Crackdown Fails To Stop Suvarnabhumi Airport Gangs

[cyb]

It makes me sick while waiting at Suvarnabhumi airport and witnesses so many disgusting things.

A few days ago, an "official" guy (around 30 years) with an AOT badge, shouted at a child to show him cash money. The child (maybe 5 years old) was with his mother (I think Arab people) and she could not speak English very well. Apparently they did not have a flight the same evening anymore. The AOT man said he could arrange a 3 star hotel in BKK at 250 US$ for a few hours but he could not accept a credit card, only cash. The mother showed her CC to him. He shouted really hard at the child, "give me money, give me money, show me cash, only cash, 250 US$ cash cash, no credit card, show me CASH CASH"…… I wanted to take a picture but he was looking really angry at me. I have a lot of pics from "bad things/ bad people" at the airport and one day I will do something with it.

All this happened in front of a Thai Airways counter while the staffs (3 people) were watching the guy. No one did anything. Half an hour later, I went back (I think the man closed his deal) to complaint and told my grief at the very same Thai counter. The only thing I got back was a stupid smile and a "mai penrai", take it easy sir.

TIT, this is Thailand.

This has to be the biggest crap i have ever read on thai visa.

There is no way a scammer would shout at a child like that with his parents attending, He would be scamming the adults not using the child in full view of everyone.

I also have seen a very similar situation on a couple of occasions to the OP's, where kids are a fair target (the 'marks brood' or the Scammers confederates children) thru the last couple of years

- so perhaps your omnipotence is a tad faulty, IMHO.

......and if you read many more historic threads on TV, there are certainly much more valid candidates for your 'Ordure Award'....

the great and the gross; the cream and the crass; the whole gamut of humanity reside here on the forum...... including a fair sprinkling of Mr Angry Know It Alls.....

TIT.

Brewsta

I beg to differ.

Using the aforesaid airport more than most of you on here, I am sure i would have seen at least once in my travels.

[moskito]

we can`t really want that so many (gangsters) are loosing their jobs in this hard times..... :D

maybe government should think about raising the fines to 200.-Baht for every caught ppl, I bet they will stop imidiately

[Brewsta]

It makes me sick while waiting at Suvarnabhumi airport and witnesses so many disgusting things.

A few days ago, an "official" guy (around 30 years) with an AOT badge, shouted at a child to show him cash money. The child (maybe 5 years old) was with his mother (I think Arab people) and she could not speak English very well. Apparently they did not have a flight the same evening anymore. The AOT man said he could arrange a 3 star hotel in BKK at 250 US$ for a few hours but he could not accept a credit card, only cash. The mother showed her CC to him. He shouted really hard at the child, "give me money, give me money, show me cash, only cash, 250 US$ cash cash, no credit card, show me CASH CASH"…… I wanted to take a picture but he was looking really angry at me. I have a lot of pics from "bad things/ bad people" at the airport and one day I will do something with it.

All this happened in front of a Thai Airways counter while the staffs (3 people) were watching the guy. No one did anything. Half an hour later, I went back (I think the man closed his deal) to complaint and told my grief at the very same Thai counter. The only thing I got back was a stupid smile and a "mai penrai", take it easy sir.

TIT, this is Thailand.

This has to be the biggest crap i have ever read on thai visa.

There is no way a scammer would shout at a child like that with his parents attending, He would be scamming the adults not using the child in full view of everyone.

I also have seen a very similar situation on a couple of occasions to the OP's, where kids are a fair target (the 'marks brood' or the Scammers confederates children) thru the last couple of years

- so perhaps your omnipotence is a tad faulty, IMHO.

......and if you read many more historic threads on TV, there are certainly much more valid candidates for your 'Ordure Award'....

the great and the gross; the cream and the crass; the whole gamut of humanity reside here on the forum...... including a fair sprinkling of Mr Angry Know It Alls.....

TIT.

Brewsta

I beg to differ.

Using the aforesaid airport more than most of you on here, I am sure i would have seen at least once in my travels.

I use the airport at least a half a dozen times a year in my work and holiday travels, so perhaps I have been unfortunate to see these disgraceful exhibitions.

