Why you shouldnt carry cash in Thailand

[Chivas]

If you use a Thai credit or debit card or attach it to a smart app or whatever in Thailand its only a matter of time before something goes wrong hacked/cloned whatever

 

The real danger is that if that card is from a Thai bank and its skimmed when you walk into that bank to say my money has gone you watch the reactions and deflection from the staff

 

"Did you have anyone stay with you" "Did you have the card with you at all times".......at which point you know only too well the money gone for good

 

Use a foreign card no problem because if that one gets skimmed it'll be sorted as mine was albeit not the point

 

 

[Chivas]

On 5/22/2024 at 3:24 AM, EVENKEEL said:

Cash is king.

 

 

Got it in one....

[PETERTHEEATER]

However, do not let this deter you from actualizing your travel aspirations!

 

Huh?

[richard_smith237]

5 hours ago, animalmagic said:

Visualizing Global Losses from Financial Scams (visualcapitalist.com)

Worldwide losses to digital fraud are almost half a trillion dollars, approximately the GDP of Singapore!

 

Another factor is the fact that the fees for using the digital currency platforms are hidden -

1. interchange
2. assessment
3. e-wallet
4. payment processing

These generally come out as a cost of business to the merchant who will then increase prices so the customer pays.

 

The Marsh McLennan Cyber Crime Handbook 2021 states that the Cybercrime landscape, of which Digital Fraud and Online Payment Fraud form part of the overall picture, also covers losses to the economy and corporations through hacking, data breaches and other forms of attack to create chaos and disrupt government and business operations.  The World Economic Forum’s 2019 Cybercrime puts economic losses from cybercrime in 2020 at 3 trillion USD and projected this to double to 6 trillion USD in 2021.  Of great concern is the fact that in many sectors the speed of digitalisation far outpaces the building of cyber defence capabilities and adaptation of overall risk management strategies.

 

Good points... In the interests of balance - how much counterfeit cash is in circulation ?

 

The United States Secret Service estimates that between $70 million and $200 million in counterfeit bills are in circulation worldwide at any given time....   and what of other currencies ?

 

 

Not as much as Digital fraud - but a lot of the higher numbers of digital fraud are targeted attacks on corporations - for the every day person, i.e. us.. we are more likely to encounter countrified currency than digital fraud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[khunjeff]

On 5/22/2024 at 9:14 AM, CharlieH said:

the convenience of not having to worry about customs declarations associated with carrying cash sums above THB 15,000

 

There is NO requirement to declare 15,000 THB - 

 

On 5/22/2024 at 9:14 AM, CharlieH said:

TrueMoney, which facilitates easy money transfers from Myanmar and Cambodia to Thailand

 

Yes, this is certainly important information for an article aimed at tourists...?

 

On 5/22/2024 at 9:14 AM, CharlieH said:

you should know that some Thai ATMs might nick you an extra fee for transactions with international cards

 

ALL ATMs charge a fee for using foreign cards, not just some.

 

On 5/22/2024 at 9:14 AM, CharlieH said:

ATMs...add a fee, mainly ranging from 220 Baht up to 250 Baht to the transaction

 

I have never seen a 250 baht fee at any ATM here. 220 is nearly universal, though Aeon and Citibank used to charge slightly less. 

 

On 5/22/2024 at 9:14 AM, CharlieH said:

facilities in places like Donmuang Airport and places in Bangkok provide 24-hour service for secure digital transactions

 

What does this even mean...?

 

 

[CygnusX1]

9 minutes ago, khunjeff said:

ALL ATMs charge a fee for using foreign cards, not just some.

Until last year, Citibank was the exception. For many years, I used my Australian Citibank card to withdraw cash at Citibank’s ATM at Asoke, and there was definitely no ATM fee, also with a very fair exchange rate. Sadly, Citibank has now sold  its operations in both Thailand and Australia to local banks.

[Kangeroonuts]

Always cash, use it or lose it.

[Mr Dome]

Traveller's Cheques?

Seriously? 

 

I would highly recommend you carry enough cash for your needs in 🇹🇭.

[John Drake]

On 5/22/2024 at 10:54 AM, EVENKEEL said:

I prefer bank note larger than 20 baht.

 

Carry lots of 20s for the taxis.

[Burma Bill]

On 5/22/2024 at 10:29 AM, connda said:

But but but but....mobile payment is soooooo convenient! 

 With respect, NO, especially when your mobile (smart) phone is stolen, damaged, mislaid or the battery is "dead"!

Personally I use cash which I get from my bank's ATM using my debit card. I do use this card when making certain bulk purchases at my local supermarket or booking tickets with Air Asia. I still use my trusty 3G mobile for calls and text messages - ideal FOR ME! You can stuff your QR codes. At home I have a personal computer workstation for access to the internet.

