Were You Ever Robbed In Thailand?

[Darlek]

on a train to chian mai it stopped in the small hours at a station , i looked out from my upper bunk and saw a women walk off with my bag . chased her and grabbed it back from her . she made out it was a mistake ! it was close i nearly lost it ...

[frequentatore]

This year, two farang friends in Bangkok got their handbags slashed with a cutter (on different occasions) but one caught a Thai girl doing it (in a mall). Beware!

[stumonster]

on the 12 oclock thai tv news last night they had footage of a man ( english?) who had just got back to town to visit his wife and was the victim of an attempted robbery and recipient of a bashing.This occured in the pathum thani / rangsit area.

[Martin]

I am inclined to think that gated security is mainly a status symbol, especially outside Bangkok.

I once came up to Esarn on an overnight VIP bus, and put my (unlocked) briefcase in the luggage compartment with my suitcase. The bus stopped for quite a while somewhere during the night. When I got home and unpacked my briefcase my little hidden stash of 'emergency reserve' money was gone.

Nothing like as bad as having a bag 'lifted' from my trolley once at Heathrow.

[Stocky]

It seems I'm lucky.

I've never had a problem in Thailand and it's over 20 years since I've had anything stolen, that was a break in when I lived in South Africa, one of my house mates left a window open.

[Yohan]

Nobody of us ever had any problem in Thailand about robbery or theft...

This includes my own father, 97 years old, and my parents in law, 84 and 77 years old and quite helpless....

Never anything missing....visiting Thailand since almost 30 years....

[udon]

Robbed yes, burgled no.

I knew the thief on each occasion.

Too trusting on my part (read stupid!)

Go to the cops, never again, useless plicks.......

[Padkapow Guy]

I was robbed in mike's shopping mall in Pattaya. I paid 2 baht for toilet paper and nothing came out of the machine.

needless to say I had to sacrifice my socks.

[bkk_mike]

I've paid "price farang" a few times, mostly in the first few weeks here... (price was still lower than London prices so I didn't think anything of it until I told my wife what I paid...).

Other than that, the only money I've ever lost in Thailand is 1000 baht I gave to a pair of Irish guys who didn't have the airport tax at Don Muang (and who swore blind that they'd pay me back).

Compare this to my wife, who has been robbed twice in London. (First time was a lot of hassle as a pickpocket got away with her purse, so credit cards had to be cancelled, etc. Second time, the person stole the bag hanging from my daughter's pushchair, so the idiot's haul was two bottles of baby milk and 3 nappies.)

Maybe it's really that street crime is going up in London...

Based on my own experiences, Bangkok seems a lot safer than London.

[Crash999]

Other than that, the only money I've ever lost in Thailand is 1000 baht I gave to a pair of Irish guys who didn't have the airport tax at Don Muang (and who swore blind that they'd pay me back).

In 5 years have never had any problems- one attempted pick-pocketing by a katoey late one night while walking on Sukhumvit but was easily thwarted.

The Thai GM of our sister office almost had her purse stolen recently. Was a bit bizarre- a woman came into the office apparently to sell something. She walked right in, went into the GM's office, grabbed her purse and took off in a run with the GM in hot pursuit. They were on the 10th floor of the building, so the thief started down the steps, with out GM and some of her staff following. Finally at around the 3rd of 4th floor they caught up with the thief who was later taken away by the police. Apparently the GM had 40,000 Baht in her purse at the time as it was time to pay her rent and other bills.

Every so often we'll get Indian fortune tellers coming to our office asking to speak with me. I read somewhere that these guys will try and find people who believe their claptrap and give them bad fortunes... which can be reversed by a cash donation.

Overall Thailand is a relatively safe place to live. Heard from a Pattaya resident that house robberies are quite common there, though.

Cheers!

[Speedy]

Nope never been robbed in Thailand, but beware of Katei! They do tend to grab you in your pockets when you are to drunk to notice what s going on, and , oops, there goes that shining Gold Visa Card!

[RDN]

...one attempted pick-pocketing by a katoey late one night while walking on Sukhumvit but was easily thwarted...

Was the katoey on the south side of Sukhumvit, near the pedestrian bridge just before you get to the Asoke junction, heading east? I was "fondled" there a couple of years ago - very difficult to avoid a big katoey who lurches at you when you think he's going to ignore you. He had a mate on the inside of the pavement (another katoey) but he came at me from the road. I tried to push him off but not before I felt his hand in my trouser pocket. Not sure what he was after...

What was disturbing was his loud shouting after I pushed him off - I'm just glad he wasn't aggressive, because he was big I also remember somebody else - maybe on another forum - complaining about two katoeys at the same spot. Maybe the boys in brown had a word with them

[Crash999]

Was the katoey on the south side of Sukhumvit, near the pedestrian bridge just before you get to the Asoke junction, heading east? I was "fondled" there a couple of years ago - very difficult to avoid a big katoey who lurches at you when you think he's going to ignore you.

This one was lurking out in front of the Nana Hotel parking lot which I just so happened to be walking past at 2am early one morning. One hand went for the crotch, the other for my pocket. Grabbed both wrists and lifted the (small) katoey out of the way.

A friend punched out a katoey north of where you describe (most likely the other side of the pedestrian bridge) after he/she got hold of his wallet. His wallet had been stolen by yet another katoey only a few months prior so he was a bit miffed to see another katoey try the same thing. Contrary to what one hears about katoey gangs, the other two katoeys in the group just cowered and shreiked.

[RDN]

This one was lurking out in front of the Nana Hotel parking lot which I just so happened to be walking past at 2am early one morning. One hand went for the crotch, the other for my pocket. Grabbed both wrists and lifted the (small) katoey out of the way.

I used to walk past Nana Hotel at 2am every night for 3 years! My 'local' was the Hillary Bar - further down soi 4 on the right. But I never used to notice the katoeys until about a year or two ago. Maybe it took me a few years to realise what I was looking at

(In the 'good old days' - 2000 - it was nearer 4 or 5am . The Hillary Bar used to fill up at 2 to 3am when the Nana Plaza bars closed - or ran out of girls ).

[mbkudu]

When I first arrived in Thailand my passport and all the cash in my wallet was pinched out of my bag as I slept on a bus going from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. Didn't realise it until I was standing in the street at five o'clock in the morning at the Democracy Monument watching the bus drive away. It was an early wake up call.