You are fully entitled to your opinion and I hope that you continue to avoid said travesties.

rgdz,

Brewsta

[cyb]

It makes me sick while waiting at Suvarnabhumi airport and witnesses so many disgusting things.

A few days ago, an "official" guy (around 30 years) with an AOT badge, shouted at a child to show him cash money. The child (maybe 5 years old) was with his mother (I think Arab people) and she could not speak English very well. Apparently they did not have a flight the same evening anymore. The AOT man said he could arrange a 3 star hotel in BKK at 250 US$ for a few hours but he could not accept a credit card, only cash. The mother showed her CC to him. He shouted really hard at the child, "give me money, give me money, show me cash, only cash, 250 US$ cash cash, no credit card, show me CASH CASH"…… I wanted to take a picture but he was looking really angry at me. I have a lot of pics from "bad things/ bad people" at the airport and one day I will do something with it.

All this happened in front of a Thai Airways counter while the staffs (3 people) were watching the guy. No one did anything. Half an hour later, I went back (I think the man closed his deal) to complaint and told my grief at the very same Thai counter. The only thing I got back was a stupid smile and a "mai penrai", take it easy sir.

TIT, this is Thailand.

This has to be the biggest crap i have ever read on thai visa.

There is no way a scammer would shout at a child like that with his parents attending, He would be scamming the adults not using the child in full view of everyone.

@cyb,

I think you are joking..... No? Then I feel stupid not being able to explain things like they are. The child was with the mother only and no father around. The mother did not speak english at all, the child could understand a bit of it.

Now cyb, if this is not a joke, you should be ashamed of yourself, because to me, this is very bad what happened. If you like to laugh with so much crap, pls go home man. Again, I told you, he was shouting very loud and clear at the CHILD. OK?

Invex.

I am guilty of not reading all your posting.

I cannot understand how i missed some of it, I read all except the bit about other people witnessing this. Some problem somewhere thaivisa/ or me lol.

Please accept my apol unreservedly.

But i stand by my statement that i have never seen this even sometimes using the airport 4 or 5 times a week.

[leebeeUK]

Crackdown? - What Crackdown?

The term crackdown, as we all know, is meant to signifify the proverbial 'cracking of the whip', a definite, swift, unwavering and inescapeable action enacted to rid the country/the situation/us of the 'rogue' elements in question...

The Thai government knows this which is why it uses such phrases as soundbites, like saying it means we all believe there are doing it!! Haha!

Conclusion? The Thai government have their own glossary of terms for use in time(s) of public pressure:

for 'Crackdown' see 'token effort, in order to hide inaction and apathy'

Outrage!, Outrage! As your paid MP's we are outraged at these outragious outrages, and to prove it... er... crackdown anybody?

[NinjaGladiator]

Ooooh, they're big powerful gangs, they have connections, they know dangerous people, they use silly words like Mafia. Well isn't The Boys in Brown theoretically the largest organised gang in Thailand, licenced to carry guns, etc. so why exactly can't they route these undesirables out and keep them out? Because everybody who's anybody gets kick backs, but another way of looking at this is...

What is a low-rank PCs starting salary?

What does an inspector earn?

The Chief of police

The head of AOT?

I haven't got a clue, someone once told me the starting salary was about 6-7k a month.

So hazarding a guess and keeping things in perspective, the inspector maybe on 20k a month, the Chie of police on 40-50k a month along with the head of AOT?

Please inform me if I'm wayout. So to my point, that is pretty crap money, and so of course these guys will use their powers to increase their financial status.

and finally I have 2 middle ranking Police Officers living next door to each other at the end of my soi, both houses are worth (I estimate) 10m TB, they don't even hide their proceeds, surely their bosses have popped around for an afternoon cuppa, yet not one has said "hang on a minute, how can a 20-30k salary buy this house - you're under investigation!"

[khaowong1]

When I was last at Suvarnabhumi in June, on my way to Udon a guy approached me after being turned away from Air Asia for missing the check in time by 5 minutes (woops, 1 too many beers at the bar the night before and slept in).

