Foreigner Begging for Money in Bangkok Sparks Investigation

[meauwnam]

Another elephant pants figure that has probably never worked. Such an alternative world improver

[Liverpool Lou]

8 hours ago, Serenity_Now said:

one time i got pulled aside
show money
i showed a few hundred dollars 
plus 2+k of travelers cheques
this not money the 4ft io said
i corrected him better than money if lost get it back
it was lost on him it was a scam marched to atm take 20k baht out
i pointed to the balance more than enough mate
take money take money

There are ATMs available before passing through Immigration for incoming passengers?

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, maddox41 said:

Thailand is a crack up its ok for Thai to steal Rob and scam the Farang

No, it is not, what are you talking about?

[nikmar]

21 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Why would you have inflicted that sort of person on Thai schoolchildren or did he have the necessary degree? 

 

 

That s a good question. I cant say for sure if I asked him about a degree as it was some time ago. I recall thinking about mall language schools as I knew a company taking on almost constantly at the time. My thinking was maybe he could do something to find a way home. But - as you put it – “inflicting” him on kids would  not have been a great idea. Didn’t come to ‘owt anyway but point made!

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, Adumbration said:

He could of purchased a half decent looking outfit at one of the second hand shops, and for less than he paid for the elephant pants.

Really?  How much did he pay for the elephant trousers and where are all these bargain 2nd hand shops where he "could of" [sic] got a complete outfit?

[barrybike]

Seen a foreigner begging in Ao nang krabi just last week too , there was a Romanian guy once in Dublin who begged in his bare feet on grafton street -people bought him new shoes all the time , he was stopped at Dublin airport returning to Romania & when searched  customs found over 10,000 euros in his pocket & then the Revenue searched where he was living in Dublin & here they find over 50 pairs of brand new shoes in boxes never worn & he had  a big house built in Romania ,Roma gypseys are the kings of begging, teams of them are at it every day around every town in Ireland taking advantage of our good nature 

[Adumbration]

19 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Really?  How much did he pay for the elephant trousers and where are all these bargain 2nd hand shops where he "could of" [sic] got a complete outfit?

 

Thousands of them throughout Thailand.  Five in my village alone.  Where do you think the Burmese buy their clothes?  Shirts 50 baht each, pant 60 to 80 baht.

 

When are you planning your first trip to Thailand?

 

 

[Mitkof Island]

Another foreigner idiot likely watching YouTube moocher channels on how to be a hippy-dippy bum in Southeast Asia. Black stamp idiot tell him to warn all his friends and deport.

[Serenity_Now]

39 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

There are ATMs available before passing through Immigration for incoming passengers?

i did not require money 

i had money

with a name like liverpool i take your 1st language is english

they may be installed now back then they took you outside into the main building

it was a scam
they wanted to march me to a travel agent 
such disappointment in their voices each repeating in intonations 
that said we are not going to see any of that 20k we made him withdraw

plus no country should be able to frog match you to any atm 
when you pull a70k out of your wallet in another currency
 

i had some baht i had foreign currency
i was doing a visa hop from malaysia
i had 2k+ in tc's 
maybe somehow you misunderstood 
 

[Mitkof Island]

35 minutes ago, barrybike said:

Seen a foreigner begging in Ao nang krabi just last week too , there was a Romanian guy once in Dublin who begged in his bare feet on grafton street -people bought him new shoes all the time , he was stopped at Dublin airport returning to Romania & when searched  customs found over 10,000 euros in his pocket & then the Revenue searched where he was living in Dublin & here they find over 50 pairs of brand new shoes in boxes never worn & he had  a big house built in Romania ,Roma gypseys are the kings of begging, teams of them are at it every day around every town in Ireland taking advantage of our good nature 

It has become a fad here with the Full Moon Party / Khao San Road/Pai hippy -dippy bum morons.

[bristolgeoff]

You see thais beg at 7/11 all with a smart phone  earning more than a thai selling food outside.Flower sellers everywhere,Don,t forget the africans at the skytrain entrance.They want to have a go at the farang doing similar after seeing this.They do nothing to stop the beggars flower sellers and africans.If u want to stop this trade do it to everyone

[bbko]

I'm curious if he wrote the sign asking for money or if was a Thai, the sign has some good penmanship in various colors, just how long has he been here?

Edited February 1 by bbko

[Irish star]

13 hours ago, ryxyz said:

There was a guy from the Netherlands doing that there in 2021/2002. We bought him snacks and beverages, but he insisted on money. Don't really remember if we obliged him, but we were aware that was his source of income at the time. 

