Thailand Scams Vs Other Countries, More, Same Or Less Amount

[livinthailandos]

Thailand scams vs other countries, more, same or less amount of scams

Never really seen any postings on a topic like this so I thought i would ask the question, some of you have traveled around more parts of the world possibly than me so i would like any opinions or experiences on this matter.

Are there any countries worse than thailand regarding scams?

[jdinasia]

Two words

Bernie Madoff

[mstribling]

Two words

Bernie Madoff

Very true

[mstribling]

Scams are abound everywhere. In N. America and Europe the're just more subtle. In the end it seems everyone wants your money.

[SteeleJoe]

Two words

Bernie Madoff

He didn't ask where are the biggest scams or if other countries ever had them.

Anyway, I don't know that scams happen here more than elsewhere; if they do, I don't believe for a second that it proves that Thais are inherently more deceitful or avaricious.

[guzzi850m2]

Two words

Bernie Madoff

Very good answer.

I saw Singapore TV evening news (in Sing. big surprise) where they were focusing on Filipino ex pats workers. One Filipino worker whom spend 10 years of her life working overseas and invested all her savings in 3 houses (home). When she got back her family had lost them all on gambling, well maybe a bad example but it just show how much you have to take care of YOUR hard earned money.

Good and bad people everywhere, no need to say which group the dam_n jet ski rental guys belong to.

I recently got scammed out of 200 bath from a police man when he correctly fined me 200 bath for jump a red light on my bike, but he also fined me for a missing green book (of which I had a copy on me but he didn't ask). So that was 400 bath for jump a red light, he-he. If I pulled a stunt like that in Denmark I would properly have to pay something like 25000 bath + a lost drivers license so I am not complaining.

[a51mas]

The OP is clever in the way he asking question, kind of portray himself as naive person, but if you read some of his posts that he expressed his over all sentiments towards Thailand and her people, you will realize that all the replies so far are not what he wanted to hear, the answer he really wants is "yes Thailand is the biggest.................in the world":jerk:

[mstribling]

Three places in my experience that are far worse than Thailand for scams.

1. The line to get into the Vatican.

2. Disneyland.

3. The Pyramids.

Those are tourist scams.

I spend a tremendous amount of my professional time in Africa and C. Asia. Trust me Thais are not that bad.

I had one friend who was robbed in the airport in Lagos.

I myself get shook down for around 800฿ to get out of the airport at Kabul.

[zzaa09]

Scams are abound everywhere. In N. America and Europe the're just more subtle. In the end it seems everyone wants your money.

Yet, they're not referenced in a corrupt manner. Frankly, there might be much more subliminal scamming properties throughout the modern West than elsewhere - the populations have just been conditioned to view such activities as benign.

[zzaa09]

The OP is clever in the way he asking question, kind of portray himself as naive person, but if you read some of his posts that he expressed his over all sentiments towards Thailand and her people, you will realize that all the replies so far are not what he wanted to hear, the answer he really wants is "yes Thailand is the biggest.................in the world":jerk:

The perfect reasons why he insist on settling here. Lub Thai so mutt.

[aussiebebe]

Thai scams are child's play compared with some places I've visited such as Romania (for six months) and Bulgaria (just two weeks) and some places I've never set foot in such Nigeria and Pakistan probably top the list with internet and mail scams just dwarfing every other country combined. Romanians were an interesting bunch who generally trusted very few people outside of their own families. It's the scale of Romanian scams which gives one pause for thought; internet dating scams, ebay scams and property scams are so developed. Whereas a Thai property scammer selling off-plan units might fiddle the size or layout, imagine a situation where the land doesn't even exist and you can appreciate the mind-set of a Romanian scam artist. It's at another level.

The problem with Thais I've decided, after five years of living in Bangkok, is a lack of oversight and organization; the Royal Thai Police are famously self-funded yet sabotaged centralized traffic light system initatives. If they could see the potential of investing in traffic speed cameras they would truly become world-class scammers, but alas. The same for (dis-)organised Thai crime gangs - they have remained reluctant to make the investment necessary to carry out electronic crime on a large scale.

[ChristopherWilliamsBKK]

Thai scams are very very good..

But compared to Nigerian ones.... they are in the kindergarten

[Carib]

In the "civilised world", one doesn't expect to be scammed, therein lies the power of the scammer. We are less inclined to for instance check our change or a bill in the west..WRONG ! very wrong.

And no, I don't think Thailand is much worse than other places.

