Thai honesty: Taxi driver returns 100,000 in cash to Japanese man who was "looking after it for a friend"

[webfact]

Thai honesty: Taxi driver returns 100,000 in cash to Japanese man who was "looking after it for a friend"

 

Picture: INN

 

A Japanese man told the media that he held out little hope of getting his money back after he left 100,000 baht in cash in a bag on the back seat of a taxi. 

 

Masaomi F., 49, told the media that he and a friend had been eating at a place in Sukhumvit Road Soi 23 before they got in a taxi that took them to the BTS at On Nut. 

 

Soon thereafter he realised he had left his bag in the cab. He said that his friend had given him the money in an envelope for safekeeping. 

 

He reckoned that he had seen the last of it; if another passenger got in they would just keep it and the taxi driver would be none the wiser. 

 

However, he didn't bargain for the honesty of some foreigners and the taxi driver himself. 

 

Fifty five year old cabby Pratheuang Klongkhlaew said that at 4 am he had gone to Lumpini Condominium on Rama IV and two foreign women who could speak a bit of Thai found a bag on the back seat and gave it to him. 

 

He put it on the console and only looked inside after he took his cab back to the garage and went home for breakfast with his wife. 

 

He said he was indifferent to the money; after all it wasn't his and all he wanted to do was get it back to the rightful owner.

 

He called FM 91 and the staff there did the rest resulting in the relieved Japanese man getting all his cash back from the taxi driver as delighted radio executives looked on at the photo shoot. 

 

No mention of a reward was mentioned in the INN report. 

 

Source: INN

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2020-02-26

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

[steven100]

6 minutes ago, webfact said:

his friend had given him the money in an envelope for safekeeping. 

who gives their friend 100k just to look after ... absolute bs, lol .....   bangkok has the most honest taxi drivers in the world.

[Phuketshrew]

56 minutes ago, webfact said:

He said that his friend had given him the money in an envelope for safekeeping. 

Fail.

[spiekerjozef]

100.000 baht in a brown envelope is called bribe money.

Safekeeping

[PETERTHEEATER]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

He said that his friend had given him the money in an envelope for safekeeping. 

It works for wrist watches so it should work for cash too......

[owenm]

Why do these honest taxi driver money finders always report their found booty to radio FM 91 and not the nearest police station?? Is that normal, and to the same radio station every time? 

 

I've never of such honesty of taxi drivers anywhere else on this planet, except in Thailand.. 

[justin case]

these are always strange feel good stories... if I have 100k cash, I would keep my eye on it, but here, nahhhhh, just leave it on the back seat

[Mavideol]

it has been quite sometime we didn't had a story about a "good" taxi driver returning a bag full of cash money  555

[DrTuner]

Corona, PM2.5, drought, zombie apocalypse, nothing can stop the honest cabbie stories. I'm willing to bet they will continue after human kind is extinct.

[Orton Rd]

Ministers might be jail birds and c

31 minutes ago, owenm said:

Why do these honest taxi driver money finders always report their found booty to radio FM 91 and not the nearest police station?? Is that normal, and to the same radio station every time? 

 

I've never of such honesty of taxi drivers anywhere else on this planet, except in Thailand.. 

Because they wisely do not trust the Police with money

[Just Weird]

41 minutes ago, owenm said:

Why do these honest taxi driver money finders always report their found booty to radio FM 91 and not the nearest police station?? Is that normal, and to the same radio station every time? 

The station carries the emblem of the RTP and references to "traffic" and "lost and found"...

 

https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=th&sp=nmt4&u=http://www.fm91bkk.com/&usg=ALkJrhgf88tLxwAeEqHapwYoeyEGq6b6jA

[Just Weird]

15 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

47 minutes ago, owenm said:

Why do these honest taxi driver money finders always report their found booty to radio FM 91 and not the nearest police station?? Is that normal, and to the same radio station every time? 

 

I've never of such honesty of taxi drivers anywhere else on this planet, except in Thailand.. 

Because they wisely do not trust the Police with money

That must be why they hand lost items to a RTP-associated radio station so frequently?

Edited February 26, 2020 by Just Weird

[Just Weird]

7 hours ago, steven100 said:

who gives their friend 100k just to look after ... absolute bs

They had been in Soi 23, so maybe someone who is going on somewhere a little dodgy while his mate isn't, and, ironically, doesn't want to lose it?

 

Anyway, what if it was "bs", what does it matter?

Edited February 26, 2020 by Just Weird

[Elfin]

This is what I wrote on another thread yesterday:

I am constantly amazed about the number of people who allegedly alight from taxis leaving their wallet/purse/bag behind stuffed full of cash and other valuables. So when they get into the taxi, the first thing they do is to take out their wallet /purse/bag and put it on the floor or the seat and then conveniently forget about it?

Am I being cynical or what?

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, owenm said:

Why do these honest taxi driver money finders always report their found booty to radio FM 91 and not the nearest police station?? Is that normal, and to the same radio station every time? 

 

I've never of such honesty of taxi drivers anywhere else on this planet, except in Thailand.. 

Chinese man the other day, Japanese man in this post, it'll be a South Korean next... just to let the other Asian nations it's still safe to travel here...

[Knocker33]

Been waiting for another honest taxi driver B$ story for a while now. And here it is

[MaxLee]

23 hours ago, spiekerjozef said:

100.000 baht in a brown envelope is called bribe money.

Safekeeping

I can't take this any more.....

[sitanonchai]

[toast1]

I left a very expensive new phone in a cab, the taxi driver found me and returned it.

I treated him with respect and gave him a good tip.

What goes around.

[mok199]

I am waiting for the honest jet ski thug story....these amazing taxi driver tale tales are getting old and tired....

[ronaldo0]

Just as well the Japanese guy was listening to that radio station in his room when he realised he lost it ! ????