Justice Ministry, Chonburi Governor Join Fray Over Pattaya Jet Skis

[Tanaka]

We are asking monkeys to ignore bananas.

It will not work. These wild monkey thugs are on the beach all day drinking and doing drugs.

I have watched this...documented it on film...sent it to many agencies and websites.

The only remedy is ARRESTS AND REMOVAL of all jet ski mafia.

We are asking serial arsonists to play with matches...but dont make fires. It does not work. They are criminals on drugs using violence to extort money.

All civilized countries would protect their tourist trade not protect their tourist based criminals.

You are right. On all counts. To stop a crime, you remove the criminal. That is a basic and used in most countries. Why not in Thailand?

[Rimmer]

One inappropriate post and a quoted reply removed from view also one post discussing moderation

[cheshiregent]

how on earth can the police be expected to crack down on the jet ski operators when they are on the same side the cops pretend to help the tourist and get a better deal

then meet up with the owner later and get his cut this is old news and an old problem just ban jet ski rental in thailand then no more problem

[Jirapa]

how on earth can the police be expected to crack down on the jet ski operators when they are on the same side the cops pretend to help the tourist and get a better deal

then meet up with the owner later and get his cut this is old news and an old problem just ban jet ski rental in thailand then no more problem

Dangerous, unregulated, unlicensed, uninsured, noisy, ban them, simple! Anyone who goes to the beach for jet-skiing could you please go to a Clubmed or similar chain next time and stay away from Thailand.

[rich54321]

Ban the jet skis altogether - make it an offense to have one on the beach - i have no idea who could enforce it, and im sure they will only be banned for a week or so - with the boys in brown not receiving their regular back hands - the posted vids make it very clear what happens - and i dont think all tourists have clouded minds with drink - lets face it after you have played with some of the facilities available in Pattaya its nice to have a change and i guess a wizz about on the sea could be fun!!

[sirchai]

Anyone know the email address for the guys that make the Jackass films? Sounds like an ideal opportunity to get them over here to film getting their asses kicked by a group of beach thugs for not paying the money or for insisting on taking the jetski out of the water for inspection first.

Time for a sting operation with undercover tourist police volunteers with a Hummer......:jap:

[Derifo]

I believe there was a similar order give or promise made somewhere a couple of months ago.

[exbelg]

as long as the BIB have their hand in the coockie jar, the problem will remain

[IAMSOBAD]

Simple solution for the police.

Prove you are not involved by always siding with the farang customer and always arrest the jet ski liars.

Until then WE DO NOT TRUST YOU!

Any Thai government people should be ashamed of the lack of care for tourists.

Trust me with all of this hitting the internet... The jig will soon be up.

[virtualtraveller]

If you look here:

http://www.1stoppattaya.com/what_to_see/beaches

You'll see how one travel website is making it very clear that visitors SHOULD NOT rent jetskis at all. This is quite a popular site, if many of the others did the same, and you could take all the evidence to the operators they might change their tune.

On the other hand, they probably make more in a day collectively, from scamming one or two unsuspecting Russians or Iranians, than they do renting them out. So who cares if numbers dwindle, just swindle you one single customer a day.

Of course, the city council could solve this in a minute without police co-operation, by putting up big signs warning people, but they don't.

[Fishface]

The danger is what makes Thailand great. If it were regulated like our own boring countries we would not come here. You can catch Aids HIV food poisoning in the same day you arrive, you can get mickey finned and mugged in the safety of your own bedroom.

A boney hand is offered to you for money by the minue and your life is worthless unless you have money. You can die on the steps of the Hospital if you credit card hick ups.

Taxi drivers are a joy and is like sitting in the same car as a snake, you can be sold to another driver for half the price you have just paid. You can have you security box emptied at the secure Hotel reception.

Best of course is I can rent a bike as big as I dare, after kick out time at oh --O clock I can go for a blast without a helmet on and smack myself up and die if I so wanted.

Best holiday I ever had.

[asiawatcher]

I think all these scammers with motorcycles and jet skis should be banned but demand outstrips supply - it is a shame they cannot just have the pricing to adjust up to allow for extra cash these people want to obtain, but it could never reach the levels of the scammed amount by way of hourly hire thus no point. Just ban them completely as there is no point in trying to regulate - no point at all as the regulators will only find ways to take more money. The dis'ease of Asia - is corruption.

[Kilgore Trout]

Ban the jet skis altogether - make it an offense to have one on the beach - i have no idea who could enforce it, and im sure they will only be banned for a week or so - with the boys in brown not receiving their regular back hands - the posted vids make it very clear what happens - and i dont think all tourists have clouded minds with drink - lets face it after you have played with some of the facilities available in Pattaya its nice to have a change and i guess a wizz about on the sea could be fun!!

