Scams In Thailand

[mrtoad]

This is what I read under one of the genral topics, "AM I BEING PLAYED " , so my question is ........................" is it a scam"

Given the rest of the details of that particular post, which need not be repeated the answer is in the question. Business is business

[bangkockney]

Heard of some good scams, which took Thai on Farang scams and turned them on their head.

Thai girl and Westerner chat online for several months. Strike up friendship and promise of more. Westerner promises to visit said girl. He "flies" to Thailand. Upon his "arrival", girl receives phone call along the lines of, "your boyfriend has a problem at immigration. Go see the man at entrance XYZ and pay him 20k Baht".

Another being run out of Taiwan is to call Thais and claim they owe crazy sums on their credit card. Details of bank accounts held and balances collected. Instructions provided to resolve the problem at the ATM. Mark instructed to select English at the ATM and given instructions along the lines of, "push 2nd button from top on the right" etc. End up transferring away all their money. One girl even had a call from her Mum who said not to do anything but visit a branch; silly girl said she was taking care of it and hung up.

Anyone who falls for anything like this, no matter what the country, is a moron.

Details of these kind of things are all over Pantip.com.

[travellife]

I find the scams in neighboring countries more frustrating. I usually do a search online before visiting a country. Just type 'Scam' and the country you are going to visit. A bunch of different scams will be listed. Going to Cambodia across the border could be an adventure.

[MAJIC]

To tell the truth I don't think that anyone was scamed. The driver most likely would have turned the meter on if I had insisted, but he was angling for a little extra money and asked for 500 on a 300 fare. I was tired and lazy. I knew basically how much the fare should have been. I also knew that I would have given him a 100 baht tip for getting me into town in the middle of the night. I have enough discretion that I can spend the extra 100 baht if I want.

To me it was being lazy at the start. Once, he turned on the meter, it became a bit interesting as I was curious about how much I was spending for not having to take the time and effort to force him into using the meter or getting a differed cab. For him, I am not sure whether he was playing "look sucker I got you" or just teaching me a bit of a lesson or both.

One time in Manila where every other cab seems to have a hot meter, I was traveling with my boss and we had a few hours to kill. We went to get a massage and dinner about a half a bock from one of the most expensive hotels in the city. When it was time to go to the airport, he had us walk into the lobby and back out of the hotel to pick-up a taxi instead of getting one off of the street. When we got to the airport, the driver wanted 500 for a 140 fare. My boss gave him 150 and told him if he didn't like it, we would raise a stink with the hotel management and he would not be picking-up fares from that hotel again. No more was said.

Edited July 29, 2010 by MAJIC

[Payboy]

Has anyone mentioned the duty free scams yet?

[Kwasaki]

Come on, let us know something really interesting that we don't know.

Ok ! I've never heard of anyone this has happen to before but it's funny and it's true : -

I bought 5 & half rai of land from my wifes family, her eldest sister, really just to help her & her son out basically, left the wife to do the paperwork etc, didn't want to know, it was just going to be an investment for her in the future as far as I was concerned.

Some four years down the line they needed more money ( I bet everyone is surprised to hear that ) .

When my wife visited her sister. she noticed workers on our land cutting all the eucalyptus trees down, turning them into planks of wood for sale, my wife being told this in conversation, said " Oh that's a good idea, how much will we get then ? ".

Her sister replied, " What ! how much will you get, you'll get nothing she retorted " .

My wife calmly explained, " The trees are on our land we bought from you, have you forgotten or something ".

Her sister replied, " You bought the land from me, not the trees that were on it."

I don't want replies I should of done this ! I should of done that ! it doesn't matter because we bought the land for 275,000 and now it's worth 550,000.

[leemo]

Whatever it's worth now is less than its value with the trees.

Still, a fine lesson that one really does need to be specific in all dealings with a Thai, and from my experience though your story does not touch on it, especially so with certain species of farang.

[THAILIBAN]

still surprised that nobody mentioned the

CREDIT CARD SCAM

imposed by the Thai banks, e.g: charging you in the currency of your home country instead of Thai Baht.

by agreeing to be charged in your home currency, you will pay a hidden "commission" that can be anything from 3% up to 10% (the Supermarkets at EMPORIUM and PARAGON did that a few years ago!).

ALWAYS insist to be charged in THAI BAHT. if your home currency appears on the credit card slip,do not sign it.

