Jet Ski Scam Pattaya When Will It Stop

[saintofsilence]

I further believe that the pictures that are taken are not ever actually looked at in very great detail. I believe the real nature of the pics is that they work as intimidation. The thugs make it a quite strange high profile show to shoot the pictures in the beginning and that makes the tourists to feel small and feel like the shooters of the pictures are in control. When the tourists return from sea the thugs have proof they can use and the tourists know that they have not. The pictures are probably in many cases shown on a small camera display only and it is 100% impossible that any flaws could be seen on such small display even in that unlikely situation that they would be captured on camera. Somebody would need at least a laptop to study the pictures properly and I have not seen many laptops to be carried on the beach for this purpose. I believe in many cases the thugs just wave the camera around saying that they have proof on their side so the tourists need to pull out some cash right now.

One thing that I have personally seen is the sd card been taken away on a motorbike ,and sometimes the scammers will give the victim more time on the water until the sd card returns . And I have also seen the photographer point to the new pics and select certain ones prior to the messenger getting away on the bike but fully agree with your post and intimidation

Edited November 16, 2011 by saintofsilence

[ChangFai]

Not saying it happens every time, I but I have DEFINITELY seen the person who is being scammed camera, being used as evidence against them, after the memory card was removed and photo shopped while they were on the water.

[pauljones]

The guy at Soi 11, with the big chain and blond hair (that drinks whiskey all day) goes to the photoshop and brings back prints now.

These guys know they have protection and are getting more aggressive.

They have a team of punks that fan out during the scam, spotting farangs taking photos.

Bystanders have been attacked for watching them.

[wans]

they also use hidden flaws. theres a plastic piece at the front where the plastic is broken but when pushed together you cant see the crack unless you are very thorough and it wouldnt show in a photo. when the jetski comes in they push it apart while the renter isnt looking then they claim they saw him crash into the side of his friends jetski which has a mark on the side, perhaps covered in black tape which is removed but Im not sure about that. he gets charged for both pieces of damage. Ive seen this done at soi 11. of course the renter has no idea what the thug is talking about but theres a cracked jetski and 3 thugs that claim they saw the accident, no chance winning even if it went to court

Edited November 17, 2011 by wans

[IAMSOBAD]

Pathetic thugs high on drugs and angry from alcohol and the sun are tooooo stuuuuuuupid to just rent all of your jetskis and make an honest living.

Their style is to scare one moron tourist to pay a huge amount while 90 percent of the jetskis sit idle wasting away in salt water and sewage.

They need to be exterminated like a rat!

[saintofsilence]

Pathetic thugs high on drugs and angry from alcohol and the sun are tooooo stuuuuuuupid to just rent all of your jetskis and make an honest living.

Their style is to scare one moron tourist to pay a huge amount while 90 percent of the jetskis sit idle wasting away in salt water and sewage.

They need to be exterminated like a rat!

That's exactly right a lot sk's are not being rented I am quite sure less than last year and if they tried to make an honest living off these it hey would have trouble.

The bad publicity has had an impact but not enough because they are getting very aggressive and 80 to 90 percent of tourist renting ski's on the beach are still scammed.

[marinediscoking]

Pathetic thugs high on drugs and angry from alcohol and the sun are tooooo stuuuuuuupid to just rent all of your jetskis and make an honest living.

Their style is to scare one moron tourist to pay a huge amount while 90 percent of the jetskis sit idle wasting away in salt water and sewage.

They need to be exterminated like a rat!

That's exactly right a lot sk's are not being rented I am quite sure less than last year and if they tried to make an honest living off these it hey would have trouble.

The bad publicity has had an impact but not enough because they are getting very aggressive and 80 to 90 percent of tourist renting ski's on the beach are still scammed.

I does seem slow for them lately. I think the word is out with westerns so they know not to rent. There are not many Arab's in town now so they only have the indian's and ruskies to prey on.

[Baxer]

Pathetic thugs high on drugs and angry from alcohol and the sun are tooooo stuuuuuuupid to just rent all of your jetskis and make an honest living.

Their style is to scare one moron tourist to pay a huge amount while 90 percent of the jetskis sit idle wasting away in salt water and sewage.