Wow, all of you guys who are calling for them to be banned must have your head in the sand.

Last time I checked weren't prostitution and pornography illegal in Pattaya and Phucket? If you wanted these sort of items would it be difficult for you to get them?

Ha ha, good one; solve the problem in Thailand by making a law :lol: :lol:

[TheBrit]

Also one big factor in the problem is that in a "civilised" country, the Police Serve and Protect - to a point, and that's what the word Police means to most westerners. If you need help you call the Police.

Here the word Police should NOT be used for the so called Police. It needs a word that fits them better - Legal Corruption Enforcers - aka Mafia.

[IAMSOBAD]

Great posts!

Please keep this anti mafia mindset growing.

I am sending emails to every site involved with travel.

Not to avoid jet skis but to avoid Thailand until REAL action is taken.

This is our big chance to make positive changes toward farang.

We deserve better!

[IAMSOBAD]

Added Thought

All of the hotel chains spend a fortune to have no vacancies.

Emailing their corporate offices can make big waves.

They have HUGE pull with Thai agencies.

Maybe money can sway politicos here to act now.

[BlackJack]

last night we held a birthday party for a 10 year old on Jomtien beach

after 6 pm (legal time when all boats and jet skis are not to be on the water) a thai on a jet ski proceeded to do figure 8's less than a meter from us and the water sprayed up onto us.

The strange thing was that there were few people on the beach and he chose to do it to us

A Thai person, part of our group asked him to be careful as there were children playing in this area

The driver continued doing his tricks and then drove of shouting F___ you and it was his beach and he could do what he wanted

Totally uncalled for and these guys are just plain out of control.

My way of thinking is that there are hundreds of beach chairs and umbrellas on the beach so that people can eat drink sleep swim - so these areas should be roped of with bouys so that the jet ski scum cannot endanger the majority of beach goers.

To say that the swimmers were swimming outside the zone and thats why they get hit by the jet ski is just dumber than dumber. Reverse it. If there are tables chairs and umbrellas then this area is out of bounds to jet ski operators AND banana boats.

I read a story in a local mag, where a rich guy down here looked after his mate that had been scammed by one of these JS operators. He paid the demands to the operator but then

He got 2 guys to hire the 2 jet skis and give the operator that scammed his friend fake passports as security

They took off on the jet skis and then once around the corner torched both of them

now I am not condoning this crimminal act but it was a good read

som nom na

[Rimmer]

We are getting into the realms of Lobbying members which is against forum rules, please stop it.

[Gik]

read a story in a local mag, where a rich guy down here looked after his mate that had been scammed by one of these JS operators. He paid the demands to the operator but then

He got 2 guys to hire the 2 jet skis and give the operator that scammed his friend fake passports as security

They took off on the jet skis and then once around the corner torched both of them

now I am not condoning this crimminal act but it was a good read

som nom na

pattaytrader, the story is fiction.

[BlackJack]

read a story in a local mag, where a rich guy down here looked after his mate that had been scammed by one of these JS operators. He paid the demands to the operator but then

He got 2 guys to hire the 2 jet skis and give the operator that scammed his friend fake passports as security

They took off on the jet skis and then once around the corner torched both of them

now I am not condoning this crimminal act but it was a good read

som nom na

pattaytrader, the story is fiction.

yeh - like i said "a story"

[gmac]

'...Jet ski operators should be given a 30-day amnesty in which to clean up their act. After 30-days, any infraction, scamming, agression, etc., or other behaviour which brings Thailand's diminishing reputation with tourists into disrepute and their business should be closed down and they should be banned for life from operarating a similar business'.

Now that does sound like a good idea with the added proviso that their jet skis should be destroyed so that they can't merely hand them over to a relative or move on and carry out the scam on another beach. Love to see how they would enforce a ban for life though!

[ableguy]

What's that old line about any publicity being good publicity...apparently not in this case. A pat on the back goes out to all those who posted online and helped to publicize these scams. Unfortunately, in Thailand, often the only way to bring about enough pressure for change is when a problem gets so bad that it makes the international media and the high-up officials in Bangkok finally become aware of it.

I agree with everything you say but am sceptical that this scamming will cease, I suspect a bit of noise then business as usual.

[ableguy]

'...Jet ski operators should be given a 30-day amnesty in which to clean up their act. After 30-days, any infraction, scamming, agression, etc., or other behaviour which brings Thailand's diminishing reputation with tourists into disrepute and their business should be closed down and they should be banned for life from operarating a similar business'.