 

 

Edited May 23 by Burma Bill
additional information

[animalmagic]

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Good points... In the interests of balance - how much counterfeit cash is in circulation ?

 

The United States Secret Service estimates that between $70 million and $200 million in counterfeit bills are in circulation worldwide at any given time....   and what of other currencies ?

 

 

Not as much as Digital fraud - but a lot of the higher numbers of digital fraud are targeted attacks on corporations - for the every day person, i.e. us.. we are more likely to encounter countrified currency than digital fraud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very difficult to give a definitive answer as we do not always get full disclosure of how much has been confiscated; can lead to lack of confidence in the currency.  HK had a problem with very good 1000 HKD bills that were counterfeit, to the extent that ATM's only dispensed 500 HKD bills as the largest value note for quite a while.

The average person encounters digital fraud more often than you would think with various frauds being attempted daily; simply ask a local how many times they have received 'dodgy' phone calls from police, their bank or claimed acquaintances..

The planning, execution and laundering of stolen cash, bullion, jewels etc requires some skilled and determined people.  The planning and execution of digital fraud does not need anywhere near as much professional input to steal a lot more.  Several countries, the usual suspects of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea use the digital attacks to undermine competitor economies and finance other 'activities'.

Targeted attacks on corporations may very well be the norm, but their losses are passed on to the consumer.

[xtrnuno41]

Cash is free, not much hustle in what you do with it.

Electronic is a system of collecting data. They know what you paid for and where and maybe lots of other things, as data.

The data is sold and or shared, They know what you are doing with it. They can compare with your income tax, noticing if you are telling the truth and an AI decides fictive, you have to pay more tax or whatever.

Cash is gone, so they can raise prices on services to use electronic paying. You are forced then.

AI's controlling you all the time. That is the setup with electronic payments.

You buy some ammonium nitrate? Guess you will have police force instantly coming to check you.

Though that stuf is also fertilizer.

Maybe one day, the AI is blocking you to buy beer, as it thinks it is not healthy for you.

It sees you are drinking too much. Or you eat tot much red meat or whatever.

The beginning of electronic payments looks very nice and should be "easy", but in the long run, it is all about controlling people by AI's.

"My country" , banks are randomly checking payments. They MUST show they are checking on payments , otherwise they get fined big time. If you are the lucky one to be checked on a payment, you ll get an email on which you MUST explain, why you bought it and for what. A whole package to answer. Not my personal experience yet, but others have.

If you dont comply with the email, you WILL loose your account. You will be on a blacklist and you are out of society.

Long live electronic paying, the other side of "easy payment".

[scottiejohn]

31 minutes ago, xtrnuno41 said:

If you dont comply with the email, you WILL loose your account. You will be on a blacklist and you are out of society.

Do you still use IOU's to buy your tinfoil?

Edited May 23 by scottiejohn

[CartagenaWarlock]

10 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Unfortunately, that's the mindset of those who never had much money. 

You are right. I don't have much cash money, but banks just love to give me credit, and with 100+ credit cards, I've got close to a million dollars in available credit. Why do I need money? I live on other people's money while I keep my 3 million dollars in my 401K, IRA, and Roth.You're right, I don't walk around with cash. 

Edited May 23 by CartagenaWarlock

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, animalmagic said:

Very difficult to give a definitive answer as we do not always get full disclosure of how much has been confiscated; can lead to lack of confidence in the currency.  HK had a problem with very good 1000 HKD bills that were counterfeit, to the extent that ATM's only dispensed 500 HKD bills as the largest value note for quite a while.

The average person encounters digital fraud more often than you would think with various frauds being attempted daily; simply ask a local how many times they have received 'dodgy' phone calls from police, their bank or claimed acquaintances..

 

Yep thats true, so many attempted scam phone calls, so many pishing e-mails etc.

 

Then there is the credit card - my card (both Thailand and UK) have been used fraudulently about 10x in total...

But, the flip side of that is the incovenience of not being able to use them would be greater and I personally never lost anything.

I've never encountered fraud using my online Banking or Paying for an item via Apple Pay or PromptPay, bank transfer etc.

 

 

2 hours ago, animalmagic said:

The planning, execution and laundering of stolen cash, bullion, jewels etc requires some skilled and determined people.  The planning and execution of digital fraud does not need anywhere near as much professional input to steal a lot more.  Several countries, the usual suspects of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea use the digital attacks to undermine competitor economies and finance other 'activities'.

Targeted attacks on corporations may very well be the norm, but their losses are passed on to the consumer.

 

I'd argue to takes skill not to leave a foot-print - nether scams, cash or digital..  are easy to carry out by the average person...  it takes someone with a specific skill set that most don't have.