[champken]

Scams are abound everywhere. In N. America and Europe the're just more subtle. In the end it seems everyone wants your money.

Quite true, however in N America and Europe the scams are not normally aided and abetted by somebody in a uniform

[happyrobert]

Same everywhere.

Take a look at some of the expat web sites for other countries (there's a million of 'em) and you will think you are reading about Thailand.

http://www.belizenorth.com/expats.htm

Look at #'a 2,5, 8, and 9. Sound familiar?

Thailand is not unique. You can find the same words repeated for sites in Venezuela, Panama, Mexico and Brazil, blah, blah, blah........

[lannarebirth]

Except for police scams which can turn into some serious money, the best thing about Thai scams is how little money they are willing to rip you off for. I've seen merchants willing to rip me off for as little as 50 Baht! Man, that is a gift. I'll never use that merchant again and if the stupid SOB had applied himself a little better he probably could have got into me for 1,000 Bt. Be grateful they're so greedy for even small sums.

[IanForbes]

The OP is clever in the way he asking question, kind of portray himself as naive person, but if you read some of his posts that he expressed his over all sentiments towards Thailand and her people, you will realize that all the replies so far are not what he wanted to hear, the answer he really wants is "yes Thailand is the biggest.................in the world":jerk:

Good research. Good call.

As far as scams go there are a couple of old sayings that fit this topic. 1. A fool and his money are soon parted. and 2. If it looks too good to be true then it isn't.

Yes, there are scams in Thailand, but they tend to be small ones implemented on greedy individuals who are looking for a "deal". That includes silly old men who think that 20 year old bar girl is madly in love with them. In North America we also have scams, but they are far bigger ones like the well noted Bernie Madoff, and far more clever. And, they are also helped out by politicians looking to further their own personal interests.

I used to visit the Philippines until I finally had enough of all the scams. You couldn't trust anyone about anything and there were scammers bothering you every day... even when you didn't want to participate. By contrast, Thailand was and is a children's playground. I've never felt threatened in Thailand despite hanging around the seedier parts of certain cities.

But, in the Philippines I constantly had to watch my back. And, that is despite never getting drunk or flashing gold and large amounts of money either. In the Philippines they will kill you for your pocket change if you are not totally aware at all times. I tried to figure out WHY it happened so often in the Philippines as compared to Thailand where it only happens to foolish individuals, and the only thing I could come up with was religion. The Philippines is Catholic where scamming is part of their religion, It starts from the Pope on down and spreads into every corner of their country. The leaders of the Philippines have been masters of scamming their people without giving anything back. Remember Marcos and his shoe loving wife? Contrast Thailand to the Philippines and you find that Thailand is Buddhist where being friendly and enlightened is part of their philosophy., While he was in power, Thaksin at least gave SOMETHING back to the Thai people, although it was their own money in the first place.

[simon43]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don't seem able to find a plethora of web-sites warning about scams in Belize etc. Yet if you Google for Thai scams, then there is web-site after web-site with such warnings

Simon

[zzaa09]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don't seem able to find a plethora of web-sites warning about scams in Belize etc. Yet if you Google for Thai scams, then there is web-site after web-site with such warnings

Simon

You're Goggling the wrong places....try the same: American scams; British scams; Australian scams; etc. and see what comes up. Is it a competition?

[Forethat]

I am (un)fortunate having to travel a lot in my work, so I've been around the world and learned to smell a scam from miles away. One thing that I have noticed though, is the unsophisticated taxi-scams in Thailand. He**, they dont even scam you; they tell you the price upfront and you're perfectly free to check on the price in advance and find other transportation. In most other countries the scam is not revealed until you're already in the taxi on the way to your destination. In India it's the good old AC-fee (for those of you who doesn't now, the driver refuses to switch the AC on unless you agree to pay 100 rupies or similar in AC-fee).

I'd say most scams in Thailand are pretty harmless and easy to identify upfront, but there are a few nasty ones (Pattaya Jet-Ski etc.).

[Atmos]

it's the small stuff that happens again and again that creates the 'scam' image - same old stories of tuk-tuks, jetskis, drunk or drugged and robbed by ladyboy, time-share rip-offs. They occur continually as new batches of naive tourists who think 'it won't happen to me' - it does and they go home and have their 5 minute moan on a website, that will usually starts with "Why don't/aren't Thai people . . . ?"

