British Couple Fights Bangkok Airport Extortionists

[davee58]

Made it into the Times so thats another half million Rich (Times readers..wot i say )Tourists that Thailand and the Land of the Scams has now successfully alienated

...and have to wonder ...did/do they also realise that you gotta contribute £3 quid to take out yer dosh from the GBs atms before ye can even spend it.......defies belief.........but ye Gorra Laugh otherwise....... ...joke innit

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...amp;attr=797093

And yet, from the Nation:

"Foreign visitors expected to surge"

The Nation Link

Amazing Thailand!!

[bdenner]

So 11 pages or 255 posts of 'outrage'. Classic Thai visa punter uselessness as always.

--------------

USELESSNESS!!!! If it weren't for this thread I would not have known about the scam and there fore not been able to warn the 3 couples visiting Thailand over the next 2 months that I know of.

I, for one, have reacted positively to my outrage!

[Tokay]

1) I'm not stepping foot in ANY of the shops at the airport ever again.

2) I will tell everyone I know to not do the same and avoid Thailand if at all possible.

I'm sure Thailand and the airport will survive my boycott, but at least they won't pin me down (or my friends) for stealing something from a shop. They will have to think a little harder than that.

Knowing what I know now, if that happened to me, and I didn't do anything, I would probably sit on the plane and make them remove me by force. Given what I know of Thailand and scams as this, it would take several of them and a whole lot of time to get me out of my seat because I would not go without a serious fight. If I'm going to have to pay for something I didn't do, I'm going to make it worth my while and earn every baht I'm going to get scammed for. I would rather beat the sh_it out of 4 or 5 poorly trained cops and end up in the REAL police station than kidnapped and extorted by criminals. But that's just me.

[brahmburgers]

For readers of T.Visa, some of us perceived of a not-too-different shakedown with the two young Swedes accused of stealing t-shirts from a Thai street vendor. Most T.Visaites trotted out their holier-than-thou warnings - saying the Swedes deserved the worst that the cops could throw at them. I, and a few others suspected it was a scam perpetrated by the vendor and the cops. Indeed, I had seen a complete shakedown unfold right in front of me at the night market in Chiang Mai. A greenhorn farang couple were scared shitless when a cheap-watch vendor grabbed the woman's wrist and immediately started yelling "you stole this watch, you go jail long time, I call police right now!" Needless to say, the farang husband forked over all the bills in his wallet, and they both scooted out of there a.s.a.p. ....another couple farang with a 'ruined holiday in Thailand' story.

The scenario is not so different from the Brit couple on this thread: Two newbie tourists get detained and harshly threatened with years in prison if they don't admit to wrongdoing and fork over large amounts of cash immediately.

[Puwa]

In Thailand both the tourist dollar and rule of law--whatever semblance there might once have been--are evaporating. I expect that these scams will become more common, sadly.

[chiangdan]

And they are expecting 14 million tourists for 2010. Um 14 mil X 8,000 pounds that is a good income for the thai tourism sector. Free visa's but pay the costs via scams.

[Thai at Heart]

1) I'm not stepping foot in ANY of the shops at the airport ever again.

2) I will tell everyone I know to not do the same and avoid Thailand if at all possible.

I'm sure Thailand and the airport will survive my boycott, but at least they won't pin me down (or my friends) for stealing something from a shop. They will have to think a little harder than that.

Knowing what I know now, if that happened to me, and I didn't do anything, I would probably sit on the plane and make them remove me by force. Given what I know of Thailand and scams as this, it would take several of them and a whole lot of time to get me out of my seat because I would not go without a serious fight. If I'm going to have to pay for something I didn't do, I'm going to make it worth my while and earn every baht I'm going to get scammed for. I would rather beat the sh_it out of 4 or 5 poorly trained cops and end up in the REAL police station than kidnapped and extorted by criminals. But that's just me.

I have warned everyone I know not to buy anything at the airport. I don't care if KP was in on it or not. The issue is that it is a scam based around shopping in the airport and until something is done to investigate and catch the perpetrators of this scam every business attached to the airport deserves to suffer because you can guarantee people in there know about the scam and are complicit in the inactivity and silence.

