Jet Ski Scam

[alfbondi]

check the link .The jet ski scam at its best everybody that travels to los should view this so they can be wary of the local mafia.

[H2oDunc]

Not another jatski scam posting and video

It's been done to death mate. try reading through a few forums before posting please

[alfbondi]

mate the more postings the better.the fact that this kind of fraud is still going on has to be drummed into peoples (tourists) heads, the law will not do anything thus these kind of posts will continue mate.

[Spoonman]

Jetski scams in Thailand, who woulda thunk it.......................

[apetley]

One word describes these scammers.....'vermin'

[dantilley]

I think there's a place on this forum for an ongoing thread about these scams, as it's important to warn as many people as possible about this. A few have been opened and then subsequently closed as forum rules begin to be broken. Hopefully this one can stay alive...

[saintofsilence]

The problem with this scam is that innocent people are having their holiday savings stolen from them and there is no organization that they can turn to to get help.

The scammers will offer you a ride on a jet ski at after you think that you done well after bargaining them down to a good price.

Once you are on that ski they have got you and then you could be paying quite a few thousand baht 80 thousand is not unusual.

They even claim for lost time to repair the ski that you did not damage that will be hired again shortly.

Edited November 22, 2010 by saintofsilence

[Tawai]

The problem with this scam is that innocent people are having their holiday savings stolen from them and there is no organization that they can turn to to get help.

The scammers will offer you a ride on a jet ski at after you think that you done well after bargaining them down to a good price.

Once you are on that ski they have got you and then you could be paying quite a few thousand baht 80 thousand is not unusual.

They even claim for lost time to repair the ski that you did not damage that will be hired again shortly.

I don't agree that jet ski users are innocent.

They spoil the beach time of so many other people who are "innocently" not disturbing others with noise. Not speaking of sometimes quite dangerous situations created by wreckless driving.

Ban this annoying behaviuor at least within 200 meters from public beaches!!

[CharlieH]

So if I underatand this right, the person or persons shooting this video, stood there, watched the scam taking place, filmed the fact there was no damage to the jet skis during the use, then stood by and watched the scam reach its conclusion ???? that in itself if it is correct is as bad as the people doing the scam !!! , why the hel_l didnt they warn those Indian guys, show the Policeman the footage or even show the scam artists that they were caught red handed ??? noooooo that wouldnt make good video, just stand there and let innocent people be subjected to it........disgusting !

Edited November 22, 2010 by CharlieH

[slapout]

Another unique part of the scam is asking for payment for the repair time of the jet ski. Auto insurance companies in Thailand seem to refuse to pay for a rental while your vehicle is repaired. Not sure how the payment for repair time ever got into the equation, other than a pure rip off method.

[slapout]

Another unique part of the scam is asking for payment for the repair time of the jet ski. Auto insurance companies in Thailand seem to refuse to pay for a rental while your vehicle is repaired. Not sure how the payment for repair time ever got into the equation, other than a pure rip off method.

[kevkev1888]

So if I underatand this right, the person or persons shooting this video, stood there, watched the scam taking place, filmed the fact there was no damage to the jet skis during the use, then stood by and watched the scam reach its conclusion ???? that in itself if it is correct is as bad as the people doing the scam !!! , why the hel_l didnt they warn those Indian guys, show the Policeman the footage or even show the scam artists that they were caught red handed ??? noooooo that wouldnt make good video, just stand there and let innocent people be subjected to it........disgusting !

Frankly there is not much else you can do.

These people would not take kindly to you getting involved, you think they are just gona stand by while you cost them tens of thousands of Baht in lost income!

I have seen this scam going down many times and would love it if I could do something to help.

But I live here and at the end of the day I am not prepared to put my life on the line.

[saintofsilence]

So if I underatand this right, the person or persons shooting this video, stood there, watched the scam taking place, filmed the fact there was no damage to the jet skis during the use, then stood by and watched the scam reach its conclusion ???? that in itself if it is correct is as bad as the people doing the scam !!! , why the hel_l didnt they warn those Indian guys, show the Policeman the footage or even show the scam artists that they were caught red handed ??? noooooo that wouldnt make good video, just stand there and let innocent people be subjected to it........disgusting !