 

 

[EVENKEEL]

37 minutes ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

You are right. I don't have much cash money, but banks just love to give me credit, and with 100+ credit cards, I've got close to a million dollars in available credit. Why do I need money? I live on other people's money while I keep my 3 million dollars in my 401K, IRA, and Roth.You're right, I don't walk around with cash. 

You're awesome.

[kickstart]

On 5/22/2024 at 10:37 AM, Ohyesuare said:

Many banks don't offer Traveller’s cheques anymore and not sure if exchange places even accept them anymore either. It's a pretty antiquated form of bringing travel funds, odd that it's being recommended in the article.

True, I use to keep traveler's cheques here as an emergence stand by, I thought with now cashless all over the palace I thought I would cash them in on my last trip to the UK.

My bank Lloyds would not take them, and it was them that issued them, had to go to a Buro exchange and change then back to cash, at a commission charge, of course,

As I see it traveler's cheques are now RIP.

[Bundooman]

Thank you for your dreary post.

I don't have a digital wallet.

I use cash.

I don't want a digital wallet.

I get hacked off - standing in a queue while waiting for some tosser to fiddle with his phone, sometimes up to 2/3 minutes, and I am 6th in line and another 4 Digital wallies in front of me.

I have lived in Thailand 20 years.

I get to the check out, the cashier rings it up I pay the money and am gone in 60 seconds.

I don't understand.

What is so difficult about that?

Not once in all that time have I ever felt unsafe carrying cash around with me.

Why mend something that ain't broke?

Most of these wallety plonkers are just trying to be clever.

They actually come across as tossers trying to impress.

 

Now, if you really want to know what I think? ....................

[Kalasin Jo]

On 5/22/2024 at 10:33 AM, 2long said:

A long (possibly AI-written) article that I read less than 10% of.

Therefore I didn't see any paragraphs that mentioned 'looking after the local businesses, such as Ma & Pa shops, who mostly only take cash. I'm not a conspiracy theorist who worries about total control, however some transactions are better dealt without the tax man seeing. But my main point is, let's look after local family-run businesses as much as we can!

Agree. I've noticed that more and more market traders are now offering QR code payment. It's spreading fast. As I pointed out to one that creates a digital trail which the tax man could access,  cash does not. 

As others have remarked it's also tedious waiting while people fiddle with their phones to make a digital payment. 

 

Anyone know what's going on payment wise when the purchaser has to present their ID card and the cashier takes a photo of the person and their ID? Seen that quite a few times locally. That can also take a while.

 

[Caldera]

I struggle to remember having read any article that is more idiotic than this one. Anywhere. On any subject.

 

Isn't it just common sense to have a good mix of payment options at one's disposal, including cash? Especially when traveling far away from home. 

[Chivas]

9 minutes ago, Caldera said:

I struggle to remember having read any article that is more idiotic than this one. Anywhere. On any subject.

 

Isn't it just common sense to have a good mix of payment options at one's disposal, including cash? Especially when traveling far away from home. 

 

indeed...

[richard_smith237]

46 minutes ago, Caldera said:

I struggle to remember having read any article that is more idiotic than this one. Anywhere. On any subject.

 

Isn't it just common sense to have a good mix of payment options at one's disposal, including cash? Especially when traveling far away from home. 

 

100% agree... 

 

I'm mostly cashless now... With nearly all my payments made from my phone... 

 

This year I have been in:

UK - 100% Cashless 

France - 100% Cashless 

Switzerland - 100% Cashless

Dubai - 100% Cashless 

Doha - 90 % Cashless - paid cash for a couple of taxi's

Japan - 70% Cashless - paid in cash where they wouldn't accept applepay or cards.

Thailand - 95+% Cashless (PromptPay, TrueMoney, Bolt / Grab + Cash when more convenient).

 

I'm now overseas again...  and have numerous options at my disposal.

US$1000 in cash (just erergency money) + Some local currency.

 

 

Having all options available makes perfect sense - the idea of someone saying I'll never use cash, I only want to use digital, just seems stupid to me...  As does the idea of someone saying I'll never digital, I only want to use cash..... 

... it seems a lot of reasoning is based purely on emotion and no logic.

 

 

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, Kalasin Jo said:

Agree. I've noticed that more and more market traders are now offering QR code payment. It's spreading fast. As I pointed out to one that creates a digital trail which the tax man could access,  cash does not. 

As others have remarked it's also tedious waiting while people fiddle with their phones to make a digital payment. 

 

Thats six to one half a doesn't to the other....    Some people are slow paying with cash, it takes them an age to get their purse/ wallet out and dig around for the cash, then it sometimes takes an age for a cashier to count out check and triple check the change before handing it over...  

But... Some people are also luddites and just can't use their phone apps, and are thus also slow... 

 

Personally, I find paying QR Code much quicker than cash....  I find paying by something such as apple pay, even quicker. 