Is there not one honest person in a position of power willing to get this situation sorted out? Don't they realise the damage this story has done to the tourism business in this country? AOT, TAT, the tourism minister and the current government your silence is deafening.

[animatic]

For readers of T.Visa, some of us perceived of a not-too-different shakedown with the two young Swedes accused of stealing t-shirts from a Thai street vendor. Most T.Visaites trotted out their holier-than-thou warnings - saying the Swedes deserved the worst that the cops could throw at them. I, and a few others suspected it was a scam perpetrated by the vendor and the cops. Indeed, I had seen a complete shakedown unfold right in front of me at the night market in Chiang Mai. A greenhorn farang couple were scared shitless when a cheap-watch vendor grabbed the woman's wrist and immediately started yelling "you stole this watch, you go jail long time, I call police right now!" Needless to say, the farang husband forked over all the bills in his wallet, and they both scooted out of there a.s.a.p. ....another couple farang with a 'ruined holiday in Thailand' story.

The scenario is not so different from the Brit couple on this thread: Two newbie tourists get detained and harshly threatened with years in prison if they don't admit to wrongdoing and fork over large amounts of cash immediately.

Fortunately this is NOT a typical occurrence there.

My wife worked in the Night Bazaar many years

and rarely saw anything like this, not to say never...

The only times were from vendors known to be chronic gamblers

who got in too deep and needed to payback the bully boys but quick.

The shylocks enforcer was typically the cop on the beat moonlighting.

So not a typical regular thing, just a from necessity job occasionally.

Sucks for the tourist of course. They are too scared to think and say the right things.

Such as this is a REAL insert 'name brand', not a chinese knock off,

if we open the backs it will be clear from the guts that this watch doesn't NOT match yours,

stop this scam now. etc, if they see the chance of being called up on this they could back off.

The problem comes when the vendor MUST continue or lose face with his stall neighbors

and continue the charade, or if he is so in debt he must risk it anyway

or get a serious beating for being a debtor and whimp.

Edited June 30, 2009 by animatic

[YohYack]

I've created this Facebook group about the scam: join and invite your friends to spread the word around!

www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=98083488860

The more the information spreads, the more pressure on King Power to tackle the problem!

[judgedredd]

In my opinion, as the Thai economy spirals down into chaos, the scams will become more common, and we are perhaps contributing to the development of future scams in an odd sort of way. Sort of a Darwinian evolution of scams - - This Thai Visa thread has served well to expose one type of scam, a scam that can be easily avoided by avoiding all airport shops.

Well, as soon as the KP fake shop lifting scam dries up as a source of income, the scammers must think of something new and more aggressive, and perhaps they will blind side us with something new and innovative that we didn’t see coming.

And it is entirely our fault…

On the other hand, I personally always see opportunity in adversity. I’m thinking that I should offer tea money to the Immigration Police, the Tourist Police, all three airport mafias, the taxi mafia, and all of the freelance scamming translators. Then, I will set up a kiosk in each arrival hall at swampy boom. My buddy at the cop shop can procure some brown uniforms for all of my friends and myself. I will erect an official-looking sign over each kiosk, something not so subtle, like “Pay Protection Registry Fee Here”. Even if I only skim 2,000 or 3,000 Baht off of one-percent of the arriving newbies, it all adds up. In return for having their name placed on the official-looking protection-registry, the new doe-eyed marks will be issued a “Thailand Protection Card”, which will be about as valuable as the old “Thai Privilege Card”. The fake protection cards are Phase One of the scam. In Phase Two of the scam I will sell the names and hotel addresses of the “Protected Persons” to the Gem Scammers and offer them free tours as part of the protection package.

I can do this. See Y’all in the airport…

Judge Dredd

[salty]

Re the Chiang Mai night market scam you wonder if this could be pulled somewhere along the avenue of shops in the airport. You cannot rule out anything from these f/ing scammers.

[joskydive]

I've created this Facebook group about the scam: join and invite your friends to spread the word around!

www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=98083488860

The more the information spreads, the more pressure on King Power to tackle the problem!

Can't find that group on facebook yet.

[grantbkk]

I hope someone sent this thread to reps at King Power. It could give them pause and something to talk about at the next staff meeting besides raising prices.

