This just happened to my wife. She went to town, somewhere in Isan, to take some money from the bank. As she was getting to the ATM outside the bank (which was closed), she got surrounded by 2 men and a woman. Masked, and one of the men holding a gun. My wife was forced to withdraw all the money she had on her account, some 50,000 THB. Needless to say, she is extremely upset. She went to the police, of course, and has to go there again for a complete description of what happened. Personally, I don't expect much from the police but who knows?

That happened in a relatively peaceful little town, at least that was my impression over quite so many years. Anyone who has lived long enough in Thailand knows (or should know) that Thailand is not the "sweet and gentle little kissy furry country" that some Farangs seem to think it is. But I wonder if that unfortunate event with my wife is not a sign of how bad the situation has become in Thailand with COVID, the loss of jobs, people getting desperate etc. Like when in times of extremely bad weather and scarce food, wild animals will get emboldened to venture out of the woods and attack human property.

Which bank allows 50k withdrawl in one day?

4 minutes ago, thaiman said:

Which bank allows 50k withdrawl in one day?

Multiple withdrawals

always put a limit on your ATM withdrawal per day, you can set this as low as 15,000 THB in the banking app

12 minutes ago, thaiman said:

Which bank allows 50k withdrawl in one day?

My BKK bank allows that,

On the rise? I would say yes. But still much less than in many many, maybe most,  other countries.

33 minutes ago, thaiman said:

Which bank allows 50k withdrawl in one day?

My Kasikorn for a start, why ? Do you not believe the OP?

 

I can withdraw that in one hit.

OP, I hope your mrs is okay, my mrs does most withdrawals from my account when she's out food shopping or paying bills, she will always use an atm inside a bank, never outside.

 

Yes I know you said the bank was shut - that's very unlucky, but these are dodgy times, one can never be too careful, regards to your mrs and I really hope she's okay.

The sad reality is the pandemic has made many people bankrupt.

Some of these will inevitably turn to crime just to make ends meet.

I'm not condoning this, it's just the way things are.

Everyone needs to know this and keep their guard up at all times.

24 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

OP, I hope your mrs is okay, my mrs does most withdrawals from my account when she's out food shopping or paying bills, she will always use an atm inside a bank, never outside.

 

Yes I know you said the bank was shut - that's very unlucky, but these are dodgy times, one can never be too careful, regards to your mrs and I really hope she's okay.

Thanks, as you can imagine she feels rather destroyed. Thais tend to be more emotional than us "cold-blooded farangs". Yes, I told her many times to be careful but things happen....

get the media involved, if you only report to the police nothing could happen, if you have the popular thai talking heads involved things will starts rolling, start from the local reporter they're sitting around waiting for things to happen, your wife's story will be the most exiting thing they have this week, start there and kick it up to national news 

I always pay using my mobile phone, this days even the small grqndma shops have a qr code to scan or simply a bank to transfer..

 