Charlie before you get stuck into people for not helping do some reading.

I think the guys that filmed should be respected for putting themselves in what could have easily have turned into a dangerous situation.

[CharlieH]

So if I underatand this right, the person or persons shooting this video, stood there, watched the scam taking place, filmed the fact there was no damage to the jet skis during the use, then stood by and watched the scam reach its conclusion ???? that in itself if it is correct is as bad as the people doing the scam !!! , why the hel_l didnt they warn those Indian guys, show the Policeman the footage or even show the scam artists that they were caught red handed ??? noooooo that wouldnt make good video, just stand there and let innocent people be subjected to it........disgusting !

Charlie before you get stuck into people for not helping do some reading.

I think the guys that filmed should be respected for putting themselves in what could have easily have turned into a dangerous situation.

And people standing by only perpetuate it !!

[axact]

So if I underatand this right, the person or persons shooting this video, stood there, watched the scam taking place, filmed the fact there was no damage to the jet skis during the use, then stood by and watched the scam reach its conclusion ???? that in itself if it is correct is as bad as the people doing the scam !!! , why the hel_l didnt they warn those Indian guys, show the Policeman the footage or even show the scam artists that they were caught red handed ??? noooooo that wouldnt make good video, just stand there and let innocent people be subjected to it........disgusting !

This has to be one of the most ill informed replies I have seen in a while.

Go to the police..you are joking, they are part of the scam. Complaints are made to the police a lot of the time and they are not interested. Pattaya Tourist Police Volunteers have been told by their superiors NOT to get involved.

Get involved... a sure way to be attacked

To claim the person filming is as bad as the people scamming <deleted>.. I suggest you go and film the BIB's taking tea money and see how you fare

Please read the many many topics on the internet on how this regular scam works before posting comments like this.

Edited November 22, 2010 by axact

[saintofsilence]

here is a link with a lot more information on this scam

[saintofsilence]

This is a summary of the scam on Pattaya Beach and what I have observed including input from other members

Location : The location of these scams that I have observed have mainly been from soi 10 down to the last Jet Ski Business closets to walking st.

It most likely happens higher up the beach but I have not put anytime in their yet.

Evidence : There is now a couple of video clips on youtube and thai visa member reports in this closed thread http://www.thaivisa....out-of-control- tourists-have-no-hope-of-being-treated-fairly/page__pid__4036497__st__250#entry4036497

When : All The Time but for sure Everyday with the last lot of the hirings for the day usually in 2 or 3 locations along the whole beach starting at soi 10 down to walking st ,but it aIso happens during the day just follow the jet skis and watch what happens when they come in.

I have stated earlier that anyone who rents a jet ski in this area will be very lucky not to be scammed and it can turn violent.

I saw 7 people being scammed late yesterday in three location the last lot I saw looked like a group of U.S navy guys.

This scam is just robbery they are doing it everyday in front of thousands of people and we seem helpless to assist our own country people from being scammed of thousands of dollars and having thier holidays ruined.

Support if caught up in one of these scams ? There are reports in one of the pattaya papers that tourists police cannot be involved.

In the past 30 days it is not unusual to see 4 to 7 scams a day and there has to be others not noticed.

They pick on groups of people including korean , irainians ,russian,india and anyone else who sits there backside on a jets ski.

From reports over the net seeing what happens the tourist never wins with these scammers , there are reports that the police are supporting the scammers.

I have also observed and white westerner supporting the jet ski operators on several occassions and just recently an old indian man with a turban .

The jet ski operators call these people in it looks as if they are on the payroll also.

How big is this scam : It is huge I have estimated just with my time observing and some research that it could be up to 1 million baht per week.