They need to be exterminated like a rat!

That's exactly right a lot sk's are not being rented I am quite sure less than last year and if they tried to make an honest living off these it hey would have trouble.

The bad publicity has had an impact but not enough because they are getting very aggressive and 80 to 90 percent of tourist renting ski's on the beach are still scammed.

80 to 90 percent?

You must be joking, i have spent 3-4 hours a day on the beach the last 2 weeks and no one renting jet ski has been scammed in front of me, so i don't think it is that common for a long way.

[pauljones]

I often walk the beach around 3PM from Central to Walking Street.

80% of the time I see it happening.

The worst ones are across from Royal Garden and Mikes.

I notice many are getting drunk and throwning their trash all over the place.

Over to you Mr. Mayor.

[wans]

they need to remove all the drug dealers and pickpockets from the beach, they all have that arrogant threatening manner. last night a little pimp drug dealer yaba adict that works for the jetski guys for 100b a customer told a group of falang sitting opposite soi 13 to leave so he could sleep claiming he was mafia and he was dead serious, they are just unpleasant and unneccasary

[wans]

I think its generally in the late afternoon because most of the time they all end up having to go down to the police station for a few hours and if they did it in the morning they wouldnt be able to do any legitimate business

Edited November 18, 2011 by wans

[saintofsilence]

Pathetic thugs high on drugs and angry from alcohol and the sun are tooooo stuuuuuuupid to just rent all of your jetskis and make an honest living.

Their style is to scare one moron tourist to pay a huge amount while 90 percent of the jetskis sit idle wasting away in salt water and sewage.

They need to be exterminated like a rat!

That's exactly right a lot sk's are not being rented I am quite sure less than last year and if they tried to make an honest living off these it hey would have trouble.

The bad publicity has had an impact but not enough because they are getting very aggressive and 80 to 90 percent of tourist renting ski's on the beach are still scammed.

80 to 90 percent?

You must be joking, i have spent 3-4 hours a day on the beach the last 2 weeks and no one renting jet ski has been scammed in front of me, so i don't think it is that common for a long way.

Allow me to correct my statement I am talking about between soi 9 and The last operator near walking st a single person renting a jet ski has less chance of being scammed but from what I have seen it is very unlikely that a group of two or more renting jet skis will get way with not being scammed I am not sure where you sit on the beach and what time you leave but most scams occur late afternoon when it is cooler this is the busiest time .

There are a groups of people who sit near soi 11 that travelled and assist once a scammer has target it is my opinion they are on the beach for that reason only.

[striderman]

80 to 90 percent?

You must be joking, i have spent 3-4 hours a day on the beach the last 2 weeks and no one renting jet ski has been scammed in front of me, so i don't think it is that common for a long way.

late afternoon is the favourite time say 16.00 onwards.

most frequent target groups rather than single rentals. why?

several skis can be involved and " damage" can be multiplied.

friends tend to go off and play together and so it's easier for them to say "we saw you crash"

several renters mean several wallets and bank cards so a higher figure can be achieved.

several renters also means 1 or 2 can be held hostage while others go to seek funds.

they do not hit everybody some are lucky but rent at your peril.

take a beach walk between the start of walking st and soi 12 and as long as there are ski's out on the water you should get to see some action. Often it is not at the water side for very long cos it's too hot and discussions move to the deckchairs. look out for falangs in seats with a bunch of Thai men around them,* they are not discussing the footy from the tv the previous night.

*if you can see either on the table or in a Thai guys hand a signed rental form book then it's bingo you have one going down.

1 other thing do not be too open about watching or taking a pic these guys are jumpy and liable to react

Edited November 18, 2011 by striderman

[pauljones]

TOURISTS ROBBED OF 100,000,000 BAHT LAST YEAR ON PATTAYA BEACH.

CITY HALL ADMITS IT CAN'T STOP THEM.

The Mayors office has been looking the other way while organized criminals, backed by police are robbing tourists of millions of Baht, in broad daylight, on Pattayas garbage strewn beach.

Assaults are common. Tourists beaten up, threatened, chased into their hotels and terrorized.

Bystanders, observing this activity are also being threatened and assaulted.

