British Couple Fights Bangkok Airport Extortionists

[Mario2008]

A trollish post has been deleted and a warning issued. I'm sory for the people who replied to this post that I also had to delete their comments.

[Mario2008]

a99az

You are well informed Mario how do you know that?

grantbkk

Perhaps the potential insider, Mario2008, could ask King Power for the pic so we can identify who we are dealing with here.

Are warned not to make this in a discussion with a moderator. One of the duties of a moderator is to protect Thaivisa from libel suits. Any more funny comments will earn them a suspension.

[sungod]

An extract from The British Embassy Travel advice from today;

'You should also be careful to observe demarcation lines between shops and stalls, particularly in market areas and at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Taking items from one shop’s area to another is likely to be treated by shop staff as suspected theft. You may be arrested by the police and asked to pay a substantial fine and/or face imprisonment.'

read into it as you will.

Edited July 2, 2009 by sungod

[judgedredd]

Yep, as found here:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travelling-and-li...ceania/thailand

Quoting the entire paragraph in context, as found about a third of the way down the page:

“We receive regular reports of credit card fraud after shop employees have copied card details. You are advised not to lose sight of your credit card during transactions. You should also be careful to observe demarcation lines between shops and stalls, particularly in market areas and at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Taking items from one shop’s area to another is likely to be treated by shop staff as suspected theft. You may be arrested by the police and asked to pay a substantial fine and/or face imprisonment”.

Perhaps the above is simply a low-key “diplomatic” slap-in-the-face, without overstating the real truth. The theory being that if you allow the Thais to save face (“it was really the foreigner’s fault, of course”) that perhaps the Thais will also ratchet things down a notch, and warn their police to quit stealing from tourists. That is how diplomats imagine that the real world operates. I would about as soon imagine that pigs could grow wings and fly.

Judge Dredd

[MeetJohnDoe]

An extract from The British Embassy Travel advice from today;

'You should also be careful to observe demarcation lines between shops and stalls, particularly in market areas and at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Taking items from one shop’s area to another is likely to be treated by shop staff as suspected theft.

That's rich...considering all the retail space (not food concessions) is in actuality one store, i.e., King Power Duty Free Sawanapomi branch!

Good to see that at least the UK embassy is on to their scam and warning their nationals.

[Dakhar]

I for one will never even go into any shop in the Airport ever again!

Seconded,

THIRDED

Folks I come from a small town just outside of Lousianna.... my point is, I am mega niave, and to know there are folks out there that could do such a thing, just scares me. I would not have seen this scam coming from my back ground and I know no family member of mine would have either.... <deleted> spooky

[caf]

I think the British embassy is doing as much as it can behind the scenes and I think other embassies are as well.

The moderators have a difficult job because of the Thai libel laws, and particularly with Kingpower

We just need to keep this in the public domain and exert some influence. Thaivisa forums are good at that as is the Andrew Drummond site. **comments removed***

The two "victims" are quite well connected in the uk, that should help

[brahmburgers]

have there been any updates on the original story? And what of the Sri Lankan? Plus, there could be others who speak good-enough English (to be involved with the scam).

Did the Brit couple get their extorted money back? It was under the guise of police involvement that they paid the 8,000 pounds, so if they're were deemed innocent (by the judge) you would think they'd get at least that money refunded. If this were a fair-minded place, they'd also get some added compensation for the hours of misery they suffered while being unlawfully detained and harassed.

I like to point out Thailands flaws as readily as the next righteous person that believes in fairness and justice but jailing you for not having your passport on your person? No. Try to scam money out of you yes. I always just tell them I work here and don't carry my passport like a tourist, it's worked several times.

Not always enforced but please get your facts right. carrying your passport is mandatory and failure to do so is a criminal and arrestable offence which can and has resulted in an overnight stay in jail. Remember we are under thai law and the fact that that is different from that in the west is of no consequence.

Having a Thai drivers license should suffice for a farang. Also, it would probably work to carry a photocopy of your passport's prime page (and copy of visa). Getting popped in Thailand for not having a passport is a rare event. For those of us who reside/stay away from touristy areas, the chances of it happening are close to nil.

I bought something in the KP shop in Suwanabhumi a few months back on a visa run.

The girl handed me my purchase in a bag, but no receipt. I asked for a receipt (with so many stringent airport regulations, it just seems like a good idea) and she said they couldn't give me one - something about having the wrong type of flight ticket. I asked again, but still, no. At the time, I was annoyed, and just chalked up this odd logic to "Ah, well, this is Thailand..."