He had what appeared to be a legitimate TAT ID Card, which he showed me. He claimed to be a tourist transport assistant and offered to help me rebook another flight. I guess he took me for fresh meat, and I probably appeared so as I still felt a bit tipsy.

He quoted me a price of 3500thb for a ticket to Udon, which I knew was rubbish. Pretty impressive though, he communicated (in English) to someone via RT (Radio, for those of you not in the business of using the walky talkies) who quoted the price, apparently from the Thai Airways desk. He told me he would take cash and arrange for the ticket for me.

I told him I would go and check other prices, and meet him in 10 minutes if I did not find a cheaper price. Went straight to the Thai Counter near the oversize baggage collection and booked for 1200b...

Surely the state of the art airport has cameras and we all know has ample security to kick out taxis not willing to pay to sit in the rank, so could there not be someone monitoring people walking around the airport dealing with large numbers of foreigners for hours on end? I work in surveillance and know for a fact that this type of activity is extremely easy to pick up (same people, same behaviour, day after day)and stop (trespassing these same people from the entrance doors inwards and putting their faces on a board on the wall).

It seems they did not try very hard on their crack down. Does TAT not understand that once a farang gets scammed in a country, they never usually return unless they have a very good reason? I will never return to Malaysia for that reason - the scamming is on a much bigger and more agressive level than in LOS.

god forbid that the Thai authorities would actually consult with a professional security consultant... I mean really.. ask any Thai about anything, and they of course are the experts... what do we farangs know.??? we have money trees in our back yards for christ sakes... we can't speak Thai... how could we know anything...

[Sherlocke]

Maybe there should be warnings from travel agents and signs at the airport...

"Warning - you are about to enter an unrestricted crime zone.

Organised crime and its minions operates on these premises"

[Brewsta]

It makes me sick while waiting at Suvarnabhumi airport and witnesses so many disgusting things.

A few days ago, an "official" guy (around 30 years) with an AOT badge, shouted at a child to show him cash money. The child (maybe 5 years old) was with his mother (I think Arab people) and she could not speak English very well. Apparently they did not have a flight the same evening anymore. The AOT man said he could arrange a 3 star hotel in BKK at 250 US$ for a few hours but he could not accept a credit card, only cash. The mother showed her CC to him. He shouted really hard at the child, "give me money, give me money, show me cash, only cash, 250 US$ cash cash, no credit card, show me CASH CASH"…… I wanted to take a picture but he was looking really angry at me. I have a lot of pics from "bad things/ bad people" at the airport and one day I will do something with it.

All this happened in front of a Thai Airways counter while the staffs (3 people) were watching the guy. No one did anything. Half an hour later, I went back (I think the man closed his deal) to complaint and told my grief at the very same Thai counter. The only thing I got back was a stupid smile and a "mai penrai", take it easy sir.

TIT, this is Thailand.

This has to be the biggest crap i have ever read on thai visa.

There is no way a scammer would shout at a child like that with his parents attending, He would be scamming the adults not using the child in full view of everyone.

@cyb,

I think you are joking..... No? Then I feel stupid not being able to explain things like they are. The child was with the mother only and no father around. The mother did not speak english at all, the child could understand a bit of it.

Now cyb, if this is not a joke, you should be ashamed of yourself, because to me, this is very bad what happened. If you like to laugh with so much crap, pls go home man. Again, I told you, he was shouting very loud and clear at the CHILD. OK?

Invex,

Hopefully you will not have another distressing experience again here in LOS - but be prepared, coz this kind of tolerance towards criminal behaviour is in this countrys social fabric.

Smile & have a great Monday.

rgdz and empathy,

Brewsta

[Kitsch22]

It makes me sick while waiting at Suvarnabhumi airport and witnesses so many disgusting things.

A few days ago, an "official" guy (around 30 years) with an AOT badge, shouted at a child to show him cash money. The child (maybe 5 years old) was with his mother (I think Arab people) and she could not speak English very well. Apparently they did not have a flight the same evening anymore. The AOT man said he could arrange a 3 star hotel in BKK at 250 US$ for a few hours but he could not accept a credit card, only cash. The mother showed her CC to him. He shouted really hard at the child, "give me money, give me money, show me cash, only cash, 250 US$ cash cash, no credit card, show me CASH CASH"…… I wanted to take a picture but he was looking really angry at me. I have a lot of pics from "bad things/ bad people" at the airport and one day I will do something with it.