 

 

2 hours ago, Kalasin Jo said:

Anyone know what's going on payment wise when the purchaser has to present their ID card and the cashier takes a photo of the person and their ID? Seen that quite a few times locally. That can also take a while.

 

I think this is some of those shops which are are not fully initiate to the cashless system...  I know the cashier sometimes takes a photo of the proof of transaction on the customers phone - that may be down the individuals 'fear' of making a mistake etc...     

 

As far as handing over an ID card and getting a photo taken - I'm not sure about this, I've never seen it, but agree, it would take a lot longer - is that related to cash-payment, or simply a different process for something else ? (even if paying by cash).

 

 

 

Edited May 23 by richard_smith237

[richard_smith237]

8 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

 With respect, NO, especially when your mobile (smart) phone is stolen, damaged, mislaid or the battery is "dead"!

Personally I use cash which I get from my bank's ATM using my debit card. I do use this card when making certain bulk purchases at my local supermarket or booking tickets with Air Asia. I still use my trusty 3G mobile for calls and text messages - ideal FOR ME! You can stuff your QR codes. At home I have a personal computer workstation for access to the internet.

 

With respect, NO, especially when your wallet gets stolen, lost or mislaid...   This is exactly the same as the 'getting the phone stolen' argument and hence is basically flawed as a differentiator... 

 

The same could be said of your card... you can lose that, or it can stop working, become demagnetised, the chip part fails to read or become damaged etc..  so again, any comparison with a phone, fails as a differentiator... 

 

 

You prefer an ATM card and Debit Card etc.. thats fine, each to their own, thats a simple preference, an emotional decision... but when trying to justify that choice to avoid digital payments via phone the logic becomes somewhat 'wishy-washy' and ultimately flawed. 

 

 

 

 

[Jimjim1]

15 hours ago, CygnusX1 said:

was under the impression that after, say, 10 attempts, the phone would be irreversibly locked, and could only be used again after a total reset that would erase all data on the phone. Serious question, as if I’m wrong, I’ll be seeing if I can change the 8 digit numeric codes I have on my phones to something more secure.

You are correct but the point is most telephones are stolen when the owner is using it so it is already open and a relatively easy thing to change the amount of time the phone remains open giving the thief more than enough time to put software on the phone that will open every app installed on it including banking.

Itunes will give the owner any protection because the phone is already open.

The thing to do is 

set the time the phone will automatically shut down when you stop using it to the bear minimum, we are talking as few seconds as possible

Do not use it openly in a public area, but if you have to make sure it cannot be snatched from your hand.

Be very aware of your surroundings at all times

Do not place it on a table or other surface and remove your hand from contact with it.

crooks are very clever so give yourself at least half a chance to protect what is important to you

[CartagenaWarlock]

On 5/21/2024 at 10:35 PM, EVENKEEL said:

feel the need to push a cashless agenda is an attempt to increase spending. If you lay down cash for your purchase you can regulate your spending better. 

I agree with this wholeheartedly. When you pay cash, you are very alert not to spend too much. There is no impulse buying, and one would buy the absolute necessity and anything that person is going to use immediately. With credit cards, a person needs to be very disciplined. 

[CartagenaWarlock]

Here is a hilarious thing. A Chinese student in the USA spent close to 120K USD using his various cards and then went back to China. He then posted on social media, thanking Chase, Bank of America, American Express, and a few other banks for financing his stay in the US, and then cursed America for its imperialist agenda. 

[bkk6060]

QR code payers for 10b the stupidest people alive.

[spidermike007]

A silly post. Real men carry alot of cash. Cash is fun. Cash is easy. Let's hope Thailand never goes cashless! 

[xtrnuno41]

20 hours ago, scottiejohn said:

Do you still use IOU's to buy your tinfoil?

You might think different, naive. No problems with that.

About the mail, it is like that, well at least in "my country".

The monitoring systems, only some people from bank know about what are the monitoring triggers for real.

And the LAW of checking is ABOVE privacy law. If you are surprised to find such mail, tell, or you loose.

All is set in law and banks are allowed to cut you out.

But as said, "my country", a fact. A democracy, they say, but looks more and more like "mein Kampf"

 

This morning red JP Morgan got a fine of 100 million$, as of not checking payments.

Even a long period 2014 to 2021 !

Because they were cooperative, they had a discount of 15 % on the fine. Really !

I wonder what would be the bank's profit on not checking, maybe it is way higher, so profitable despite the first fine.

JP is not the first one who had fine, there are lots of banks who already had fines, because of this.

I ll bet, they sure know what they are doing and maybe having such a first fine is good enough to make billions. 

It is about billions in payments in that period.

So banks are squeezed in that global checking system, but are free to have their own checking systems.

And then by laws can do anything to prove, they are checking.