Wasn’t that Elephant Leg , he was a Professional Begger 

[Shocked farang]

The elephant pants give away that he's hiding around Khao San Rd. area. 🤣

[Cabradelmar]

Oh my... someone helped someone who may (or may not have) really needed it. So what. It does beg the question of how anyone (tourist/backpacker) in Thailand can't scrape together 50 THB for a meal. But them again there is no shortage of shiftless foreigners in Thailand. So there is that.

[G_Money]

1 hour ago, Cabradelmar said:

Oh my... someone helped someone who may (or may not have) really needed it. So what. It does beg the question of how anyone (tourist/backpacker) in Thailand can't scrape together 50 THB for a meal. But them again there is no shortage of shiftless foreigners in Thailand. So there is that.

lol, the mooch bumming 50 baht for a meal probably gets 10 do gooders contributing every day for god knows how long.

 

He is the “shiftless foreigner “.

[Matrosen]

15 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

There are some pretty harsh people on this forum, it seems like when someone falls on hard times most jump on the bandwagon of harsh criticism and accusations of poor planning and things like that. The reality is that people do fall on hard times, there's a dozen different reasons why somebody could run out of money, and it sucks.

 

So perhaps a little bit of sympathy is appropriate? 

 

The other comical aspect of this post is the name of the organization that investigated. The Rapid Response Centre for Accelerating Public Welfare Management of SDHS. Quite a fancy name for an organization that likely does very little to help the people. 

So right, so right but people like that normally end up in the same situation.

[Highlandman]

14 hours ago, 1happykamper said:

Plenty of Thai beg.. Especially in Bkk. What law is the farang breaking? 

 

I thought those "Thais" were actually Burmese or Cambodian.

 

The other day, I did have some Thai creep, who looked like a beggar trying to stop my car but I drove off quickly by cutting him off and turning onto the road. This was not far from Suvarnabhumi airport. Never had anyone try to do that in all the years I've driven past that road. Makes me not want to stop off there to go to the ATM anymore. BTW this was in broad daylight at around 1030 or 11am, not in the middle of the night.

 

A couple of months ago, some weird middle aged Thai lady was begging for money on the 2nd floor parking lot of Central Bang Na. At first she wanted me to drive her somewhere in Chonburi as she claimed she lost her wallet and had some sort of police report as proof. I was with my young son at the time, which got me thinking "the nerve of this woman!" I would NEVER approach someone with children in tow like that, even if i was in a desperate situation, unless I had no other choice because they were the only people around. It's just rude and weird.

 

I gave her around 20 Baht as a contribution towards a van or bus fare to her destination in Chonburi to get rid of her. Lucky for her, vans and buses depart from in front of the mall.

 

I don't recall any such incidents before Covid. I wonder whether there are more beggars now in Thailand and not just of the foreign kind, but locals.

[Almer]

13 hours ago, Cereal said:

I have a solution. Round these people up, put them in a local holding cell and keep them there until they can have money sent from home to cover their flight out. Oh yeah, and charge them for their stay in the crowbar hotel. 

 

These sleazy scum give all backpackers a bad reputation. 

Why does this  story give backpackers a bad name

[Highlandman]

4 hours ago, bristolgeoff said:

You see thais beg at 7/11 all with a smart phone  earning more than a thai selling food outside.Flower sellers everywhere,Don,t forget the africans at the skytrain entrance.They want to have a go at the farang doing similar after seeing this.They do nothing to stop the beggars flower sellers and africans.If u want to stop this trade do it to everyone

 

How long do the Africans loiter at the Skytrain entrance? Do they have a sign? This guy stands out more simply because he has a sign and is seated in one position for hours on end. 

 

I'm sure if an African did something similar to this guy, they'd be deported real quick. 

[Highlandman]

6 hours ago, proton said:

The same law, most of the beggars in Bkk are not Thai, mainly Cambodian. There is the slithering man on Suk, he used to earn a lot from gullible tourists and the fake nuns of course.

I simply greet them in Khmer or Burmese to "suss them out". Luckily I know a bit of both languages.

[Highlandman]

15 hours ago, ChipButty said:

I saw one guy many years ago in the airport he approached us asking for 500 baht, in the days when you had to pay as you leave, he was a farang

 

Back around 2004ish, I saw a young Asian American guy begging the staff to allow him through at Don Muang Airport despite not having the 500 Baht..stupidly, they didn't accept credit cards for payment yet at the time, Cambodian airports did, despite the fact credit card acceptance has always been much higher in Thailand than Cambodia. Luckily, they scrapped cash airport tax payments before departure in 2006 and Cambodia followed soon afterwards. 

 

My guess is someone lent him the 500 Baht.

