Anyone Ever Have To Pay Money To The Thai Police Or People?

[lannarebirth]

Pay the 5,000 , together with an apology, plus offer one month each severance pay to the girl and her boyfriend to work elsewhere. IMO, you were way out of line.

[Mozikillah]

My Father pays them with a full crate of Leo Beer!!

[Andiamo]

Pay the 5,000 , together with an apology, plus offer one month each severance pay to the girl and her boyfriend to work elsewhere. IMO, you were way out of line.

I would totally agree with paying the 5,000bt - now that you have provided more details and you also don't know what else she may say you tried to do/did!!! Can imagine this getting totally out of hand... Your word against hers etc.

Have heard too many horror stories of "fudged" cases and incorrect information used against "alleged" misdemeanours and due to language difficulties etc, it can be difficult to stop something snowballing and becoming a huge deal. Seriously, I would pay the money and put it down to experience.

Also if this is the police station at the top end of Khaosan Road - sorry dunno the name - it may not be as easy as one might think to get your passport back (without paying anything!). Info based directly on two experiences I have heard about... Be very careful! Also use a Lawyer recommended by your Embassy and DO NOT sign anything without getting it translated by a REPUTABLE translator or by the Lawyer RECOMMENDED by your Embassy. (Too many cowboys who will take your money and promise you the earth and ultimately cheat you). Different culture and different behaviour exists in the Police Force here. Things are not always as rational or as logical as the foreigner may perceive them to be - IMHO.

Oh, and you may also want to consider changing address if her boyfriend is one of the security guards!

[Upcountry]

Dragonquest,

Make sure you have a dependable Thai speaker with you, if not your lawyer, when you go to the police. Don't let language problems make things worse.

If I were you, I'd consider getting out of that condo building as well, since you have a bad name there now, no matter what happens.

Seems like you're learning some hard lessons about cultural differences.

[DragonQuest]

OK everyone is telling me to pay, I have a friend that recommended me a thai lawyer on kao sarn road that works next to police station, (and he also has a thai police friend there) was sitting on kao sarn today and I spoke to him(should I trust him or you think he's gonna try to get money from me also???), he said he will go with me to police station, but he doest speak good english , only my girlfriend a bit.

[DragonQuest]

Although I am gonna call the lawyer recommended by my embassy, but I think it might cost an arm or a leg? And Im am 27 years old. My girlfriend is pressuring me to pay and everyone, but doesnt that make me guilty???!! I am innocent! I cant let peolpe push me around like this, it might happen again to me or anyone else on this forum, and I am very interested in the outcome of this paticular situation, I will be moving out next month too thats for sure. I believe in myself I did nothing wrong, I cant let a 16 yr old girl with her boyfriend and family push me around like this(Trying to extort money from a farang), peolpe trying to scare me with over 100,000 baht court fine's and serving 3 months to 1 year to 10 years in prison , this is all bull crap to scare the shit out of me so I can pay, If I pay Im guilty, If I dont pay Im innocent, I have to stand up for myself and the farangs that live in Thailand, cause it could happen to you! If I want to get laid I can go to patpong for 1000 Baht! More beautiful and sexier then her! let the battle begin.

[stumonster]

dragonquest

this is not about guilty or innocent

this is about money.

the more people you involve in this - the more money it will cost you.

[DragonQuest]

I guess I should of paid the 5000baht then /sigh /cry , ok I guess Ill give her want she wants, but what happens If i cant afford it???? cause she may want more!

[DragonQuest]

ok after over 20 peolpe told me to pay I guess I will pay, now the question is how much, she could be bumping it up.

[womble]

If I were you I wouldn't bother going to see the police, i'd move out and leave no forward address.

In order that she can get you in trouble she will have to start court proceedings, she won't have the cash to do that Also knowing Thai police, they won't be bothered to chase you.

A variation on this would be to move out and then send your gf to see her with an envelope with the 5g in it. Or give her 3g and say this is it take it or leave it. Make it clear to her that once you have moved she'll never find you and so get nothing.

Have a simple contract with her for her to sign so that it can be shown to police if she tries to claim you didn't pay.

BTW.

I think you are guilty and give all us farangs here a bad name. Would you kiss the hand of a 16 year old back home in your speedo's? You'd probobally get held up for sexual harrassment.

Please answer one question................

How old are you??????

[Prakanong]

If I were you I wouldn't bother going to see the police, i'd move out and leave no forward address.

In order that she can get you in trouble she will have to start court proceedings, she won't have the cash to do that Also knowing Thai police, they won't be bothered to chase you.

