New Scam Or Not By Farang At Jj Market

[sanook2me]

Was shopping yesterday at Chatuchak market and was approached by a 25 - 35 year old white male(eastern european), he was wearing a a large sun hat like indiana jones style, shorts, t shirts and carrying a rucksack.

This was outside where the Banks /Toilets/Admin offices are.

He asked me if i am European too which i replied yes English and he then rattled off a long story about just arrived in BKK from Koh Samui and was trying to get cash from the ATM with his HSBC card which has been locked because of it being use in BKK - he has spoke to HSBC and they confirmed this but couldn't unlock it till Monday and all he had was his Czech passport and 2 notes of Czech money (passport / HSBC card / passport) are all in his hand to confirm each part of the story. Two Czech notes think they were a 100 and a 50 or 1000 and 5000 not sure as didn't want to touch them to extend the conversation.

Then the hit happens "They will not change my Czech money in the Bank its like they have never seen it before and it doesn't exist, its worth about £50 can you give me the Baht equalivent and you can change this when you get home"

At this point i said "sorry I live here and will not be going home for a long time -best you go to Khao Sarn road and i'm sure you can get help there"

Then i walked off - he wasn't there when i walked back through 30 minutes later.

I don't know if it's a new scam is starting in JJ or if it was genuine but if any of you are hit upon like this then its a new scam and you have been warned.

if its genuine I hope the dude is okay.

[Ta22]

well , some years ago when i was living in khaosan road . i came across some uy ask for me to change his USD . saying that his NOte is too old and the exchange woukld not take it and how - he is running out of money . and he is so hungry ..

i did not exchnage for him but i treat him to a good meal + beer .

few days later i saw him with a stack of USD .. changing money with other tourist he saw me . smile and walk away . i know he is a scammer .. took me 200 bhat to learn that -

whaha just wonder why . ow people livng off other scamming . wondering how their liofe is ..

do there feel good . or just cos theie skill only limithed them to cam off others to make a living .

seem like is not easy task setting up a scam .. and begging .

[BigSnake]

A scam, hmmmmmm!! I wonder? My guess yes, beware ALL

[Rainmon]

I do not even talk to people like that when they approach me, I just say no thanks, or, no I can't help you sorry and walk away, there is so much BS here I don't want to hear more of it from so jerk trying out a new scam or another down on his luck story... he can go to his embassy or some other agency, I'm sure there are legit places that can help someone if they look around, I suspect 99% of people that have a story like this are cons...

[Martian]

I do not even talk to people like that when they approach me, I just say no thanks, or, no I can't help you sorry and walk away, there is so much BS here I don't want to hear more of it from so jerk trying out a new scam or another down on his luck story... he can go to his embassy or some other agency, I'm sure there are legit places that can help someone if they look around, I suspect 99% of people that have a story like this are cons...

I concur with this viewpoint.

[dbrenn]

Was shopping yesterday at Chatuchak market and was approached by a 25 - 35 year old white male(eastern european), he was wearing a a large sun hat like indiana jones style, shorts, t shirts and carrying a rucksack.

if its genuine I hope the dude is okay.

The bit about his HSBC card being locked sounds suspect. HSBC is a multinational and operates in Thailand - why would they lock a card, and why would their call centres, which operates 24x7 not be able to authorise a transaction?

If Thai nanks don't recognise Czech notes, how would you? They might have been counterfeit.

[GuestHouse]

I've recounted this before - but it's worth mentioning in the context of this post.

My mother went traveling with a friend o India - that is they booked scheduled flights and travelled around India on trains, buses taxes etc (not a package). Because they were traveling independently they had to plan for emergencies, and since my mother is diabetic this included always having a small supply of spare food along.

On arriving at the airport to depart home the met a young Italian guy (in his early 20s), my mother said he looked dreadful - half starved. He approached my mother and asked if he could borrow some money - with a long story of how he'd been robbed of all his belongings and his money. He had his passport and a ticket home, but no money for taxes and for the fee to change his flight date - Again my mother said he was in a right mess of a condition. Of course he offered to send the money on as soon as he got home.

My mother and her friend gave him around a $100 from their own emergency cash and all the food they had + a clean T-shirt and stuff from their wash kit.

Some weeks later after returning home a letter arrived from the young man, he had returned the cash and enclosed a painting he had done as a gift. A few days after this a second letter arrived from the guys mother in which she thanked my mother for helping her son..... Now added to the Christmas card list.

