Khao San Road con: Foreign tourist who finds wallet ends up paying for handing it in

[Bday Prang]

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

That old myth.

It may well be a myth but often the police don't arrive as quick as you might hope, There are other members of society who are more inclined to administer there own summary justice. Its really not the police who you need to be wary of.  There is good reason why many Thais don't hang around at the scene and its not always because they are drunk. Did you see that pick up driver get dropkicked in the face on the news yesterday after having an accident with a motorcycle ? knocked him spark out ! Think on!

[Gecko123]

4 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

Strings attached, No clue what you're on about. 

 

However if you do see an unattended phone, go ahead be a responsible citizen pick it up and try and return it. Of course if you are accused of theft and have to buy your way out, you knew this might be a possibility going in. They were playing this game at a local mall half a year back. Made the facebook news too.  
Cheers

 

I feel like I owe you an explanation. The long string attached was a Tom and Jerry cartoon reference where the cat might try to catch the mouse by setting a trap with a piece of cheese which has a long string attached to it.

 

All these stories about dropped wallets and phones left around in order to entrap people seem really alien to me. Once I found a one baht coin. Another time a five baht coin. Picking up roadside litter a while back, I thought I had won the lottery when I found a 20 baht bill. People just don't seem to accidentally drop wallets or leave valuables around where I live. When I used to go to the fresh market, I would sometimes set purchases down when I was fishing out my wallet, and a couple of times I would forget to collect my purchases before heading to the next stall. When the vendor called out to let me know, they kind of acted like nobody ever ever did that, like everybody else was just naturally too attentive to their personal belongings to ever do something like that.

 

Anyway, I was just trying to be funny, no offense intended.

 

 

[chilly07]

V poorly written item. Who found the wallet? Mr Dam or the Tourist? Why would a Tourist take a discarded wallet to the Police and then wait for the owner? Who would spread wallets around Ko San with 1000 bht notes and ID?

Does seem a lot of unlikely items on AN today!

[WorriedNoodle]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The media called on RTP chief Gen Suwat Chaengyodsuk and met chief Lt-Gen Samran Nuanma to act to avoid Thailand's tourism image being tarnished.

 

They said that this comes as tourism is yet to fully recover from the pandemic and is both damaging to Khao San Road's image and that of Thailand in general, being responsible for keeping tourists away from Thailand. 

But they didn't say what they are going to do about it?

[Toby1947]

Just pick up the wallet, take the money then throw the wallet back on the sidewalk. Job done simple

[Iamfalang]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

But when he did and the woman who owned it showed up she said that the purse had contained 6-7,000 baht.

I was with her and she MISSPOKE!!!     687,700.   exactly.

 

falang.  you pay!!!  Pick up wallet, theft.   I want falang in jail for 1200000 years or pay my friend her money plus 4847 percent interest.

 

 

[Yme]

There was an Aussie banged up in Pattaya for a similar scam a few years ago. A purse left in a toilet for someone to pick up. Has also been done with iPhones. See it and leave it. It's not yours, why do you want to touch it? Being curious can be expensive. 


 

[BangkokReady]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Chana Songkram police advised the tourist that he would have to pay the 6,000 baht difference to the woman to avoid being prosecuted for theft.

I'm guessing they're in on the scam like the tourist cop in the jetski scam?

[BangkokReady]

2 hours ago, vandeventer said:

It's coming to the state where if you see something wrong whether it is a lost wallet or a accident just keep walking don't stop. This sounds sad and stupid  but there's just too many con- games out there

Not only that but it's way too likely that people might turn on you.  There's little we can actually do as foreigners and we could easily make things worse or get ourselves in trouble.

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, itsari said:

Pay and encourage more of the same .Good thinking

No. Pay and learn not to do it again.

Year ago I saw a farang in a bar who didn't want to pay for two lady drinks. I thought: Let's watch what happens. First the waitress talked to him, then the mamasan, then the manager. He didn't want to pay and he said: Bring the police. And that is what they did.

And then he argued with the police. And they were nice and friendly and explained to him that he has to pay. But he didn't want to pay. So he told the police: Arrest me if you must. And the police told him that is what they have to do if he does not pay the bill. He didn't pay and they handcuffed him and walked away with him. All because of two lady drinks which cost at that time maybe 200B.

I don't know if the girls cheated that guy or whatever. But in any case, who is so stupid and asked to be arrested compared to paying 200B. He was so stupid - out of principle.

 

Obviously 6000B is more. But it is still no fortune. Pay and walk away is IMHO the smart choice.

[NobbyClarke]

And tomorrow? another scam

Leave well alone is the message here.

[androokery]

How do they decide on the sum they want? 6000 baht seems like a pitifully small sum. Say 30000 baht is missing from the wallet. And while you're at it, why bother with the scam? Why not just rob people? 

[schvonsky1]

8 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I think the point is that most of us don't want trouble with the police.

Let's assume I would be in that situation and I would be sure that is a scam. Then what?