What can we do to as thai visa members and abiding by the rules of this forum to try and get this scam off pattaya beach because at the moment I don't believe tourists have any support in thailand other than to pay up on something they never did and possibly be assaulted if they don't.

[alfbondi]

thats why we have to keep this thread open for as long as possible and hopefully thai visa forum will support us in that.For the only way we can fight back is to put these guys out of bussiness by informing every potentiall tourist that reads this thread of these scams.

[Spee]

For the only way we can fight back is to put these guys out of bussiness by informing every potentiall tourist that reads this thread of these scams.

Pressing the issue here doesn't add much value, because most readers are street smart enough to avoid the scammers. You might be better off raising your concerns with the embassies and ask them to put it up in their tourist advisories. Same thing goes with the publishers of tourism books about Thailand. You would have a chance at reaching hundreds of thousands of people rather than a few dozen readers of this thread.

I don't like it any more than the next person, but frankly, going to Pattaya or Phuket or "insert Thai beach destination here" to rent a jet ski doesn't register any higher on my radar than negotiating a fake viagra purchase with some Nigerian street hustler on Sukhumvit Soi whatever.

The only way mafiosi are going to be stopped is if the police are directed to arrest them and the courts are directed to prosecute them .... and as the video shows ..... well .... there ya go.

[dantilley]

The only way mafiosi are going to be stopped is if the police are directed to arrest them and the courts are directed to prosecute them .... and as the video shows ..... well .... there ya go.

The video only shows one policeman who seems to be involved. If it goes up high enough, or if enough police outside the racket know about it, there's a chance they'll do something.

[Spee]

The only way mafiosi are going to be stopped is if the police are directed to arrest them and the courts are directed to prosecute them .... and as the video shows ..... well .... there ya go.

The video only shows one policeman who seems to be involved. If it goes up high enough, or if enough police outside the racket know about it, there's a chance they'll do something.

Yes, so goes the fine line between optimism, pessimism and pragmatism. I'd like to believe so many recent news articles that have discussed a crackdown in police corruption, but I think the wait and see option suits me.

[pipo1000]

double post deleted due to format issues

Edited November 23, 2010 by pipo1000

[pipo1000]

The only way mafiosi are going to be stopped is if the police are directed to arrest them and the courts are directed to prosecute them .... and as the video shows ..... well .... there ya go.

The video only shows one policeman who seems to be involved. If it goes up high enough, or if enough police outside the racket know about it, there's a chance they'll do something.

The FPV who was involved in our case told me that many police officers were involved in this scam and pointed out 3 of them to me.

[pipo1000]

Hi,we were in Thailand for the first time and left yesterday.We rented a jetski opposite royal garden with a guy if I recall correctly.We had a minor accident together.One jetski had minor scratches and the other had the rubber strip damaged.Initial claim was 80.000 Baht which we talked down to 40.000.

A friend of ours who lives here came to our help when the jetski guy already had made up and signed the papers in which he agreed to a 40.000 baht damage claim,but we hadn't paid yet.He contacted the president of the pattaya jetski organisation who he knows personally,and asked if he could mediate but he said he couldn't get involved.He talked to the guy over the phone and advised us to go to the police station if we thought we didn't get a fair deal.Untill that time no police had been involved yet.

So up we went to soi 9.

As soon as we got out of the car with the rental guy an FPV in plain clothes jumped in and advised us not to enter the police station as it would cause more problems.This is the guy waiting for us outside http://i1230.photobu...ce/d5c7f8c6.jpg.

Anyway we went inside and were immediately contacted by another FPV in uniform who has a desk in the soi 9 office at the left side when you enter.He listened to our story and then called another FPV,also in uniform,who would help us out.

From that point it went completely the wrong direction.He first explained us what the consequences could be and warned us that the Thai guy was a very violent person and we should be aware that all this was a scam with many police officers involved.

He asked about the issue to the Thai guy who got upset almost immediately and left the office to go wait outside.The FPV went talking to him outside and returned with the message that the claim was now again 80.000 Baht and he would not accept a deal because he lost face because of our friends involvement and blah blah.<BR sab="1586">Again we were explained that if there was made an official claim,our passports would get taken a copy of and we would not be able to leave the country that night.