In 7/11 easy to pay contactless as well

Believed the OP, having heard stories of places being robbed and such myself, but the vague detail of 'somewhere in Isan' could have been the new sick buffalo recounted to lovers overseas to remit more money

~~~~~

1 hour ago, thaiman said:

Which bank allows 50k withdrawl in one day?

Bangkok Bank for one, probably all the others too.  Mine limit is B500,000 per day by ATM withdrawals.   The restriction is on the amount that can be taken per withdrawal, B30k.

2 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

1 hour ago, Pravda said:

Multiple withdrawals

What ATM holds anywhere near that?

Anywhere near what?  You think that ATMs don't hold B50k?

14 minutes ago, digbeth said:

Believed the OP, having heard stories of places being robbed and such myself, but the vague detail of 'somewhere in Isan' could have been the new sick buffalo recounted to lovers overseas to remit more money

Not everyone wants to announce their location, particularly out in the sticks and vulnerable.

1 hour ago, thaiman said:

Which bank allows 50k withdrawl in one day?

Mine does but only because I nominated that amount. But only at a withdraw al maximum amount never found  over 30,000 per atm transaction.

Easy to say but a simple way to avoid an extortion event as described would be to deliberately enter  incorrect pin  3 times to void further withdrawal.

 

 

"Thailand criminality on the rise?"

 

Definitely not, I haven't been the subject of an armed robbery here in 27 years, you're missus was just very unlucky.

1 hour ago, digbeth said:

get the media involved, if you only report to the police nothing could happen, if you have the popular thai talking heads involved things will starts rolling, start from the local reporter they're sitting around waiting for things to happen, your wife's story will be the most exiting thing they have this week, start there and kick it up to national news 

Interesting suggestion but I will leave it to my wife to judge how far she wants to push this.

 

"kick it up to national news"? I wonder, maybe we should involve the FBI, NATO, the UN, Putin???

A lot of Thailand tourism advert are quite misleading. 

 

They only smile at you if they want a lot of money from you.

 

 

In this Covid times, many people are unemployed and there is food inflation.

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Anywhere near what?  You think that ATMs don't hold B50k?

Quite right. I am surprised some people don't know better. 7 or 8 years ago, I bought a Honda 650cc in Bangkok, cost me over 300,000 THB, and had to be paid cash because, amazingly, the big Honda shop (on one of the large avenues out of Lad Phrao) would not accept to be paid online. I had to withdraw all that cash from a Bangkok Bank ATM, in sets of 25,000 each I remember.

1 hour ago, Golden Triangle said:

Not everyone wants to announce their location, particularly out in the sticks and vulnerable.

Exactly. Thanks for your comment.

I read am almost identical story to this on this forum many years ago. It turned out to be the wife paying off a loan shark. There was no actual robbery, it was the best story she could come up with to explain the missing money.

 

Just for comparison purposes.

What are the chances of these guys randomly selecting a victim with more than 500bht in her account?

4 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

What are the chances of these guys randomly selecting a victim with more than 500bht in her account?

Fair question. My wife parking her car in front of the bank, obviously not the poorest person in town maybe?

 

Same question can be asked about any mugging up in the street, actually. Still, muggings happen.

Few thoughts myself, wife fine ????  and nothing loss that can't be replaced.

 

Hard lesson learned, do your banking during banking hours and never use outside or unattached ATMs, if not for safety, then to avoid skimmers.  Why didn't husband accompany wife to ATM, as I would never let wife go alone after hours, and be very vigilant of my surrounding if so doing.

 

3 folks laying in way, a bit suspect and should be noticeable ... does sound a bit off, and leans toward the comment about 'buffalo scam' run dry and a new strategy.  Hope not for OP's sake.

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

Few thoughts myself, wife fine ????  and nothing loss that can't be replaced.

 

Hard lesson learned, do your banking during banking hours and never use outside or unattached ATMs, if not for safety, then to avoid skimmers.  Why didn't husband accompany wife to ATM, as I would never let wife go alone after hours, and be very vigilant of my surrounding if so doing.

 

3 folks laying in way, a bit suspect and should be noticeable ... does sound a bit off, and leans toward the comment about 'buffalo scam' run dry and a new strategy.  Hope not for OP's sake.

"3 folks laying in way, a bit suspect and should be noticeable ... does sound a bit off, and leans toward the comment about 'buffalo scam' run dry and a new strategy.  Hope not for OP's sake."  Sunday, not a busy day, relatively few people in the streets, plus the bank is not in a busy street to start with at any time anyway. Sure it was not the right time for my wife to go alone to the ATM.

8 hours ago, gejohesch said:

Quite right. I am surprised some people don't know better. 7 or 8 years ago, I bought a Honda 650cc in Bangkok, cost me over 300,000 THB, and had to be paid cash because, amazingly, the big Honda shop (on one of the large avenues out of Lad Phrao) would not accept to be paid online. I had to withdraw all that cash from a Bangkok Bank ATM, in sets of 25,000 each I remember.

Get a bank draft. Safe. Steal it - go ahead. Useless to anyone but the recipient.

Seems like live webcams everywhere these days & surely at all ATM's

 

Ask bank & let wife know your going to pursue