Tell the police to f$#% off? Or call a lawyer - if we are lucky enough to know one?

Or maybe just pay 6,000B and learn from that experience?

Personally I wouldn't want to pay 6,000B for nothing and I would try to get out of this without paying. But if they would start to arrest me I would pay just to walk away.

It would definitely be handed in right in my pocket off I go result fck em ????????

[JeffinChonburi]

Learned a saying working in the Casino industry for 25 years. "Don't See It" stepped over hundreds of chips laying on the floor over the years. You touch it, it is your responsibility.  Don't See it. 

[nightfox]

What small minded individuals, if your going to pull off this type of scam at least ask for BIG money, say you had 60K instead of 6k in the wallet, show atm withdrawal slips for that amount to justify it or invoices.

[smew]

Thailand the land of scam opportunities

[BangkokReady]

2 hours ago, androokery said:

How do they decide on the sum they want? 6000 baht seems like a pitifully small sum.

That's the point.  It's amount that people would say "Screw it, just pay it, it's not worth the trouble", as they have in this thread.

 

2 hours ago, androokery said:

Say 30000 baht is missing from the wallet.

There higher the amount, the more chance of resistance.  If the amount is higher than the cost of getting out of the situation, then people will be more likely to resist.  Also it might make it trickier for the police officer to assist in the scam.

 

2 hours ago, androokery said:

And while you're at it, why bother with the scam? Why not just rob people? 

Because you could get arrested or killed, rather than just collecting your free 6K Baht.

[snowgard]

10 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I think the point is that most of us don't want trouble with the police.

Let's assume I would be in that situation and I would be sure that is a scam. Then what?

Tell the police to f$#% off? Or call a lawyer - if we are lucky enough to know one?

Or maybe just pay 6,000B and learn from that experience?

Personally I wouldn't want to pay 6,000B for nothing and I would try to get out of this without paying. But if they would start to arrest me I would pay just to walk away.

How the owner can show exactly how much money was inside. Him can't!!!
But I'm sure the lawyer will cost much more as 6.000B. The onliest what you can do is countersued the owner and the the same Mr. Dam done. Report it to the police and PRESS!!!
 

[BRUFC]

Man takes found wallet to police station. Policeman takes wallet into another room, phones his wife, girlfriend, tells her the id of the owner, coaches her on what to say when she arrives at the police station and they pocket the 6000baht. Not a regular scam just a lucky break for the cop on duty.

Ha ha ha, well, it's a theory anyway.

[bristolgeoff]

If it is a scam then if the wallet is nice and some baht in it.Keep the wallet money bin the rest.Other wise you pay the price.Play them at they own game

[Jonathan Swift]

16 hours ago, phetphet said:

Seems like honesty isn't always the best policy.

Either put it back where found, or have a spend up.

Drop it into a post mail box. Let the post office worry about it. In the US that is how it has been done forever. 

[EricTh]

So these people are scamming good-hearted people who have the decency of returning lost wallets?

 

WTH

[hotchilli]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

But when he did and the woman who owned it showed up she said that the purse had contained 6-7,000 baht.

 

Chana Songkram police advised the tourist that he would have to pay the 6,000 baht difference to the woman to avoid being prosecuted for theft.

 

He called a Thai friend but was unable to get out of the scam. He said he had had no help from the police at all who saw the woman's side.

Nice friendly police.

 

[Daithi85]

14 hours ago, Boomer6969 said:

My point...

Do you understand that khosan is just a staring point? People usually spend no more than a day or two there before heading off on their travels. 

[Andycoops]

Another double barrel in both feet from the BiB, despite how welcoming and helpful their chief said they would be just a few days ago.

Buster Keaton couldn't make it up.

[Boomer6969]

14 minutes ago, Daithi85 said:

Do you understand that khosan is just a staring point? People usually spend no more than a day or two there before heading off on their travels. 

Sure, I not a genius. But my opinion is that anyone coming to Thailand, during the Northern summer, is either an idiot, some weirdo or plain masochist.

 

[Daithi85]

2 minutes ago, Boomer6969 said:

Sure, I not a genius. But my opinion is that anyone coming to Thailand, during the Northern summer, is either an idiot, some weirdo or plain masochist.

 

What time of the year do you come to Thailand? 

[Gecko123]

The Thai Rath article never suggests that the police are involved in the scam. The article says that a number of vendors told the news reporter that a "suspicious tattooed woman" was seen "wandering around KSR" and was believed to be engaged in a missing money scam. The article also says that the woman showed up to the police station with a group of other women backing up her claim that she had 6-7K in the wallet.

 

Obviously, if this activity has occurred repeatedly on KSR involving the same people and the same police station, there is good reason to suspect that the cops may have been involved, but nowhere in the article is it actually claimed or suggested that this has been a recurring activity in the area.

[brianthainess]

Did the cops tell the woman to be more careful, as it was the tenth time that week she'd lost her purse.   

[isanviking]

Show us something that is NOT a scam. Now that would be some Breaking News ???? LOS - land of scams