But now I wonder, if that could have been me....walking out of a KP shop, purchase in hand - but no receipt!

smart to ask for (and hold on to) a receipt. Bad move by the worker there to not give you one. She could have at least written something on a piece of paper. He excuse about "wrong type of flight" ticket is complete BS. She, along with every other KP worker in the vicinity, should be interrogated/detained next time the scam traps other victims. If found in compliance, she should not only lose her job, but be prosecuted for fraud.

It's ironic, when a high-up gov't honcho gets caught stealing tens of millions of baht, he/she is either let off completely or assigned to the giant Ministry of Inactive Posts. For farang accused of a minor theft, he gets harsh back-room threats and immediate fines.

I never went to KP before, and certainly won't start going now.

As for AOT management and their security personnel: They didn't even notice hundreds of luggage carts stolen over a period of months, how can we expect them to notice something as comparatively small as a shake-down scam of several tourists a day.

Edited July 3, 2009 by brahmburgers

[imaneggspurt]

An extract from The British Embassy Travel advice from today;

'You should also be careful to observe demarcation lines between shops and stalls, particularly in market areas and at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Taking items from one shop’s area to another is likely to be treated by shop staff as suspected theft. You may be arrested by the police and asked to pay a substantial fine and/or face imprisonment.'

read into it as you will.

Very well written,.! probably by an ex real estate salesman

[SiriusBlack1]

Some posters have suggested there is no evidence that King Power is directly involved. Well, maybe not. But it is their problem and they need to sort it out one way or another. And the signal to get them moving their asses is for customers to stop visiting their stores. I don't think I've ever bought anything in their overpriced shops but I certainly won't now.

[YohYack]

IMPORTANT UPDATE - King Power posts CCTV footage on their website:

www.kingpower.com

It appears that the victimized British couple is not as innocent as they claim... We can see the lady sweep the product in her bag after having pretended to put it back in place.

Although this does not excuse the extortionist behavior of the Tourist Police, in light of this, the victims were certainly wrong to make a public scandal about these events. They can consider themselves lucky to be able to "buy" a court decision that doesn't send them to jail.

[bungy007]

Some posters have suggested there is no evidence that King Power is directly involved. Well, maybe not. But it is their problem and they need to sort it out one way or another. And the signal to get them moving their asses is for customers to stop visiting their stores. I don't think I've ever bought anything in their overpriced shops but I certainly won't now.

Totally agree and have posted this already. Once the buying stops... Boycott the buggers

[Netfan]

IMPORTANT UPDATE - King Power posts CCTV footage on their website:

www.kingpower.com

It appears that the victimized British couple is not as innocent as they claim... We can see the lady sweep the product in her bag after having pretended to put it back in place.

Although this does not excuse the extortionist behavior of the Tourist Police, in light of this, the victims were certainly wrong to make a public scandal about these events. They can consider themselves lucky to be able to "buy" a court decision that doesn't send them to jail.

I was able to view the video once. My first reaction - that couple in the video is a lot younger than the couple pictured on the first page of this thread. When I tried to view the video again, it had disappeared from the pop-up - I get the letter but no video.

[stumonster]

the video shows the woman placing something she had taken from the shelf into her shoulderbag - and it also shows the man being aware of it happening , he seems to be keeping a lookout .

[Xangsamhua]

Doesn't look like the same woman. The woman in the video seems younger and has longer, fuller hair.

[syd barrett]

the video shows the woman placing something she had taken from the shelf into her shoulderbag - and it also shows the man being aware of it happening , he seems to be keeping a lookout .

From what I have seen in the video footage and after reading the KP explanation letter I conclude that this couple are thieves.

They deserve no sympathy for how they were treated. In fact they were fortunate to be able to pay bribes and leave Thailand IMHO.

[Mobi]

There is little doubt that she is stealing a wallet, and we all may have egg on our faces.

However, the question is, is it the couple in question?

I'm sure some of our more technical brethren can blow up the video and pics of the couple to establish this fact, one way or another.

[syd barrett]

There is little doubt that she is stealing a wallet, and we all may have egg on our faces.

However, the question is, is it the couple in question?

I'm sure some of our more technical brethren can blow up the video and pics of the couple to establish this fact, one way or another.

If you go back and take a look at the photograph of the couple on page 1 post #1 you can see clearly that this is the couple in the video.

[Theyreallrubbish]

What a stunning development!

We all owe Kingpower an apology then.

Seems odd though they would kick up a fuss when they knew they did it and there was CCTV footage of them doing it. Did they think the footage would never be used as a defense by those they accused?

Its also odd that a middle class couple would steal relatively cheap items in highly secure environments in less developed countries. Maybe they do if for the thrill, but they must be smart enough to know that an airport, with all its security and cameras, is absolutely the worst place to engage in a crime of any sort.

I guess I'm still in a kind of denial that they did it and I'm hoping the footage is fake, but that's not fair to Kingpower and the burden of proof must surely be on the couple now.