Someone, maybe a moderator, probably because King Power has some influence here said this is not a thread about King Power pricing and a comment may have been removed. The reality is that every aspect of King Power Duty Free is brought into question because of this incident and others like it. King Power should take a stand and update their policy regarding people operating scams connected to their retail space. Video footage should be immediately available to the police and the suspect/victim when there are questions as to the veracity of the agents involved.

If all of this goes unanswered perhaps some may come to the conclusion that King Power Duty Free is a continuing criminal enterprise. This may hurt their reputation in the long run.

[ingvar]

I would like to add some more little scams I know of.

1. Police stops you and drops a small bag of narcotics inside the car door before letting you go, a few km later another police waits to discover the bag.

2. Gas station attendant puts same little bag inside the cover lid of your gas tank which is then discovered in a police check point a bit down the road.

3. At a gas station, while you are shopping or in the restroom, someone makes a hole in your radiator, a few miles later you must stop and up comes a gang of "helpers".

4. When you go to jail, by paying about 500 Baht/day you can get personal acomodation or at least better than the 4x4 stinkhole, Now you chances of getting out decreases as you presence generates income for the officers, brilliant right?

[SICA]

Although it happend at a King Power store, there is no involvement of King Power itself. Let's not suggest it is or call for boycots etc.

You know this for a fact? It seems from other's on here that King Power have a lot to answer for. Why does it only happen once a visitor leaves a King Power store and not one of the myriad of other stores at the airport.

This has been going on for a while now. There needs to be an official plain clothes presence in the airport and particularly the stores - that means no shiny shoes guys! - perhaps from Tourist Police officers but let's be honest, it won't happen! There are so many ways this could be stopped but unfortunately it's the fat cats at the top that instruct the minions to do the dirty work. That is where the major problem is! I for one will be avoiding all King Power stores and instructing my friends, colleagues and customers to do the same. At least until somebody is bought to justice.

I wonder when this will make the worlds media and be another reason why Government Home Office websites will mark Thailand as a no go area!

[hughben]

So do KP own the whole complex?

Do the designer boutiques rent off of them?

Even though this scam involved the KP store (do they sell LV or was it a LV store they allegedy stole from?) I won't be paying any where a visit in the Airport and that includes the overpriced food courts (do they rent from KP too)?

[JoeThePoster]

Any news whether they have identified Little Big Man yet?

[SICA]

In my opinion, as the Thai economy spirals down into chaos, the scams will become more common, and we are perhaps contributing to the development of future scams in an odd sort of way. Sort of a Darwinian evolution of scams - - This Thai Visa thread has served well to expose one type of scam, a scam that can be easily avoided by avoiding all airport shops.

Well, as soon as the KP fake shop lifting scam dries up as a source of income, the scammers must think of something new and more aggressive, and perhaps they will blind side us with something new and innovative that we didn't see coming.

And it is entirely our fault…

On the other hand, I personally always see opportunity in adversity. I'm thinking that I should offer tea money to the Immigration Police, the Tourist Police, all three airport mafias, the taxi mafia, and all of the freelance scamming translators. Then, I will set up a kiosk in each arrival hall at swampy boom. My buddy at the cop shop can procure some brown uniforms for all of my friends and myself. I will erect an official-looking sign over each kiosk, something not so subtle, like "Pay Protection Registry Fee Here". Even if I only skim 2,000 or 3,000 Baht off of one-percent of the arriving newbies, it all adds up. In return for having their name placed on the official-looking protection-registry, the new doe-eyed marks will be issued a "Thailand Protection Card", which will be about as valuable as the old "Thai Privilege Card". The fake protection cards are Phase One of the scam. In Phase Two of the scam I will sell the names and hotel addresses of the "Protected Persons" to the Gem Scammers and offer them free tours as part of the protection package.

I can do this. See Y'all in the airport…

Judge Dredd

BRILLIANT..... i want in! Where do I sign up? And don't ay at one of the official looking desks at Swamy......

[harrycallahan]

Should anyone really care whether KP are or aren't involved? Do you want to forego 8,000 pounds plus go through the horror of the experience just so the old adage "innocent until proven guilty" is respected? In a place like Thailand "looking after number 1" stands as numero uno in the principal stakes, if you have any sense at all then don't stick a toe in KP or any other commerical outlet in a Thai airport.