( This I actually don't understand clearly.He said the passport would not get confiscated but only taken a copy and this would then faxed to the airport immigration to prevent us from leaving the country.Do you have any knowledge as if this is the case or only scaring tactics).

The FPV went talking to the guy outside several times on his own,and warned our friend to leave because he had upset the Thai and with his presence he would not come to a deal.At the end we pointed to the documents written by him previously and in which he agreed to the claim reduced to 40.000 Baht but the FPV told us that they had no value.After talking for more then an hour the guy seemed to settle for 59.000 Baht.At that time a Thai police volunteer who was in the office entering claims on his laptop all the time started shouting at us what a scum we actually were by not paying for damage we caused to thai people and demanding our passports and that we should go to jail and so much more.To avoid further escalation of the case we went outside the office and decided to pay the 59.000 Baht.

So in fact after contacting the police the claim was raised from an initial agreement of 40.000 Baht to 59.000 Baht.

The FPV who was "helping" us all that time offered several times to drive us to the bank to withdraw the money.He also answered our question as to why the claim went up again after coming to the police station as that since the police was involved now that they needed their share of the scam.So at the end ONLY police volunteers,foreign and Thai,were involved here however there were several Thai officers present but they didn't want to get involved.Later I also found out that the FPV in plain clothes was mediating in another scam case with some Iranian guys involved,which was going on for 5 hours already,and where the Iranians refused to pay an 8000 Baht claim.I saw later that an official claim was opened with the Thai police volunteer.At the same time there was also a claim negotiated between some Indian guys from which I don't know the outcome.

After all this I really have my doubts that the FPV's are not involved in this scam.The one involved with us said that many Thai police were involved but that he could not do anything about other then advising us to make it all public in our home country's as much as possible,but I ask myself the question if he was genuine or not in his words.Since we are back in our homecountry we decided to make this public.

Please don't let this thread die,it may be valuable information to people who do a google for Pattaya before they visit this Land of Scams.

Edited November 23, 2010 by pipo1000

[saintofsilence]

Hi,we were in Thailand for the first time and left yesterday.We rented a jetski opposite royal garden with a guy if I recall correctly.We had a minor accident together.One jetski had minor scratches and the other had the rubber strip damaged.Initial claim was 80.000 Baht which we talked down to 40.000.

A friend of ours who lives here came to our help when the jetski guy already had made up and signed the papers in which he agreed to a 40.000 baht damage claim,but we hadn't paid yet.He contacted the president of the pattaya jetski organisation who he knows personally,and asked if he could mediate but he said he couldn't get involved.He talked to the guy over the phone and advised us to go to the police station if we thought we didn't get a fair deal.Untill that time no police had been involved yet.

So up we went to soi 9.

As soon as we got out of the car with the rental guy an FPV in plain clothes jumped in and advised us not to enter the police station as it would cause more problems.This is the guy waiting for us outside http://i1230.photobu...ce/d5c7f8c6.jpg.

Anyway we went inside and were immediately contacted by another FPV in uniform who has a desk in the soi 9 office at the left side when you enter.He listened to our story and then called another FPV,also in uniform,who would help us out.

From that point it went completely the wrong direction.He first explained us what the consequences could be and warned us that the Thai guy was a very violent person and we should be aware that all this was a scam with many police officers involved.

He asked about the issue to the Thai guy who got upset almost immediately and left the office to go wait outside.The FPV went talking to him outside and returned with the message that the claim was now again 80.000 Baht and he would not accept a deal because he lost face because of our friends involvement and blah blah.<BR sab="1586">Again we were explained that if there was made an official claim,our passports would get taken a copy of and we would not be able to leave the country that night.

( This I actually don't understand clearly.He said the passport would not get confiscated but only taken a copy and this would then faxed to the airport immigration to prevent us from leaving the country.Do you have any knowledge as if this is the case or only scaring tactics).