A variation on this would be to move out and then send your gf to see her with an envelope with the 5g in it. Or give her 3g and say this is it take it or leave it. Make it clear to her that once you have moved she'll never find you and so get nothing.

Have a simple contract with her for her to sign so that it can be shown to police if she tries to claim you didn't pay.

BTW.

I think you are guilty and give all us farangs here a bad name. Would you kiss the hand of a 16 year old back home in your speedo's? You'd probobally get held up for sexual harrassment.

Please answer one question................

How old are you??????

He posted he is 27 so its not like a dirty old letch

A bit naive though and an understanding GF - flirting and asking the 16 year old to lunch?

[siamamerican]

Probably pissed off the wrong people. I left Thailand a week later and haven't been back to Chiang Mai. Looking back, I probably should have listened to my farang friends and not made the police pay. The lawyer wouldn't accept any compensation - I think she was scared.

siamamerican, maybe I'm being too optimistic, or naive, but I wonder what made you feel that way. General sense of unease, or did you sense something in the police chief's demeanor to scare you? Did anything suspicious happen vis-a-vis the police you encountered after you got the money?

It seemed like the chief did the honorable thing to reimburse you for a bike that was supposed be in their care.

No you aren't naive. Most likely the chief was being honorable and the payment is normal in Thailand. I do know that until I got a lawyer I wasn't getting anywhere with the police and the police giving me the money at a restaurant, in lieu of the police station was a little odd.

My prior comment about leaving CM was a little dramatic. I had to leave Chiang Mai and get back to the states for medical rehab. If that wasn't the case, I probably would have stayed in CM.

Looking back it was treated well by the police other than them losing my bike.

[DragonQuest]

My thai is bad, I think I might of said"Gin Kao Lian" which means have you eaten, basic conversation, and you know I thought of leaving but that was my last option, cause then I will be on a blacklist and they will catch me at the boder If I do another visa run probably, thats why I dont want to run away from my problems, Its better to face them, cause you dont have to worry about it in the future.

[Prakanong]

My thai is bad, I think I might of said"Gin Kao Lian" which means have you eaten, basic conversation, and you know I thought of leaving but that was my last option, cause then I will be on a blacklist and they will catch me at the boder If I do another visa run probably, thats why I dont want to run away from my problems, Its better to face them, cause you dont have to worry about it in the future.

For what its worth I think you are right in not running and getting rid of any problems now.

Pay the 5k if you still can, put it down as a learning experience - you might be 100% in the right but TiT the rules are not the same as back home and it their rules - sticks in the craw I know as I have the t-shirt too.

[DragonQuest]

Understood. Im am trying to work out a deal now with everyone, will see how much I have to pay. /sigh /cry after this is over I dont know how to think about thailand now, doesnt seem like the land of smiles to me, just the land of Horrors,Scams, and Poor peolpe that just want 1 thing from farang, Money. >< ; ;

[Prakanong]

Understood. Im am trying to work out a deal now with everyone, will see how much I have to pay. /sigh /cry after this is over I dont know how to think about thailand now, doesnt seem like the land of smiles to me, just the land of Horrors,Scams, and Poor peolpe that just want 1 thing from farang, Money. >< ; ;

Yers you will feel like that and its understandable - it passes though and they are not all like that.

[DragonQuest]

I know, I have been living here for 2 years now, and so far I had a plesant experience untill this occured. So after I pay , when do you think I should move out? They will all look at me as the "Bad guy" and some security guards are still smiling at me.........

I learned one thing for sure , Never shake a thai's hand again. Im sticking to Wai'ing from now on.

[DragonQuest]

O and I spoke with the lawyers secretary from the US embassy, the lawyers seem to always be busy, but she said that Im gonna have to pay, just make sure I get it on paper that she will leave me alone and its a done deal after the fact.Cause It will cost me 5000 baht per hour just to have a lawyer represent me, its cheaper just to pay her off everyone says.

[womble]

I know, I have been living here for 2 years now, and so far I had a plesant experience untill this occured. So after I pay , when do you think I should move out? They will all look at me as the "Bad guy" and some security guards are still smiling at me.........

I learned one thing for sure , Never shake a thai's hand again. Im sticking to Wai'ing from now on.

I hope you don't start waiing service start as a result of all this.

That would be really embarressing.

[DragonQuest]

ok deal done I lost 20,000 Baht, should have paid 5000 from the start, you guys were right, I cant live here anymore I think im gonna move out today I feel really embarrassed , Especially how she works in this condo, I feel like an ###### now, a loser, whats my next move? I feel ashamed. Now her dad has to come back from Chaiya pum so we can all go to the police station to end this. Actually I dont have to go , my girlfriend is going with my money to cancel it.