KASIKORN BANK is infamous for that procedure nowadays. when shopping nowadays, I always tell the cashier not to use KASIKORN BANK credit-card-billing, and they usually smile then, as they are well aware of the scam.

the latest culprits are ASIABOOKS. they never did tried to charge me in my home currency until a couple of months ago.

the staff actually KNOWS that they are doing something dodgy, as they will fold the credit-card-slip in a way that you will not see that you actually agree to be charged in Euro/Dollars/Pounds.

that might be neglectable if the amount is 700 Baht, but I had a bill of 750.000 baht to pay at Bumrungrad Hospital a few years ago, and thanks god I learned about that rip-off a few months before my health-incident. that would have cost me 22.500 Baht extra otherwise.

to be fair, Bumrungrad had before asked me if I want to be charged in my home currency or in Baht, when I went there for a minor health problame a year earlier.

Until that day, I wasn't even aware that I have the RIGHT TO REFUSE to be charged in my home currency.

such thing never happened to me in Malaysia, Philippines or Indonesia. but unfortunately, they started this nasty game in mainland China as well as Hong Kong recently..... (and unfortunately I speak ZERO Mandarin or Cantonese)

Edited July 31, 2010 by THAILIBAN

[rubin]

When I take taxi from home (Nana area) to work at Silom it is always around 70-80 baht depending on traffic conditions. However once I had a ride in a cab which suprisingly charged me 135 baht! It was the same route, very light traffic and it would not be more than 75 baht. The taxi's meter was adjusted somehow to run faster or was charging a higher rate per kilometer. If you know your route and you see that the meter is running faster than it should, leave the taxi immediately! The problem is that taxi drivers in general do not provide receipts, otherwise you can report a meter scam to the taxi company or police.

[skyaslimit]

When I take taxi from home (Nana area) to work at Silom it is always around 70-80 baht depending on traffic conditions. However once I had a ride in a cab which suprisingly charged me 135 baht! It was the same route, very light traffic and it would not be more than 75 baht. The taxi's meter was adjusted somehow to run faster or was charging a higher rate per kilometer. If you know your route and you see that the meter is running faster than it should, leave the taxi immediately! The problem is that taxi drivers in general do not provide receipts, otherwise you can report a meter scam to the taxi company or police.

There is one more thing regarding taxi drivers here in Thailand, sometimes even if you know the route and having the conversation in Thai they still pretend that they have no clue about the destination, even and unless you guide the through every soi and street, close to be the destination they suddenly stop asking you any more questions because they have tested your ability to been in that taxi

[skyaslimit]

any one else wanna give us something new?

[TCW]

Thanks for this - a good topic for a newbie to Thailand (like me) to read through.

[skyaslimit]

Thanks for this - a good topic for a newbie to Thailand (like me) to read through.

Welcome to Amazing Thailand

[ETC]

Here is my somtams worth after rolling around here for a few years.

There are tourist traps and prices just like any other country i have been a tourist too...no difference

Yes, gullible people get caught in gem scams (a friend of mine did and he's a qualified real teacher in the UK what he lacks in street wise he makes up in academia intelligence).

Violent street crime does happen here and is increasing and will not go away i think people should be more aware of bag snatchers and pick pockets than -

taxi / tuck tuck drivers trying to get a few extra bahts....dropping a few loose coins into a disabled person on a bridge cannot do any harm and i would think actually does help that person and not the "invisible mafia pick up" that drops these people off and picks them up but is never spotted.

Airport scam ...well i once paid 600 baht at the old Don Meuang airport for a taxi and my Thai g/f who met me was outwardly smarming at the desk when i paid the money as she knew the taxi meter price...what did i care! nothing we got took to my condo in a nice mercedes...its only know i look back and think sucker! but i enjoyed the moment...

Last year on a trip to HK i booked the hotel taxi online at the airport and that was another limo service and 4 times the price of the normal taxi we took back to the airport...so careful of HK hotel / airport taxi scams ..! its weird how that is not written about as a scam but it is here in Thailand....

its all about word association..

Thailand - scams - whores - drugs - dangerours.... etc..

Reality is normally different and honestly i have had over 10 years here as a tourist and then living and have never been scammed and lost money but then i am careful and streetwise and have stopped a many a set - up in its infancy by just saying no and walking away just like i have done all my life in any country where the set up is happening..

There...

People comeing here need to be more careful of themselves and drinking too much and losing there money/phones/cameras etc and then claiming they were stolen...IMHO

Frankly speaking; I love a good challenge. However..I pride myself in wining more then I lose. I might mention that my Thai wife never stops schooling me in how not to act like a tourist. 5555555555555555

[skyaslimit]

There is one new scam going around now a days regarding tour operators, generally they mention T.A.T (which translates Tourism authority of Thailand) on their entrances and then tries to sell cheap packages on triple the normal prices the new comers just believe these three magic words TAT