All this happened in front of a Thai Airways counter while the staffs (3 people) were watching the guy. No one did anything. Half an hour later, I went back (I think the man closed his deal) to complaint and told my grief at the very same Thai counter. The only thing I got back was a stupid smile and a "mai penrai", take it easy sir.

TIT, this is Thailand.

This has to be the biggest crap i have ever read on thai visa.

There is no way a scammer would shout at a child like that with his parents attending, He would be scamming the adults not using the child in full view of everyone.

I also have seen a very similar situation on a couple of occasions to the OP's, where kids are a fair target (the 'marks brood' or the Scammers confederates children) thru the last couple of years

- so perhaps your omnipotence is a tad faulty, IMHO.

......and if you read many more historic threads on TV, there are certainly much more valid candidates for your 'Ordure Award'....

the great and the gross; the cream and the crass; the whole gamut of humanity reside here on the forum...... including a fair sprinkling of Mr Angry Know It Alls.....

TIT.

Brewsta

I beg to differ.

Using the aforesaid airport more than most of you on here, I am sure i would have seen at least once in my travels.

Well, the story is strange, is it not?

1. How is it that a 5 year-old child of an Arab mother speaks adequate English (enough to understand "money", "cash", "Dollars" and "credit card") when his mother does not?

2. How would the supposed AoT official know of the extraordinary linguistic prowess of the infant?

3. If the mother could not comprehend what was being asked, why did she produce her credit card?

[khaowong1]

Ooooh, they're big powerful gangs, they have connections, they know dangerous people, they use silly words like Mafia. Well isn't The Boys in Brown theoretically the largest organised gang in Thailand, licenced to carry guns, etc. so why exactly can't they route these undesirables out and keep them out? Because everybody who's anybody gets kick backs, but another way of looking at this is...

What is a low-rank PCs starting salary?

What does an inspector earn?

The Chief of police

The head of AOT?

I haven't got a clue, someone once told me the starting salary was about 6-7k a month.

So hazarding a guess and keeping things in perspective, the inspector maybe on 20k a month, the Chie of police on 40-50k a month along with the head of AOT?

Please inform me if I'm wayout. So to my point, that is pretty crap money, and so of course these guys will use their powers to increase their financial status.

and finally I have 2 middle ranking Police Officers living next door to each other at the end of my soi, both houses are worth (I estimate) 10m TB, they don't even hide their proceeds, surely their bosses have popped around for an afternoon cuppa, yet not one has said "hang on a minute, how can a 20-30k salary buy this house - you're under investigation!"

you see the same thing out here in the boonies of Lopburi... some policeman who makes approx. 7-10k a month, living in a 5-10 million baht house, driving a new toyota fortuner... excuse me, doesn't this say something to those in charge of the police dept... yes, it says, hey, old Joe blow is doing really well... what's wrong with the rest of you lazy thugs...

[NinjaGladiator]

Maybe there should be warnings from travel agents and signs at the airport...

"Warning - you are about to enter an unrestricted crime zone.

Organised crime and its minions operates on these premises"

By jove my dear Sherlock that might actually work, the cost would be minimal, they'ed be enhancing their customer service, excellent idea, so we won't do that then!

It's like all MCs must wear helmets, but if we enforce it properly and make it work, show them we mean business, people will actually start wearing them, "na we don't want that! where we gonna get our Black label money from then?"

[invex]

@administrator,

Hi, I just posted a reply on the "Kitsch22" comment. However, it is not showing up. What's the reason pls?

Thanks.