[firemans35]

In January 2012 I was tourist sitting on a bench in from of my hotel, the flipper house (Soi 7 I think)in Pattaya when I was approached by a man looking distraught and wearing a small backpack. He claimed to be a Norwegian man down on his luck, money stolen, no way to get home, he claimed he had tried begging for money at a Norwegian bar just down the soi, all he wanted was enough money to get to the Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok. I knew it could be a scam but didn't mind so I gave him 140 baht if I remember correctly, he said thanks and took off. Fast forward two years. I was living in Pattaya on Pratnumnak Hill ( I think that was Soi 7 also) when I went for a walk. Just at the top of the street was a man looking lost carrying a small. I recognized him almost immediately. It was the same man from two years prior. I'm not sure if he asked for money I said "Oh I guess you never made it home to Norway. I gave you money because you said you need to go to your Embassy so you could go home." His only reply was "You must be mistaken." A few weeks later I saw him behind Big C Extra on central Rd acting the same way. Then not long after that I saw him with a group of other men talking. If it hadn't been laughable I would had a Thai friend call the Police.

[Kinok Farang]

22 hours ago, Sig said:

These days? Has it ever been any different?

Yes,in the 70's hitchhiking travellers used to look for work along the way.Me included.

[Sig]

2 hours ago, Kinok Farang said:

Yes,in the 70's hitchhiking travellers used to look for work along the way.Me included.

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule/generalization. I also remember the 70's when hitchhiking was the way to get anywhere and backpackers that I knew or bumped into along the way were hitchhiking to find the next group or place somewhere over yonder that they heard about that some good weed or speed and/or a cool scene with peaceful vibes to vege at or a welcoming commune to crash in or some other cool cat's pad to hang loose for a while. It was outta sight man! lol

[Kinok Farang]

44 minutes ago, Sig said:

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule/generalization. I also remember the 70's when hitchhiking was the way to get anywhere and backpackers that I knew or bumped into along the way were hitchhiking to find the next group or place somewhere over yonder that they heard about that some good weed or speed and/or a cool scene with peaceful vibes to vege at or a welcoming commune to crash in or some other cool cat's pad to hang loose for a while. It was outta sight man! lol

Cool man,i dig it.

[PremiumLane]

21 hours ago, bbko said:

Would you contribute to a beggar's GoFund me page?

 

 

 

yeah, cos that is what I said, have a day off 

[Liverpool Lou]

16 hours ago, Serenity_Now said:

i did not require money 

i had money

with a name like liverpool i take your 1st language is english

they may be installed now back then they took you outside into the main building

it was a scam
they wanted to march me to a travel agent 
such disappointment in their voices each repeating in intonations 
that said we are not going to see any of that 20k we made him withdraw

plus no country should be able to frog match you to any atm 
when you pull a70k out of your wallet in another currency
 

i had some baht i had foreign currency
i was doing a visa hop from malaysia
i had 2k+ in tc's 
maybe somehow you misunderstood 
 

I sure did misunderstand but that is because your tale does not make any sense.  Are you trying to say that the IOs demanded and stole B20k cash from you in order to stamp you in to Thailand and to do that they physically took you to an ATM past the Immigration area?  If they did do that why on earth would they demand a photo of "the extortion" in public?  Or are you saying that they just wanted confirmation that you had the legally required B20k and that you lost nothing?

[Cereal]

15 hours ago, Almer said:

Why does this  story give backpackers a bad name

It's not the story that gives backpackers a bad name, it's the begpackers that give backpackers a bad name. I gather critical reading skills aren't your forte.

[Kinok Farang]

On 2/2/2024 at 12:31 AM, firemans35 said:

In January 2012 I was tourist sitting on a bench in from of my hotel, the flipper house (Soi 7 I think)in Pattaya when I was approached by a man looking distraught and wearing a small backpack. He claimed to be a Norwegian man down on his luck, money stolen, no way to get home, he claimed he had tried begging for money at a Norwegian bar just down the soi, all he wanted was enough money to get to the Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok. I knew it could be a scam but didn't mind so I gave him 140 baht if I remember correctly, he said thanks and took off. Fast forward two years. I was living in Pattaya on Pratnumnak Hill ( I think that was Soi 7 also) when I went for a walk. Just at the top of the street was a man looking lost carrying a small. I recognized him almost immediately. It was the same man from two years prior. I'm not sure if he asked for money I said "Oh I guess you never made it home to Norway. I gave you money because you said you need to go to your Embassy so you could go home." His only reply was "You must be mistaken." A few weeks later I saw him behind Big C Extra on central Rd acting the same way. Then not long after that I saw him with a group of other men talking. If it hadn't been laughable I would had a Thai friend call the Police.

Same man pulled me on Theprasit.

Very convincing and even made me feel guilty for a while for not giving him money.