Real scams tend to involve professional people - lawyers and accountants, trust funds, ponzi, investment funds - where people lsoe their entire live savings and more if properties mortgaged etc.

eg

In 2009, Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer found that 69 percent of worldwide respondents believed that their national political parties were corrupt and 61 percent said the same for legislatures. Political parties and civil servants were listed as the most corrupt institutions within society

and

Businesses are filing for bankruptcy at a record pace: in the United States corporate bankruptcies were up nearly 35 percent in 2009 after rising 30 percent the year before. More bankruptcies will likely lead to more instances of bankruptcy fraud.

from Kroll: Global Fraud Report

I don't see any mention there of Bruce from Sydney getting overcharged for drinks in a Pattaya bar. He's busy at home now detailing his whine for an internet forum!

[TheFishman1]

Same everywhere.

Take a look at some of the expat web sites for other countries (there's a million of 'em) and you will think you are reading about Thailand.

http://www.belizenorth.com/expats.htm

Look at #'a 2,5, 8, and 9. Sound familiar?

Thailand is not unique. You can find the same words repeated for sites in Venezuela, Panama, Mexico and Brazil, blah, blah, blah........

I lived in Belize for 4 yrs.Never had a problem with Banks or anything else now I did not live in Belize City but any other place in the country was safe,if you needed a police man there was know problem.I think you picked the wrong web page try Belize Forum The people in Belize are general laid back will help you if needed.There were some American out of I think Fla. or Texas trying to sale land to people that on thier web page look great and a few people bought without looking at it and it was in the middle of nothing,but saying that let the buyer beware.I really would not call it a big scam they just did not get there desposit back.Belize is a very small country so when something happens there it makes the news.The place where the writer was talking about is a very small resort area and they are real laid back.Tourist area,I been there many times without any problems.Just my 2 cents

[F1fanatic]

The OP is clever in the way he asking question, kind of portray himself as naive person, but if you read some of his posts that he expressed his over all sentiments towards Thailand and her people, you will realize that all the replies so far are not what he wanted to hear, the answer he really wants is "yes Thailand is the biggest.................in the world":jerk:

Good research. Good call.

As far as scams go there are a couple of old sayings that fit this topic. 1. A fool and his money are soon parted. and 2. If it looks too good to be true then it isn't.

Yes, there are scams in Thailand, but they tend to be small ones implemented on greedy individuals who are looking for a "deal". That includes silly old men who think that 20 year old bar girl is madly in love with them. In North America we also have scams, but they are far bigger ones like the well noted Bernie Madoff, and far more clever. And, they are also helped out by politicians looking to further their own personal interests.

I used to visit the Philippines until I finally had enough of all the scams. You couldn't trust anyone about anything and there were scammers bothering you every day... even when you didn't want to participate. By contrast, Thailand was and is a children's playground. I've never felt threatened in Thailand despite hanging around the seedier parts of certain cities.

But, in the Philippines I constantly had to watch my back. And, that is despite never getting drunk or flashing gold and large amounts of money either. In the Philippines they will kill you for your pocket change if you are not totally aware at all times. I tried to figure out WHY it happened so often in the Philippines as compared to Thailand where it only happens to foolish individuals, and the only thing I could come up with was religion. The Philippines is Catholic where scamming is part of their religion, It starts from the Pope on down and spreads into every corner of their country. The leaders of the Philippines have been masters of scamming their people without giving anything back. Remember Marcos and his shoe loving wife? Contrast Thailand to the Philippines and you find that Thailand is Buddhist where being friendly and enlightened is part of their philosophy., While he was in power, Thaksin at least gave SOMETHING back to the Thai people, although it was their own money in the first place.

I agree. Admittedly I only spent six weeks in the Phillipines, but they were the worst people I have had the misfortune to come across! You couldn't turn your back on anything for a minute, or it WOULD be stolen...

They would also be stupid enough to charge you x amount the first few times they met you (for everday things), and then charge you x amount times 10 a few days later! If you think the Thais are bad, the Phillipinos are a lot worse.

Incidentally, I never had anything stolen there - but many others did....

As for the OP - its not the 'scams' that are the problem. Anyone with more money than sense can lose out in any country - its the low-grade belief that 'farangs are rich and stupid, so should pay far more' that grates.

It gets even more annoying when a tradesman charges you a reasonable amount for a job done and you give them a bonus - happy that they have done such a good job for a reasonable amount, only to find that the next time they charge you 'over the top', thinking you're just a 'soft touch'...