Dream on bro.

[ableguy]

Simple solution for the police.

Prove you are not involved by always siding with the farang customer and always arrest the jet ski liars.

Until then WE DO NOT TRUST YOU!

Any Thai government people should be ashamed of the lack of care for tourists.

Trust me with all of this hitting the internet... The jig will soon be up.

My friend everyone in government has their nose in the trough, same military same BIB ,its a way of life, the only time I have heard a Thai complain was because they cannot get in on the act, we are looked at as nothing and if you cannot accept this you should not be here.

[sunnyrolfe]

Too late too late the maiden cried or not I'm glad that in Pattaya something is being done. We don't need to care about why it's being done but at last unlike Phuket or Swampy airport someone in power has lifted a finger. Hope it's not just another hot air crackdown pledge but a real move to clean the beach of these criminals. Never mind rounding up a few lady boys every so often. Drag these jet skis out of the bay and let the navy test their big guns on them.Regardless of the reasons I'm glad something is being done.

Edited April 25, 2011 by sunnyrolfe

[Arkady]

Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh added that police are not the ones who should be mediating such disputes because, the way the law is written, the problem is a civil, not a criminal, matter.

It is a civil matter as long as the jet ski operator seeks to to claim compensation for damage to his property by engaging a lawyer and suing the perpetrator through the courts.

It is a criminal matter when the jet ski operator seeks to to extort compensation by threats of / or actual violence to the person(s) of the perceived perpetrator(s). This occurs in a vast majority of cases.

If a tourist is being extorted with the threat of violence on a Pattaya beach and the tourist police have been instructed not to become involved, then where does he go for help? The mayor's office?

In any event you can go to any police station in Thailand and you will see domestic and civil disputes being mediated by local cops. It is part of their job.

Typical obfuscation and BS by Thai officials.

I agree that this is obfuscation by Thai officials who are at the top of the food chain and share in the cash flow that makes its way up the pyramid. The police don't have any legal basis for involvement mediating cash damages in civil law disputes, even though it is a traditional role. Of course, it is a very lucrative source of cash flow because the police often negotiate a much larger cut for themselves than the victim gets. A good example would probably be the 19 year old punk who was let off with a token B350k payment to the mother of the Lao girl he bisected with his dad's Porsche and then fled the scene, notwithstanding the fact that his windshield was shattered and the bloody mess of the girl's upper torso was snuggled up beside him in the passenger seat - clearly a crime that would have earned the punk a stiff jail sentence, a hefty fine and a life-time driving ban in a farang jurisdiction and maybe even worse in Thailand, if he happened to be a poor Thai (assuming there was a pick-up truck with the same cutting edge as a Porsche). Obviously the police "fee" on that deal was a multiple of the compensation the mother received. Key money and ongoing rental has to be paid for all important local government and police positions. This is either paid by the incumbents themselves or their sponsors and either way it has to be recovered quickly from the illegal cash flows of the job before there is some sudden political change that invalidates the side agreements. You have to understand the pressure this places on the local government officials and police and not try to judge them by standards of farang countries that publicly embrace rule of law and expect police and local government officials to either be content with their government stipends or choose another career.

Edited April 26, 2011 by Arkady

[IAMSOBAD]

I would love to see CNN or BBC come to Pattaya to film the scam in progress and the monkey thugs attack the news crew.

Watching Primetime viewers could see the true LOS that farang see on a daily basis.

All these Police Generals wearing their uniforms look great in a parade... Other than photo ops they are useless.

[saintofsilence]

Measures to Protect Tourists from Dishonest Practices (20/04/2011)

Source The Government Public Relations Department

The Government has set up four working groups to help protect foreign tourists from dishonest practices in order to boost their confidence in Thailand.

The issue was discussed at a meeting on April 18 at Government House, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban.

http://thailand.prd.go.th/view_inside.php?id=5625

Edited April 26, 2011 by metisdead
Edited for fair use.

[IAMSOBAD]

If you read the above article it says Kuhn Suthep has formed four groups to study the ways farang are ripped off.

Wow!

Just ask me!

Taxi mafia

Jet ski mafia

Farang high pricing

Tuktuk mafia

Corruption by Police

I'm bored thinking. I hope your 4 grouos have the Power to Arrest or you are wasting your time.

Farang are not fooled.

The power of the people and the internet will destroy your country before your 4 groups make a plan Thai style.

Arrest criminals save Thailand for tourists.

[IAMSOBAD]

The "establishment of a ONE STOP OFFICE" to handle scams????????????

In every other place on the planet that would be the POLICE!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing Toyland!