[geriatrickid]

Unless something is done to secure the airport, I fear we will soon see a terror event. As a frequent user of BKK, I have a right to be concerned. No, I am not over reacting, but the situation brings to mind the melee that was the airport in Lagos Nigeria. Over a decade ago the US FAA and its counterpart in the EU warned passengers that the airport did not meet minimum ICAO safety standards and restricted aircraft to and from Nigeria. That decision pressured the Nigerian government to do something. A shoot on sight policy for unauthorized people near the aircraft was implemented. Unauthorized touts were physically tossed out of the terminals. No pass = no entry unless you had a ticket or were there for airport business. Lo and behold the looting, harassment and thuggery stopped.

All it takes is a foreign safety authority to act and this mess would be cleaned up and fast. Unfortunately, the US has lost its backbone and the EU is incapable of anything but hot air. It wasn't too long ago that the Canadian government forced Air Canada to delay its introduction of direct flights to Beirut because of safety concerns. I guess it will be up to Australia, New Zealand and China to act. Why a foreign government? Because foreigners make up a large number of the users and more importantly, it's bloody obvious that the current government is part of the problem.

Absolutely disgusting and inexcusable.

[LawnGnome]

Perhaps its just my naivety, but the fact that they are printing a "follow up story" is a sign of progress. In the past, the "Crackdown" would have been announced, enforced for a day or two and quickly dismissed. One of the positives of the current government seems to be on evaluation of ongoing programs.

[barry51]

yes of course all scams are wrong and I doubt if anything will be different after spending 15 million baht to put a stop to these illegal actives but what would you do if you were a Thai denied the educational opportunities and subsequent high income we enjoy in the west.

[geriatrickid]

Perhaps its just my naivety, but the fact that they are printing a "follow up story" is a sign of progress. In the past, the "Crackdown" would have been announced, enforced for a day or two and quickly dismissed. One of the positives of the current government seems to be on evaluation of ongoing programs.

Hello? what's to evaluate? It's a failure. Until the airport management is changed and a real police authority installed, nothing positive will occur. If this "loss of face" was all it was cracked up to be, the Chief of Airport police and the airport board of directors would be visiting India for face transplants to replace the faces that were lost.

[TongueThaied]

Public executions would prove remarkably effective so lets have a few beheadings on the roof of the car park !

But seriously all that is really required is sufficient determination on the part of the authorities. Who is in charge of that airport, AOT or the gangs ? If AOT cannot do any better perhaps they should just move out and let the gangs officially run the airport.

Who are you kidding? "They" never even did anything about the Yellow Shirted Thugs (euphemism for those 1% of BKK families who own 95% of the wealth and have been in power over 100 years) that took over the airport last January. "They" can't even seem to decide if such blatant thuggery is even a crime!!! Oh, wait a minute, "they" are the yellow shirted thugs.

[Tigs]

Solving the problem would be so much easier if they just change Judicial sentencing power, and that could be done in 24 hours. Make a mandatory minimum fine of 100 000 baht for all concerned. Within 1 week there will be no illegal Taxi operators at the airport, if they cannot pay within 7 days then scrap their cars/taxis, assets, You would only need to impose the punishment on 10 or 20 and the place would be clean. Bring in an independent policing force, say Kenyans for example. Just like they did in London when they brought Kenyans and other Africans to be Traffic Wardens, because they are ruthless and just don't care, put them on a bonus scheme and off they go (I think there could be a lot of shooting going on though )

[webfact]

// 1 post bordering on libelous and off-topic deleted.

[Lancelot]

Hmmm, some "interesting" posts.

I agree with the ignore them posters; most touts read you very quickly and will move along to a softer target if they perceive that you are sreet wise.

For me the amazing thing is that the government appears to be impotent with respect to shutting this activity down. Corruption happens in many countries but most of the time the crooks have the decency to appear somewhat fearful of the authorities. I find the brazenness of it all to be the most disturbing.

[webfact]

/1 post has been deleted

[ChangMaiSausage]

Excuse me again, but why all of this talk of tourist taxi scams at the airport? Avoid all the touts, go straight up to the third floor, and get a taxi dropping off at the arrival gate. Virtually all of those guys use the meter, because they know if you are looking for a taxi there you know every taxi scam and they are simply looking for a metered fare that will get them back into central Bangkok. Why is this simple piece of information not incorporated into every tourist book? And why has no one on this forum mentioned it before? Point, set lao.