Although the behaviour of the police was still incorrect, it has to be viewed in a different context now as its no longer extortion from a couple of innocent travelers, but merely accepting bribes from a couple of criminals to get off the charges. Still bad, but not quite as reprehensible and not a cause of fear for other travelers.

And what implications does this have on all the other "victims" of this "scam" such as the Irish lady and the eyeliner?

[animatic]

I looked at this video and nothing is conclusive to me,

any actual placing is out of camera view if it took place.

I saw her hoist her back higher on her shoulder ,

but sorry I did not clearly see any slight of hand.

And the images of the couple are not clear enough to

clearly be the same couple.

So for me inconclusive.

[Mobi]

Maybe KP hired a couple of "Lookalikes" and did a bit of creative filming?

Stranger things have happened in LOS

[syd barrett]

Its also odd that a middle class couple would steal relatively cheap items in highly secure environments in less developed countries. Maybe they do if for the thrill, but they must be smart enough to know that an airport, with all its security and cameras, is absolutely the worst place to engage in a crime of any sort.

Actually it is not 'odd' that an educated, outwardly respectable, middle aged couple should be shoplifting. It is depressingly common.

Consider that statistically only one in fifty shoplifting crimes are prevented, then it becomes a profitable and addictive pastime.

Looking at the video footage of this couple in action (as a team) they are clearly well planned, professional and make a speedy getaway. It would not surprise me if they had been offending for years.

Let's hope the Cambridgeshire police do the right thing and extradite the couple to Thailand for prosecution.

[stumonster]

I looked at this video and nothing is conclusive to me,

any actual placing is out of camera view if it took place.

much CCTV footage is inconclusive and people incriminate themselves by confession after being show footage.

rules for CCTV evidence to be allowed in UK courts require quite a large percentage of the frame to comprise the person being identified.

I wonder if the UK newspaper will contact the couple for comment on the Kingpower information ?

[Shah Jahan]

Maybe KP hired a couple of "Lookalikes" and did a bit of creative filming?

Stranger things have happened in LOS

I would consider this more likely than not.

wonder if they held the 'lookalikes' for stealing too as they had them now on tape

[dwwin]

There is little doubt that she is stealing a wallet, and we all may have egg on our faces.

However, the question is, is it the couple in question?

I'm sure some of our more technical brethren can blow up the video and pics of the couple to establish this fact, one way or another.

If you go back and take a look at the photograph of the couple on page 1 post #1 you can see clearly that this is the couple in the video.

Well, I can't see anything clear here, you sure you can? Doesn't she look quite a bit younger?

[Theyreallrubbish]

There is little doubt that she is stealing a wallet, and we all may have egg on our faces.

However, the question is, is it the couple in question?

I'm sure some of our more technical brethren can blow up the video and pics of the couple to establish this fact, one way or another.

If you go back and take a look at the photograph of the couple on page 1 post #1 you can see clearly that this is the couple in the video.

Well, I can't see anything clear here, you sure you can? Doesn't she look quite a bit younger?

He has what appears to be a similar level of male pattern baldness, the height ratio between the two seems to be correct and, to my eyes, the shape of her face is the same.

They have done a good job on the lookalikes if it is faked.

Also, if it was faked, why would they make the depositing in the bag so hard to see?

[Electra]

The footage is by no means conclusive evidence and to my eye it seems the woman depicted is far younger than Xi Lin and the chap's hairstyle is quite different to Ingram's.

Frankly, the King Power statement that the offending couple were located quickly wearing different " outerwear ", an identification, seemingly based upon blurry video footage committed to memory, made by Thai of farang they have not met previously, is lacking in any credibility.

Nice try KP but it stinks.

[dwwin]

I doubt that KP wants to submit this video as evidence. No date nor time stamp, published as pure propaganda and with intend to smear the couple.

Edited July 4, 2009 by dwwin

[Theyreallrubbish]

I doubt that KP wants to submit this video as evidence. No date nor time stamp, published as pure propaganda and with intend to smear the couple.

Its blurred, but you can see the date and time along the bottom of the video

[TheWalkingMan]

The footage is by no means conclusive evidence and to my eye it seems the woman depicted is far younger than Xi Lin and the chap's hairstyle is quite different to Ingram's.

Frankly, the King Power statement that the offending couple were located quickly wearing different " outerwear ", an identification, seemingly based upon blurry video footage committed to memory, made by Thai of farang they have not met previously, is lacking in any credibility.

Nice try KP but it stinks.

The couple in the video seem to be carrying a small bag, so I wonder where the "outwear" is located. Of course it could be something lite, like a windbreaker. Who knows what the truth is here.