A year or two later my wife and I were posted to Rome - mothers contact mothers and my wife and I are invited to visit this guy's family.

They were/are absolutely charming people who opened their home to my wife and I and welcomed us to Italy at at time when we knew nobody there - it was a real privilege to know this people.

--

Now I'm not saying that scammers do not exist - but it does demonstrate that genuine cases of need exist and it further demonstrates that having faith in people might just open a door or two.

My own view is I'd rather not carry a load of cynicism on my back - a helping hand can be real cheap and if you're being scammed - ask yourself, what else do you throw money at that has no value?

[Ta22]

i mean not to put every other stranger as a scam , this would make this already so cold world freezing .

--

but to some extent . excise your wealth with care , if you think is within your give away range .

sometime is ok to help . even when is some kinda scam . you smeel .

after all i am sure some poor scammer just had his bad days and resulted in his act .

some years ago , i was robbed at my guest house . for about 400k . or so i can;t relaly reclal total .

but that every day i am dancing and partying iwth my friends .

all my money plus passpor is stolen from the guest house . plus alot of other value thing .

i ha da few choce , be very upset . and maybe cry over it .. or just let i be and start again and forget about it .

and i did and that feel much much better and my well wishes to whom stolen my stuff i hope his sudden wealth made his life better .

[PhilHarries]

And there's the rub GH eh? The scammers, of which there are plenty, screw it up for the genuine cases. So what do you do? You have two choices:-

1. Be hard hard ar5ed, thick skinned b@st@d and don't give nothing to nobody.

or,

2. Judge each case on it's merits and go with your gut feeling in the sure knowledge that at least some of your money may be helping a person get through a sticky spot but also knowing that a large percentage is keeping a bar owner afloat.

There is a third by which you give to everyone and pretty soon you find yourself having to learn the skills of a scammer knowing, likely as not, you are being ripped a new ar5ehole here on TV.

It is, ultimately, up to you.

As for the OP's question, scam or not? I also find it hard to believe that an international bank like HSBC cannot unlock the card on a weekend. What if the person was in the middle east where the weekend is Thursday/Friday? What if you were reporting a stolen card and wanted it blocked? They'll dam_n soon block it if they think they're going to be liable to pick up the tab for it's use after you report it's loss.

Verdict : SCAM.

[JUDAS]

GH. Refreshing to hear your mother's story. Sometimes it's a scam but at times the tale of hardship and bad luck can also be genuine, a matter of separating the wheat from the chaff.

In an age when everyone seems to take care of number one it's nice to know there are still the likes of your mother and her friend around.

[fiddlehead]

To Guest House, thanks for that. I think many of us here needed to see reassurance that goodness still does happen in this world.

To the OP, I hope you never get stuck somewhere and your ATM card doesn't work. I'm sure karma will reach back and the first 10 people you ask will assume you're a bum.

I have been in a situation where my brother forgot to mail in my credit card payment while i was traveling and i only had one.

They stopped my card and i called and called and finally got it straightened out but was told it would take 24 hours to get the card working again (this was about 10 years ago).

Luckily i was with friends who took care of me or i may have had to do what the Czech guy had to do.

Nowadays I carry more than one card just in case. But maybe first time travelers don't worry about things that have never happened before.

[ubonjoe]

Great post GH.

It is often hard to make the decision to help somebody. In my travels I have helped some and been helped when things went wrong.

I think the Czech Koruna offered might be the answer as to whether it was a scam or not. If he was showing a 1000 and a 500 note then that would be about 50 pounds. I checked the exchange rate and it is about 30 to the pound.

[mrt273nva]

When I was in China I had a similar thing happen to my bank card. It was disabled as a security precaution because it was being used overseas. I was put in a further bind because of torn bills not being accepted at the banks. Luckily I had met with some backpackers the week before and had been traveling with them for a little bit so they knew that I was on the level and helped me for a couple days. When my card was working again I paid them back and treated them to a night out. If I hadn't met those people before to help me get through the weekend then it would have been a rough couple of days with no money. Most likely strangers would have figured me as a scammer and there would be no humanity. It makes me hate scammers even more that they ruin it for the people that are in genuine need.

