He now needed to settle the bar bill and could you lend him the cash. Of course, he'd meet you at the hotel later or in the morning to pay you back.

 

Only happened to me once. <deleted> never tried it on me again.

There used to be UK scammers in Bangkok often between Chit Lom and Soi Nana. They would say they had lost their passport and money and had to wait a few days for the embassy to sort everything out. Then they would ask for some money to help tide them over. This airport guy sounds like a twist on this story.

 

30 years ago, there was a smackhead who would wait at Lime Street station in the evening with a railway timetable in his hand saying he was a few quid short of the fare for the last train to London. He was there every night! This also sounds similar.

Yeah funny you should say that,i had the same experience last month while looking for my flight home.A guy came up to me asking am I English,i said yes and he gave me the sob story that he was stuck in Bangkok with little money and could I give him 3000 Bhat for his ticket home,i declined although he wasn't British..more Eastern european..

15 hours ago, 473geo said:

in the future you will certainly meet somebody who is in need, please pass the five pounds on.

Sadly that five pounds might not cover the tab for a single drink now, in London and Bangkok both. 

On 7/3/2019 at 4:28 PM, Pilotman said:

On 7/3/2019 at 4:05 PM, nahkit said:

I hadn't realised that life was so simple. So all we have to do is make a choice and then it all just happens right?

If we make a choice, any choice, we live by the consequences.  What we don't do, if we have any self respect at all, is expect perfect strangers to get us out of those consequences.

I am often happy to help others, regardless of what led to their plight. There is nothing wrong with asking for help in life. But it should be done honestly and with respect.

On 7/3/2019 at 2:27 PM, Pilotman said:

I just don't get this 'sad' business.  His life, his choices. 

it is called empathy   .. 

4 hours ago, ifmu said:

it is called empathy   .. 

No, sorry, doesn't compute for people like that. 

First experienced scamming and scrounging from bona fide travellers at points of transit in the US during the seventies.  Nowadays it's everywhere and I regard them as a security breach.

Prior to that only ever experience was London cabs.

 

There used to be UK scammers in Bangkok often between Chit Lom and Soi Nana. They would say they had lost their passport and money and had to wait a few days for the embassy to sort everything out. Then they would ask for some money to help tide them over. This airport guy sounds like a twist on this story.
 
30 years ago, there was a smackhead who would wait at Lime Street station in the evening with a railway timetable in his hand saying he was a few quid short of the fare for the last train to London. He was there every night! This also sounds similar.

Approached by these liars almost every time I visit Bangkok. I politely suggest they fornicate themselves and walk away.

On 7/3/2019 at 8:21 AM, Guderian said:

I was accosted in Swampy by 3 thuggish types in ordinary clothes who claimed they were Thai police. That set off my scam alarm too.

Plain clothed Border Police.

On 7/3/2019 at 2:03 AM, gk10002000 said:

He said he just ran out of gas and wanted a few bucks.  I said sure.  Hop in your car and follow my car to the Shell Station that is literally 500 yards down the road and I will put some gas in your car.  he said no.  OK.  Good luck on your next scam I said.

How could he follow in his car if he was out of gas?  Sorry but I am a stickler for detail....

On 7/28/2019 at 10:41 AM, grifbel said:

How could he follow in his car if he was out of gas?  Sorry but I am a stickler for detail....

Well, if he was out of gas he would have trouble.  but given that the gas station was a few hundred yard Downhill, I doubted his story.  And he simply declined and did not respond with a reasonable question as you did

Report him. They'll remove him from the airport quickly. He should try his begging on Sukhumvit. And probably just a scam anyway, no "emergency" involved.

Begging has become a way of life in UK towns and cities, Nottingham has them on every corner working in teams, i just ignore them as most are half my age and look a lot of fitter

 

My hard eared money stays in my pocket and I support registed charities

 

Technically its illegal to beg in the UK, but with no Police walking the streets any more nothing happens

Sad? I don't think so.  More likely he's just a sleazy crook trying to take advantage of fellow farangs. No excuse for that. 

 

 

Happens all the time in NYC just for perspective. Saw the same guy, seen begging often on the subway, when taking the Staten Island ferry and there was his wife, proverbial Jewelry box.... then there have been newspaper articles about how these kinds of beggars sometimes own quite nice homes in suburbs...

 

 

 

 

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Excuse me mister, could you give me some money..

Just a couple of words I would say,, fxxxk off 

I like to drop some Monopoly cash into their hat/tin/whatever......, or I'l tell them politely to go away from me and have a self awareness session !