Update On "money Changing" Scam

[glossolalia]

I posted a while ago ( Money Changing Scam thread ) asking about a fake Japanese man who ran up to me (three separate times) asking for a place to change money. I suspected it was some kind of scam.

I read on another message board that there is a Chinese ring operating in expat areas, which will ask a foreigner for a small favor, then "buy them a coffee" to thank them, slip a pill in the coffee, and clean out their home or bank account. People described the usual approachers as "well-dressed" and "Japanese." Well documented by police, not urban legend.

Potential warning.

[backflip]

When people greet you with "good morning", I bet you think it's part of a scam. Regardless, you forgot the most interesting, well-documented and absolutely not an urban legend part...when you wake up the next day, your pooper is sore. Opps, I apologize, that's part of the well-documented and not an urban legend sort of thing involving the fake Malaysian woman.

[Naam]

When people greet you with "good morning", I bet you think it's part of a scam. Regardless, you forgot the most interesting, well-documented and absolutely not an urban legend part...when you wake up the next day, your pooper is sore. Opps, I apologize, that's part of the well-documented and not an urban legend sort of thing involving the fake Malaysian woman.

:D

[Naam]

during the last 28 years of our marriage my wife has asked me several times every year about our financial situation. on top of that she says "good morning" and "good night" to me... not always but quite often.

isn't this a clear indication that she is planning to clean out our bank account?

any advice how to counteract is welcome!

[glossolalia]

When people greet you with "good morning", I bet you think it's part of a scam.

A stranger in Bangkok approaching me to say "good morning"? 99% chance of scam. Perhaps you shake the hand of every tuk-tuk driver who offers "I friend you" -- oh, those sweet, gentle Thais, guileless and naive! People are people, and when they can take your money with little chance of punishment, they'll do so. Just as true in Bangkok as in NYC or Paris. And if my only other career option were making 170 baht for a twelve-hour day, I sure as hel_l would be scamming -- and much worse -- every fat whitey I could get my hands on.

[DirkGently]

It's a tax on stupidity too. Just like those conniving Africans and there e-mail scams. People actually fall for them.

[Popeyethesailorman]

I'm nt so worried about being scammed as I am about "fake Japanese" men. What do they look like and how can you tell if they are fake or not?

[DirkGently]

They come apart in the wash.

[Travel2003]

I'm nt so worried about being scammed as I am about "fake Japanese" men. What do they look like and how can you tell if they are fake or not?

Maybe that was the scam.

Pretending to be a Japanese.

[bendix]

I'm struggling to understand the connection between these Japs or Chinese gangs buying you a coffee (presumably in a coffeeshop) and then miraculously being able to clean out their dupes' home or bank account?

Does getting drugged in Starbucks somehow make you reveal your bank account details when under the influence?

<deleted>, I'm not sure who is more gullible - people who fall for scams or those who believe the bullshit urban myths about them.

It's bizarre that the OP was approached three times by a Japanese scammer, yet noone - anywhere in BKK - has heard of it yet.