It's estimates they are ripping off tourists for 300,000 per day. Maybe allot more.

In one year, that brings the beach punks 109,500,000 a year.

Often, the police are seen, siding with the criminals.

Edited November 18, 2011 by pauljones

[pauljones]

dbl post sorry

Edited November 18, 2011 by pauljones

[balo]

Just close the whole beach , who needs it.

[pauljones]

Google: Pattaya Mayor Jet Ski

29,400 hits.

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=pattaya+mayor+jet+ski&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[pauljones]

"26 July 2011; Pattaya Daily News.

Mr. Chaowalit Seanguthai, Banglamung Chief Administrator along with Mr. Ronnakit Ekasing, Pattaya Deputy Mayor, Mr. Soontorn Rattanavarakorn,Pattaya Assistant district director and related Pattaya goventment officers, and Jet Ski entrepreneurs had a meeting to solve the serious problem of Pattay's tourism image relating to news that tourists were threatened and extorted for money by Jet Ski entrepreneurs"

IMAGE: 250.jpg

"Mr. Chaowalit Seanguthai, Banglamung District Director stated that there was no law regarding The Jet Ski business so the entrepreneur should run their business with honesty."

"Mr. Ronnakit Ekasing, Pattaya Deputy Mayor stated that the Jet Ski was an unlawful business as it could not be conducted as a business in public since it considered as a water sport."

"Pol. Gen. Maj. Tanet Pinmeungngam stated that an ad hoc team will be set up to solve the problem."

I wonder if a Journalist in Pattaya would have the nerve to ask these characters some tough questions?

[Awohalitsiktoli]

I remember learning about "real" culture vs "ideal culture in Uni. Apparently, the white collar money men are attempting to create an ideal image of Pattaya as being safe, fun filled, and good for family frolics. In reality, corruption runs unchecked,Bags of money are picked up, then divided up by the real lords of Pattaya, and any one who seriously tries to stop this can easily lose their life.

Let's send the idealists to the beach - make them open bars and pay tea money - and get them to bring naive relatives for a wonderful holiday.

That is another way of saying "cultural myth" vs "cultural reality." The so-called "white collar men" are doing everything in their power to present an image of the city that is far from its reality, and the Russians appear to be buying into it But this is what any business owner does. It is as old as old (think snake oil salesmen in the USA in the 18th century). "A sucker is born every minute." That appears to be true and those that control the mainstream media know this. Now, however, there is a counter-media that can contradict the cultural myths that those that rule want the 99% to believe. You just participated in the counter-media! Back to the meeting. I liked what this person said. He will probably never get elected mayor because he is apparently willing to take on those who are profiting from the daylight jet ski robbery business:

"Mr. Ronnakit Ekasing, Pattaya Deputy Mayor stated that the Jet Ski was an unlawful business as it could not be conducted as a business in public since it considered as a water sport."

[saintofsilence]

Just reading one of the other forums in PAttaya some pics of scam that went on soi 6 yesterday.

also an interesting comment on the thread from some one else who was involved in an accident once , it does not say when so may have been some time ago

this is the quote

"I don't know about this but even if they did need to have a licence to opperate who would enforce it as they seem to have some of the police on their side. I got one once and I did break it, I hit a friend on another one. We said we would go to atm for money and one of the operators pulled up his shirt to show he had a gun, he said one go and one stay. "

Edited November 20, 2011 by saintofsilence

[Awohalitsiktoli]

Just reading one of the other forums in PAttaya some pics of scam that went on soi 6 yesterday.

also an interesting comment on the thread from some one else who was involved in an accident once , it does not say when so may have been some time ago

this is the quote

"I don't know about this but even if they did need to have a licence to opperate who would enforce it as they seem to have some of the police on their side. I got one once and I did break it, I hit a friend on another one. We said we would go to atm for money and one of the operators pulled up his shirt to show he had a gun, he said one go and one stay. "

Armed robbery with the assistance of those who are supposed to stop it. It is like going to the local bank with you-know-who and they actually help the robbers steal the money! I have a specific question. Do the armed robbers avoid Russians? I am not going to say why they might, but I think we all know why they might want to avoid cheating Russians. I will say this: "You hit me with small club. I come back and hit you with huge club."