[yabaaaa]

And there's the rub GH eh? The scammers, of which there are plenty, screw it up for the genuine cases. So what do you do? You have two choices:-

1. Be hard hard ar5ed, thick skinned b@st@d and don't give nothing to nobody.

or,

2. Judge each case on it's merits and go with your gut feeling in the sure knowledge that at least some of your money may be helping a person get through a sticky spot but also knowing that a large percentage is keeping a bar owner afloat.

There is a third by which you give to everyone and pretty soon you find yourself having to learn the skills of a scammer knowing, likely as not, you are being ripped a new ar5ehole here on TV.

It is, ultimately, up to you.

As for the OP's question, scam or not? I also find it hard to believe that an international bank like HSBC cannot unlock the card on a weekend. What if the person was in the middle east where the weekend is Thursday/Friday? What if you were reporting a stolen card and wanted it blocked? They'll dam_n soon block it if they think they're going to be liable to pick up the tab for it's use after you report it's loss.

Verdict : SCAM.

I have found twice in the last year two different credit cards that have obviosuly been lost. The first time I reported it I got an operator at the bank telling me I needed to dial another number?????? I diallled the other number and got a mcahine which droned on and on. In the end I just cut the card up and dint bother. You would think something like a stolen/lost card dept would be straight through to them but it wasnt in this case.

This was in the UK. I wouldnt be surprised to find them shut down at weekends.

[sanook2me]

To Guest House, thanks for that. I think many of us here needed to see reassurance that goodness still does happen in this world.

To the OP, I hope you never get stuck somewhere and your ATM card doesn't work. I'm sure karma will reach back and the first 10 people you ask will assume you're a bum.

I have been in a situation where my brother forgot to mail in my credit card payment while i was traveling and i only had one.

They stopped my card and i called and called and finally got it straightened out but was told it would take 24 hours to get the card working again (this was about 10 years ago).

Luckily i was with friends who took care of me or i may have had to do what the Czech guy had to do.

Nowadays I carry more than one card just in case. But maybe first time travelers don't worry about things that have never happened before.

I posted this here as I couldn't tell if it was a set up - i like to think i can spot a fraud but this was 50/50 -

I hope and pray never to be in a similar situation if it was genuine as I don't think too many people will help people these days.

[yabaaaa]

Once bitten twice shy!!

Edited April 19, 2009 by yabaaaa

[Scott]

I had a similar one to GH, but not quite so serious. I was in MBK shopping and turned a corner, running right into a messy looking farang. He sort of grabbed me and said he was an oil worker on holiday and had gotten robbed and could I help him out. Out of nervousness and surprise, I reached in my pocket and gave him 500 Baht. He insisted on taking my address, which I VERY reluctantly gave him.

About 6 weeks later got an letter from Saudi Arabia with US$200 and a short thanks. Seems he had been drugged and robbed. Had his passport and ticket back at the hotel, so he made it back safely.

Unfortunately, my help was out of intimidation rather than sincere concern. But it was nice to get so well rewarded.

[onnut]

reading this post has reminded me of the time I was stuck in Paris with no petrol and the banks not giving me any money through my cards. friday late afternoon and so no help from home with a bank transfer and no help from the French banks!!!! an American guy saw me in the bank and could tell I was having a problem. he asked me what was up and I just told him like you do, and was not really expecting any help. the guy offered me 200 pounds in cash and gave me his card and said send it back when you get home. he really helped me out of the shit and of course I sent the money back a few days later once I was back in Denmark. this guy was great and I often think about how lucky I was at that time.

I did the same thing to a Swedish guy also once and helped him get back from Switzerland to Sweden. I paid for food and drink and train all the way to Denmark and then put him up for a week and then gave him money for the trains and ferry to get the rest of the way home. my mates fed him and took him out in town during that week in Denmark as well. when he left we never heard from him again dispite him saying he will pay us back!

[midas]

i mean not to put every other stranger as a scam , this would make this already so cold world freezing .

Oh I have to disagree with you there ! May be your benevolent attitude was

more appropriate pre Bernard Madoff and Alan Stamford days -but if they can

rip off so many of their friends think we have perfect justification to be even more

skeptical about strangers today. Look at the amount of scams on the Internet.

It is a freezing world but its human nature and these days when his money involved

best not to give the benefit of the doubt to strangers -especially in Bangkok

[Livinginexile]

I got caught be a similar scam once.