Because the police and security are trying to stop this happening, I always did it previously old and new airport but last time all the taxi's refused to take me because of the police standing close-by.

Simple solution go straight to the taxi rank I've never had to wait more than a couple of minutes even when we arrived straight after the airport fiasco last year (first plane to arrive from the UAE/Gulf) the airport was emptyI could count on two hands the people who we seen.

[Garret]

Having the police investigate and fix almost any problem is like taking your brand new car to have washed by a laotian car theft ring.....

[Sturbuc]

WHO wonders about this information? As the "crackdown" had been anounced, nobody could really believe in any changes.

Business as usual.

Edited September 7, 2009 by Sturbuc

[Garry9999]

Just something to consider here.

Taxis are available from the ground floor level of Melbourne Airport, outside Terminal 2 (T2 - International) and both domestic terminals (Terminal 1 - T1 and Terminal 3 - T3). Expect a taxi fare of around A$80 to A$85 for a return trip between the CBD and Melbourne Airport.

A $2.00 taxi parking fee applies at Melbourne Airport. This $2.00 per vehicle fee only applies to passengers leaving Melbourne Airport from a taxi rank. A $3.00 per vehicle pre-booked taxi fee also applies for passengers catching a limousine or taxi from the premium parking area opposite T2.

The Victorian Government urges travellers to be aware of unlicensed or illegal taxi and chauffeur drivers, also known as touters, operating at Melbourne Airport. If you are approached by someone offering to assist you with transport needs, you should decline the invitation and report the incident to the Victorian Taxi Directorate on +61 3 9320 4300 or (toll free) 1800 638 802.

Chauffeur services from Melbourne Airport must be pre-booked before your arrival.

http://www.melbourneairport.com.au/To-From...s/Overview.html

A$80 is about 2250 baht.

[Oberkommando]

Actually, that was kind of interesting. Under Samak, the AoT canceled the contract and demanded King Power vacate the premises. After Abhisit/Suthep took over, AoT signed a new contract that allowed all the things King Power did that violated the first contract. It seems King Power is a big financial backer of Newin.

Another black mark for this illegitimate failure of a government.

[Codacoda]

Official taxi (transfers) asks 2500-3000 Bht to go to Pattaya.

Unofficial - starts from 800 + highway (my own experience).

What to choose?

What will be after this campaign? Monopoly of ToT? AOT? Other "official" monopoly?

Monopoly is not good in any case.

For many years I use official licensed driver (he has a small taxi company in Pattaya) - price 1000 Bht (from airport to Pattaya incl highway) is ok for him.

If "official" in airport asks more - it is robbery.

At once I used official taxi (from tourist company, with office in airport). I paid in advance (it was required). It was promised to use highway. But driver did not use highway - just keep my money I spent about 4 hours instead of 2.

I hope never use official taxi located in airport. Never.

[eurozhongguo]

The last time that I arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport, it was late at night after the airport bus (my usual mode of transport) had stopped operating and I was approached by a couple of obviously illegal taxi operators. I wanted to go to the Siam Square area and they offered a price of 400Baht which I managed to reduce to 350 Baht after much persuasion. The driver took us to a virtually lone private vehicle in an airport car park and took us to our destination safe and sound for the quoted price. We don't mind so much that the taxi operation was illegal as the price was competitive, but there may some out there who take more than just the fare by stealing from passengers or worse.

[sunnymarky]

The last time that I arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport, it was late at night after the airport bus (my usual mode of transport) had stopped operating and I was approached by a couple of obviously illegal taxi operators. I wanted to go to the Siam Square area and they offered a price of 400Baht which I managed to reduce to 350 Baht after much persuasion. The driver took us to a virtually lone private vehicle in an airport car park and took us to our destination safe and sound for the quoted price. We don't mind so much that the taxi operation was illegal as the price was competitive, but there may some out there who take more than just the fare by stealing from passengers or worse.

you could have got a bus 551 to victory mon, goes all night, then a taxi to siam square 50 bht. total 70 bht, dont need to use taxi scum anytime