[striderman]

Just reading one of the other forums in PAttaya some pics of scam that went on soi 6 yesterday.

also an interesting comment on the thread from some one else who was involved in an accident once , it does not say when so may have been some time ago

this is the quote

"I don't know about this but even if they did need to have a licence to opperate who would enforce it as they seem to have some of the police on their side. I got one once and I did break it, I hit a friend on another one. We said we would go to atm for money and one of the operators pulled up his shirt to show he had a gun, he said one go and one stay. "

i had a look at that report . poor quality pics but 2 of the thai guys are serial scammers or have the most careless customers , i know which option is most likely. they are usually up by mikes but with the high season coming in they may have more minions along the beach and are then called in from there by phone to "assess the new damage". got them both several times in my pic collection.

[saintofsilence]

There are heaps of scams still going on at the beach and don't get reported for certain reason but one thing that I have noticed is that the scammers are getting much more aggressive again and trying harder to detain their victims on the beach.

It seems to be a standard thing that the scammers also film the victims and most likely use this later to track the victims down like visiting their hotel and threatening the manager not to call police.

There was an incident yesterday opposite soi 11 where a well known group of scammers were restricting the tourists they looked like russians from leaving the beach don't know how long they were detained for but it would have been a terrible experience fror them.

Many stories go unreported.

It is only a matter of time someone will be killed by these thugs.

It also looks as if the scammers have total control of all beach chairs between soi 11 and 13/4.

It also looks very much like the owners of these jet ski's are protected.

The TAT and Pattaya City Hall and all Law Enforcement Agencies should be embarressed for how they Promote Pattaya with no warnings to tourists when they are fully aware that a large criminal gang is operating on Pattaya beach and their target is jet ski customers.

Also Government that have citizens coming to Pattaya should have warnings on their official travel sites.

Edited November 23, 2011 by saintofsilence

[IAMSOBAD]

These criminals should win an Academy Award for their acting every single day that some tourist damaged their crappy jet ski.

I wish we could do more but we are outnumbered by criminals. After the first death by beating ALL the Thai Police and government will say ...WOW THATS NEWS TO US???Jet ski scam? Really?

Same way they handle floods...deny deny deny!

[saintofsilence]

Here is another thread that was started 12 months ago on these scammers with a few photo's not much has changed except a few meetings and promises.

Jet Ski Scam Out Of Control Tourists Have No Hope Of Being Treated Fairly

Edited November 23, 2011 by saintofsilence

[saintofsilence]

And Another from 2010

Pattaya Jet Ski's

[morphic]

they need to remove all the drug dealers and pickpockets from the beach, they all have that arrogant threatening manner. last night a little pimp drug dealer yaba adict that works for the jetski guys for 100b a customer told a group of falang sitting opposite soi 13 to leave so he could sleep claiming he was mafia and he was dead serious, they are just unpleasant and unneccasary

and what did the group of falangs do when the little pimp told them to leave?

[saintofsilence]

Aug 2011

Pattaya Jet Ski and Boat operators begin registration process - Pattaya One

[saintofsilence]

Not sure if City Hall are you listening to anyone.

It would be good if they make a public announcement of what is going on about these regulations ?

A few weeks ago one person in that above video punched a tourist from india out and sent him off with blood nose at soi 11 but he was back the next day.

Some Russians have also been assaulted with beer bottles thrown at in soi 11 and the people who did it are still there it was done in view of cameras.

There have been 5 arrested but that was after a hotel manager called tourist police it has not slowed down the rest of the criminal gang on the beach.

This scam looks very much like they have support from other places its time this all stopped,

I read somewhere that they are still looking to organise car spaces before the regulations can be enforced.

Mean while tourists have still been extorted and assaulted and scammed.

Edited November 23, 2011 by saintofsilence

[saintofsilence]

One of the other online papers in the south is quoting Thai Media Pattaya jet-ski operator Somkiat Nopprasuirat, 27, and girlfriend Somsook Kaonok, 25, have been arrested in possession of methamphetamines which police allege they sold to tourists as well as local residents.

unable to find the Thai Media Link

Edited November 26, 2011 by saintofsilence