The FPV went talking to the guy outside several times on his own,and warned our friend to leave because he had upset the Thai and with his presence he would not come to a deal.At the end we pointed to the documents written by him previously and in which he agreed to the claim reduced to 40.000 Baht but the FPV told us that they had no value.After talking for more then an hour the guy seemed to settle for 59.000 Baht.At that time a Thai police volunteer who was in the office entering claims on his laptop all the time started shouting at us what a scum we actually were by not paying for damage we caused to thai people and demanding our passports and that we should go to jail and so much more.To avoid further escalation of the case we went outside the office and decided to pay the 59.000 Baht.

So in fact after contacting the police the claim was raised from an initial agreement of 40.000 Baht to 59.000 Baht.

The FPV who was "helping" us all that time offered several times to drive us to the bank to withdraw the money.He also answered our question as to why the claim went up again after coming to the police station as that since the police was involved now that they needed their share of the scam.So at the end ONLY police volunteers,foreign and Thai,were involved here however there were several Thai officers present but they didn't want to get involved.Later I also found out that the FPV in plain clothes was mediating in another scam case with some Iranian guys involved,which was going on for 5 hours already,and where the Iranians refused to pay an 8000 Baht claim.I saw later that an official claim was opened with the Thai police volunteer.At the same time there was also a claim negotiated between some Indian guys from which I don't know the outcome.

After all this I really have my doubts that the FPV's are not involved in this scam.The one involved with us said that many Thai police were involved but that he could not do anything about other then advising us to make it all public in our home country's as much as possible,but I ask myself the question if he was genuine or not in his words.Since we are back in our homecountry we decided to make this public.

Please don't let this thread die,it may be valuable information to people who do a google for Pattaya before they visit this Land of Scams.

Thanks for reporting this Pipo it just goes to show how big this scam is and how dangerous it is to rent jet skis on Pattaya Beach with no support from police except abuse if you don't pay the huge amount of money they ask you may be physically assaulted also.

[saintofsilence]

http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/thailand

Australian travellers have reported harassment and threats of violence by jet ski operators on tourist beaches, particularly in Phuket. Some travellers have reported that, after returning hired jet skis, they have been confronted by gangs claiming that the tourist damaged the jet ski. There have been reported instances of such gangs threatening violence, including at knifepoint, if a large sum of money in compensation for the alleged damage is not paid.

[saintofsilence]

http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/thailand

If you intend to hire cars, motorcycles, jet skis or any other motorised water sport equipment, talk to your travel insurer to check if it is covered by your insurance policy. In addition to the jet ski incidents noted above, there have been a number of serious accidents involving jet skis and motorcycles in Thailand. Foreigners are regularly detained and arrested by police following jet ski and motorcycle accidents until compensation can be negotiated between parties. Many vehicle hire companies do not have insurance and any damage or loss will be your responsibility to negotiate or pay.

[parallaxtech]

If you are in Thailand and rent a jetski there is a better than fifty percent chance that you will be scammed. I have lived on Koh Samui for five years and can't count all the jetski scams I have seen. I worked for the Tourist Police several years ago and we helped many tourists until we started getting death threats. Working for free is one thing, but dying for it? The only solution is to not rent jetskis. Take the banana boat, or waterski, or scuba, etc.

Edited November 23, 2010 by parallaxtech

[pipo1000]

If you are in Thailand and rent a jetski there is a better than fifty percent chance that you will be scammed. I have lived on Koh Samui for five years and can't count all the jetski scams I have seen. I worked for the Tourist Police several years ago and we helped many tourists until we started getting death threats. Working for free is one thing, but dying for it? The only solution is to not rent jetskis. Take the banana boat, or waterski, or scuba, etc.

So what you're actually saying is that the police force in Thailand is scared from a bunch of jetski scum?

[surangw]

So what you're actually saying is that the police force in Thailand is scared from a bunch of jetski scum?

not scared, bought off.