Pattaya tourist police vow to end pickpocketing against Indian tourists

[radiochaser]

5 hours ago, pokerface1 said:

maybe because they wobble their heads from side to side when they speak, it just makes it so much easier to remover the neckless.

Jeramy?  Is that really you?   ????

[wombat]

17 hours ago, keith101 said:

Just how many Indians are stupid enough to walk around with a chain worth so much or are they typical Indian scammers coming to Thailand to make money . Pickpockets are generally ladyboys but just normal thieves like the ones on motorbikes snatching bags .

 

[Andycoops]

Isn't it necks that are being picked and not pockets, BiB get it wrong again.

[jacko45k]

18 hours ago, Thailand said:

Apparently it is not the pockets that are getting picked?

Yes, having chains lifted off their necks was, I thought, the problem. Despite all the nonsense being posted here, Thai Police are quite capable of putting a stop to this.... just a matter of catching and prosecuting what is likely a small and obvious group. They just have motivation issues. 

[Gecko123]

The Thai police need to deploy undercover agents, perhaps enlisting the help of Indian nationals to act as decoys. It can't be that hard to disguise a Thai person to look like an Indian tourist.

 

I believe the vast majority of these cases are bonafide robberies. People speculating about insurance scams are assuming that all of these thefts are insured, which is improbable. Also, if you're going to commit insurance fraud, why travel overseas?

 

What I think is going on is that Indian men are wearing gold jewelry into red-light districts in order to make themselves appear more attractive to bar girls by giving the impression they are big spenders. I believe gold jewelry is popular with Indian men. I also believe that many Indian men like to go out together in groups, and this safety in numbers probably provides them with a false sense of security about becoming a victim of street crime.

 

Either in hopes of avoiding paying bar fines or hoping to negotiate cheaper prices for company, or because they have "struck out" in the bars because of racial discrimination or for other reasons, they gravitate towards the beach boardwalk.

 

What they end up finding out the hard way is that this area is infested with habitual criminals, drug addicts, alcoholics, rejects who have previously been fired from tourism-related employment, runaways, homeless people, and various other predatory individuals. Whether looking for love, seeking voyeuristic thrills from ogling human pathos, or for the pleasure of parrying unwelcome sexual advances, late-night Beach road is probably best avoided.

 

Edited June 30, 2022 by Gecko123

[MarcusL]

18 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Nice deflection.....  accuse the victims of pulling a scam.. 

Volunteer victim.. 

[hotchilli]

19 hours ago, webfact said:

Pattaya tourist police have promised to make gold necklace thieves involving Indian tourists and transgender suspects their top priority after it became a regular occurrence in Pattaya.

Yeah okay... 

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, Gecko123 said:

Also, if you're going to commit insurance fraud, why travel overseas?

Because it is based on travel insurance.... just a thought. 

[mikebell]

How can you tell when Pattaya Plod is lying?

[Gecko123]

32 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Because it is based on travel insurance.... just a thought. 

If you're gonna fabricate a robbery for insurance fraud purposes, you have to tell the police where and when the robbery occurred and give a description of the assailant.  With all the CCTV cameras around these days, you would have to be pretty confident that there aren't any witnesses or CCTV footage that contradicts your story. Pretty risky, IMHO. Also, if the cops were starting to suspect fraud because witnesses and CCTV footage didn't back up these claims, don't you think in the interest of civic pride and settling the nerves of tourists the police would have been telling news outlets that fraudulent activity was suspected? Travel insurance fraud was considered, but, again, you're assuming that all the victims had this coverage, which is an unfair assumption IMHO.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Gecko123

[jacko45k]

17 minutes ago, Gecko123 said:

If you're gonna fabricate a robbery for insurance fraud purposes, you have to tell the police where and when the robbery occurred and give a description of the assailant.  With all the CCTV cameras around these days, you would have to be pretty confident that there isn't any footage that contradicts your story. Pretty risky, IMHO. Also, if the cops were starting to suspect fraud because witnesses and CCTV footage didn't back up the claim, don't you think,in the interest of civic pride and settling the nerves of tourists, the police would have been telling news outlets that fraudulent activity was suspected? Travel insurance fraud was considered, but, again, you're assuming that all the victims have this coverage, which isn't necessarily the case.

Yes, most of what you say is obvious..... we did have a spate of gold necklace robberies involving Indians here a few years ago and some were proven to be false, based on insurance fraud. 

I suspect many of the cameras are not working again and the authorities are avoiding mentioning it. (Aren't they easily scanned for with a phone camera?) I asked a pal who volunteers at the police station and he seems to think the police are happy to just keep issuing the reports for now. 

Are you perhaps telling me all these Indian tourists are so dumb they wander around alone wearing large gold chains at 3am .... in my experience Indians are usually in groups?

 

 

Edited June 30, 2022 by jacko45k

[Gecko123]

2 hours ago, Andycoops said:

Isn't it necks that are being picked and not pockets, BiB get it wrong again.

Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickpocketing

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, Gecko123 said:

Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickpocketing

I read that as always involving a pocket. Still, I would not call a necklace snatch or what is happening here as 'pick-pocketing'....

That is reserved for the baht bus teams with the large shopping bags. 

[kwak250]

Well i heard Pattaya have a gold shop that specialises just in Indian gold .

Lots of large ladies with big hands and a slight stubble always seem to be in the shop.

[Mr Meeseeks]

The mastermind behind the recent spate of pickpocketing incidents has been found.

 

[rucus7]

Comic relief at its best.

[SAFETY FIRST]

On 6/29/2022 at 2:36 PM, edwardflory said:

Having worked on Pattaya beach as a FTPA,

What's a FTPA? 

[Rimmer]

A misleading post has been removed

[jacko45k]

On 7/2/2022 at 4:37 AM, SAFETY FIRST said:

What's a FTPA? 

Likely a Foreign Tourist Police Assistant.... not sure that is the correct title for them.