BTW I can't see how KP could not be involved when the alledged theft of an unseen wallet happened at one of their stores.

You can't have a theft without a victim complaint, the victim being KP in this case.

[GungaDin]

BTW I can't see how KP could not be involved when the alledged theft of an unseen wallet happened at one of their stores. You can't have a theft without a victim complaint, the victim being KP in this case.

Harry is correct.

[Mario2008]

I have deleted a post that claims that the couple stole the wallet, as the article offers no proof of that and the poster being challenged by other posters offered no explanation for his claim. I have also deleted his off topic comments about Tesco Lotus.

Unfortunately that also means that I had to deleted the responses to these posts, but with his comments deleted they didn't make much sense anymore.

[Mario2008]

BTW I can't see how KP could not be involved when the alledged theft of an unseen wallet happened at one of their stores. You can't have a theft without a victim complaint, the victim being KP in this case.

Harry is correct.

Well, no. The complaint is being made on behalf of KP.

But KP can ask from it's employees to report to the management if the hand a shoplifter over to the police. Then the management can decide if they will offer or accept a financial settlement. If there are complaints about scams, then the management can check if they know about this case and if they offered a setlement or not.

Scams would then require involvement of a higher management and a settlement would then have to end up in the books and not in someones pocket.

It would be nice to know what the internal proccedures are at KP when someone is caught shoplifting.

[Thai at Heart]

BTW I can't see how KP could not be involved when the alledged theft of an unseen wallet happened at one of their stores. You can't have a theft without a victim complaint, the victim being KP in this case.

Harry is correct.

Well, no. The complaint is being made on behalf of KP.

But KP can ask from it's employees to report to the management if the hand a shoplifter over to the police. Then the management can decide if they will offer or accept a financial settlement. If there are complaints about scams, then the management can check if they know about this case and if they offered a setlement or not.

Scams would then require involvement of a higher management and a settlement would then have to end up in the books and not in someones pocket.

It would be nice to know what the internal proccedures are at KP when someone is caught shoplifting.

I would imagine it would be a requisite of being the shop manager to be the reporting member of staff. Presumably your average shop assistant can scream and shout, but the manager of the shop would make the complaint on behalf of the company.

On the basis that the accusation is completely ficticious, it wouldn't require anyone outside a few employees in the shop, the manager and a few dodgy coppers (8000 GBP split 6 ways in varying percentages is easy money for a couple of days hassle) to agree on the split of the proceeds and the very senior management of the company would never know anything had happened.

I don't for one second imagine that the shop manager would turn down 30% of 8000 GBP if he felt he could get away with it. 30k each for the shop assistants and the rest for the police and the translator.

[harrycallahan]

I can see how the airport can act on behalf of KP, it's similar to say a mall in the US (not my home country), mall cops apprehend suspected offenders... say someone is running out of the mall with a TV, they grab him and ask questions later.

But surely the victim must play a primary role in proceedings after that. They have to say "yep that's ours, he didn't lawfully purchase that from us, we want to proceed with a criminal charge".

The article states the KP representive almost shrugging his shoulders, saying it's outside of their control.... only in Thailand that.

[YohYack]

I've created this Facebook group about the scam: join and invite your friends to spread the word around!

www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=98083488860

The more the information spreads, the more pressure on King Power to tackle the problem!

Can't find that group on facebook yet.

Go to Facebook and search: "Beware of the shoplifting scam at Bangkok airport"

You'll find it!

[farseer]

Why is this site always removing posts and without even saying why?

I make a simply reply and yet again it gets removed!

[johnefallis]

I believe very strongly that this amounts to a type of terrorism, by definition, not just extortion, and that everyone involved should face severe penalties. Maybe even as someone else suggested, "a crime against Thailand" or even a crime against the countries of those terrorized.

If Thailand doesn't take a strong stance against the perpetrators, including police involved, I can assure them extensive coverage of every incident of this type in the U.S. media.

This Sri Lanken criminal should be easy to find and jailed just on what he has already openly admitted.