[Prakanong]

I know, I have been living here for 2 years now, and so far I had a plesant experience untill this occured. So after I pay , when do you think I should move out? They will all look at me as the "Bad guy" and some security guards are still smiling at me.........

I learned one thing for sure , Never shake a thai's hand again. Im sticking to Wai'ing from now on.

I hope you don't start waiing service start as a result of all this.

That would be really embarressing.

Its good enough for Steven Seagal - he wai's them in the Marriot - allegedly

[Prakanong]

ok deal done I lost 20,000 Baht, should have paid 5000 from the start, you guys were right, I cant live here anymore I think im gonna move out today I feel really embarrassed , Especially how she works in this condo, I feel like an ###### now, a loser, whats my next move? I feel ashamed. Now her dad has to come back from Chaiya pum so we can all go to the police station to end this. Actually I dont have to go , my girlfriend is going with my money to cancel it.

Well its little more expensive lesson than first thought but still worth it to put the whole thing behnd you.

I was always told - pay as early as posible - certainly before pen touches paper.

[DragonQuest]

well if it was anymore then that I will definetly not pay, they wanted 40,000 baht, my girlfriend said no, then they said ok 20,000 , then i said 15k then said no, so 20k was the final. If anymore I would make a run for it, screw this country lol and I can always pass the mekong river or other ways of passing the border without getting through check points lol, lets see so far I sold my radio and TV to pay this off lol looks like Ill have to find other means for my free time.

Edited September 13, 2007 by DragonQuest

[Upcountry]

Well, DragonQuest, to put it crudely, you pissed in your own playpen, and you stank it up.

I think it's worth noting that that is another important lesson here. The guards might be smiling, but you don't know what they are thinking, or whom is connected to whom. If you get robbed, or whatever, in the future, you might not have any allies in the building. Thais tend to band together, especially in situations like this - ganging up on someone who has caused a slight or done some damage.

Another thought I had is that the term "rape" might not be exactly applicable. She perhaps felt violated and threatened, but I doubt that the threat of physical violation would have been interpreted by the police. Basically, we might assume that she experienced some emotional trauma (or loss of face) from the incident, which provoked the demand for money in lieu or reporting. Based on the whole story, if there was a scam here, it would probably have been the boyfriend's idea, not the girl's.

There are many beautiful things about Thais and Thai culture that put Westerners to shame, but the dark side is a real grin-and-bear-it every day thing. I think one reason why Thais smile a lot is to avoid pissing the wrong person off.

Edited September 13, 2007 by Upcountry

[Scott]

Dragonquest, I want to wish you the best of luck. Sorry you got into such a difficult position.

Best to you and keep us posted.

[bkkmadness]

I learned one thing for sure , Never shake a thai's hand again. Im sticking to Wai'ing from now on.

You can shake Thai's hands all day and not have a problem.

But you might want to stop KISSING 16 YR OLD THAI GIRLS.

Follow that golden rule or you going to have more problems in the future.

[stumonster]

20K ???

you were scammed pretty bad in the end

and I hate to say this - but how did your girlfriend let it get to 20k ?

a 16 year old girl who works at an apartment block with a sauna/gym and a boyfriend who is a security guard - has she had a baby ? and her dad is coming all the way from chiya phum ?

[womble]

I learned one thing for sure , Never shake a thai's hand again. Im sticking to Wai'ing from now on.

You can shake Thai's hands all day and not have a problem.

But you might want to stop KISSING 16 YR OLD THAI GIRLS.

Follow that golden rule or you going to have more problems in the future.

Not just thai girls, any girls. Particulary when dressed in swimming atire.

Incidently my mrs says he is in the wrong for sure, although I did think it funny that she doesn't blame him as she knows farangs kissing a pretty girls hand is normal in our culture.

Think she's been watching too many old UK costume dramas...........

[soundman]

Any kissing or show of affection is a big "no no" in Thai soceity. Even married couples holding hands in public is considered risque....

[bkkmadness]

That seems a lot less so in Bangkok these days with the younger generations. But still that would be between two people in a relationship, you don't see many people going around kissing 16 yr olds just to say 'hello'.

The other thing to factor in is the girl is working at the condo where he is a tenant/customer so even if she didn't like the kissing she couldn't really say anything because because Dragonquest has got all the power. So I have to say fair play on the girl for showing she's got a bit of power herself. If she'd had just mentioned what had happened to the condo management they would have told her to forget about it, or worse still she would have ended up losing her job.

I'd be moving out of that condo pretty sharpish though, the guys lost his face to everyone there and that's for sure.