I was staying in a hotel in Pataya when a farang woman (Eastern Euro acsent) asked me to help her out because of (usual hard luck story). Her crying had me convinced and ended up giving her more than she actually asked for

Later that night I told what had happened to a couple of guys that lived in Pataya. They laughed at me and then told me there was this Romanian gypsy gang doing the rounds with these convincing hard luck stories, apparantly they go around the world pulling these small time scams.

What pissed me off was I gave her more than she asked! She must had a good laugh at that one

[JimsKnight]

Another variant on the scam is the airport blag.

Some guy/gal will hit you for the air-tax saying he's run out of coin /forgotten about it.

The key is he'll usually not have a valid ticket though

Ask him/her for that and see their faces drop

[kurnell]

A guy on Silom once asked me to change 2 photocopied $100 notes. They didn't even look vaguely real. I told him I was calling the police and he had better start running. He just gave me a creepy smile.

[Alwaysright]

A guy on Silom once asked me to change 2 photocopied $100 notes. They didn't even look vaguely real. I told him I was calling the police and he had better start running. He just gave me a creepy smile.

I was in a bar in Belize talking to an American soldier.He was in a military band and was told on short notice that they were leaving.Turned out he was broke and wanted to have a good time.I cashed a check for him($100.00) and a month later I put it in my account and it cleared.

[RAZZELL]

Was shopping yesterday at Chatuchak market and was approached by a 25 - 35 year old white male(eastern european), he was wearing a a large

He asked me if i am European too which i replied yes English and he then rattled off a long story about just arrived in BKK from Koh Samui and was trying to get cash from the ATM with his HSBC card which has been locked because of it being use in BKK - he has spoke to HSBC and they confirmed this but couldn't unlock it till Monday

On a number times I've had my cards "locked" in Thailand.

A call to the card centre and 10 minutes later they were fine.

Sounds like a scam...lost or stolen ATM line not open 24 hours?

RAZZ

[Digitalman]

I am sure the scammers are out there, but I say judge them case by case.. I met a woman one time at the airport who was doing a similar thing, but her needs were legitimate.

I have had several exchange counters reject some older $100 notes but luckily my needs were not pressing.

[phaethon]

On a number times I've had my cards "locked" in Thailand.

A call to the card centre and 10 minutes later they were fine.

On the other hand I forgot to tell the Halifax about a last-minute trip to BKK and it took 2 days to authorize the card fro use here YMMV.

[dantilley]

Could easily believe that his cars was blocked. Has happened to many friends and family members who have come over here visiting me - in fact it happened to my dad 2 days ago. The banks have very itchy trigger fingers when it comes to blocking cards being used in Thailand, makes no difference if it's an international bank like HSBC or not.

As for the bank not being able to fix the situation until Monday: a bit more fishy but still could be true, it happened to a friend of mine and the bank (think it was Barclays) said that the system was down and there was nothing they could do until bank opening hours that day - the call was made in the morning here, so middle of the night UK time.

The most suspicious thing is the bank not willing to change the notes. The Czech Republic is not exactly an obscure, tiny country and if they have the Czech currency listed on the electronic chart on the wall, then for sure they should be able to change it. It might take a bit of persuasion or talking to the manager, but eventually they should have been able to exchange genuine Czech notes. Best thing to have done would have been to go to the bank with him and help him get his money changed, and gone to another bank (there are a few in JJ market) if necessary. Would have proved if it was a scam or not, if nothing else.

[Maizefarmer]

Was shopping yesterday at Chatuchak market and was approached by a 25 - 35 year old white male(eastern european), he was wearing a a large sun hat like indiana jones style, shorts, t shirts and carrying a rucksack.

if its genuine I hope the dude is okay.

The bit about his HSBC card being locked sounds suspect. HSBC is a multinational and operates in Thailand - why would they lock a card, and why would their call centres, which operates 24x7 not be able to authorise a transaction?

If Thai nanks don't recognise Czech notes, how would you? They might have been counterfeit.

Agree - the card bit sounds way out - anyway, something is seriously wrong if your options are reduced to having to approach strangers on the street.

[sassienie]

At most times during my travels here in Thailand, if a Thai or some Farang strangers begin making conversation with me, it`s usually because they are looking for an earner.

I just say, sorry, don`t wish to talk and walk away.

[torrenova]

HSBC once stopped one of my cards when I withdrew the maximum daily allowance (£1000 a day per account) each day for about a week. I phoned them, went through security and had them turn it back on whilst I was standing at the ATM to check it worked ok.

This story is a scam.