I expect to see that in the media soon.

abc News

edit: remove unecessary formatting commands

Edited June 30, 2009 by johnefallis

[sprq]

Every traveller is at risk. The following just came to me by email, originally from an Indian source.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The following 'Letter to the Editor' was in Nation newspaper, April 30:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

An Indian traveller was detained in Bangkok for [allegedly] stealing a box of cigarettes from a duty-free shop at Bangkok International Airport. He had paid for chocolates and a carton of cigarettes. The cashier put a packet of cigarettes into his bag and he thought it was a free pack. He was arrested for shoplifting and the Thai police extortion price was Bt30,000 for his release. He spent two nights in jail and paid Bt500 for an air-conditioned cell, Bt200-300 for each visitor, and Bt11,000 for his final release. The police shared the money in front of his eyes. On top of that, he was charged in court and fined Bt2,000 by the magistrate and handcuffed and escorted to his plane. His passport was stamped "Thief". While in jail, his relatives requested help from the Indian Embassy but were told the embassy was unable to assist.

The man shared a cell with a Singaporean on the first night, who paid Bt60,000 for his release. On the second night there was a Malaysian national who paid Bt70,000. Many Asians are victimized similarly daily, and letters and phone calls to the Thai authorities are ignored. This was not in a shop in downtown Bangkok but in a duty-free shop at Bangkok's international airport. Be warned.

=========================================

This just came into my email inbox, and I was wondering if anyone else had heard something similar...

"BEWARE.... Bangkok's Airport Duty Free Shops.- You may get jailed for shopping there..

Spread news to your family members, friends, relatives to be careful at Bangkok Airport (presumably, Suwanna)

fraudulant arrests are being made, due to duty free shops staff purposely put some

extra stuff in your purchased stuff, then police arrests,and they share such money with

each other for their own needs,or greed, but you may suffer humilation, arrests and

money losses,

INDIANS' ASSOCIATION OF TAIPEI

An Indian was detained in Bangkok for stealing a pack of cigarette in a

duty-free shop in Bangkok International Airport..

He had paid for chocolates and a carton of cigarettes. The cashier put a

packet of cigarette into his bag and he thought it was a free pack. He was

arrested for shop-lifting and the Thai Police extortion price was 30,000

Baht for his release.

He spent two nights in jail and paid 500 Baht for an air-cond cell, 200-300

baht for each visitor, and 11,000 baht for his final release. The Police

shared the money in front of his eyes. On top of that, he was charged in

court and fined 2,000 baht by the magistrate and handcuffed and escorted to

his plane. His passport was stamped "Thief". While there, his relatives

requested help from the Indian Embassy and was told that they are helpless,

many Asians are victimised similarly daily and letters and phone- calls to

the Thai Authorities are ignored.

He shared a cell with a Singaporean the 1st night who paid 60,000 baht for

his release. The 2nd night was an Malaysian national who paid 70,000 baht

Mind you this was not in a shanty shop in downtown Bangkok but in a duty

free shop in Bangkok Int'l Airport.

BE WARNED.

PS: Above is 100% correct information- because Mr.Rajan Khera's customer

from India faced exactly the same scenerio mentioned above when he was

intransit at Bangkok Int'l Airport."

If the above is true, that would be a new low for the Thai authorities to allow

such a practice to occur. That's why I never buy anything from airport shops and

my carryon bag is with me 100% of the time and closed tightly.

========================================

Another Airport Alert

About two years ago I was at the airport, sitting in Burger King enjoying a burger, when all of a sudden there was a kerfuffle behind me with two Indian men and security guards. They had been accused of taking an extra can of drink from the self-service fridge.

They were well dressed and didn't look short of cash, in fact during the argument one of the Indian men threw a wad of notes onto the table as if to prove his worth.

Because they could not show receipts (from Burger King) they were detained and missed their flight. I know this because I spoke to some of their fellow Indian friends at the Emirates gate later.

I would advise everyone to always ask for, and keep your receipts at airport shops. Even Burger King.

[hughben]

When you fly in to Bangkok you get leaflet informing you of 'swine flu' and what to do, etc.

Maybe a nice leaflet should be given out informing passengers that scams are taking place in the airport.

[loong]

I just hope that this couple do not give up and get a result.

Someone has to eventually!