South African Family's Phuket Holiday Nightmare

[whybother]

I'm not saying there was none, but where is the corruption in this story?

You're not serious, are you?

[Boater]

I'm not saying there was none, but where is the corruption in this story?

You're not serious, are you?

i was thinking the same thing? .... Richard4849, i suggest you read the OP again

[metisdead]

One post that started off with good intentions which ended in derogatory and inflammatory comments has been removed.

[Richard4849]

I re-read it.

Still don't see anything.

The only thing that comes close might be the statement "His passport was confiscated and police continuously demanding money for his release."

But then it becomes clear that the "demanding money for his release" was in fact talking about bail.

What else is there?

[kutjebu]

This story smells fishy. Why would anyone exchange their cash at a travel agency instead of a bank? Why would you bring US Dollars to Thailand instead of Thai Baht? It just doesn't make sense...

You can see that you've never been in South Africa.It's very usual that you get a ticket and they chance all kind of money.Nothing unusual.You must be an idiot to bring Thai bahts because you get maybe 15 bahts for a dollar.Try to change bahts in Indonesia.You get 50% when you're lucky.

Edited September 30, 2011 by metisdead
Font resized.

[whybother]

I re-read it.

Still don't see anything.

The only thing that comes close might be the statement "His passport was confiscated and police continuously demanding money for his release."

But then it becomes clear that the "demanding money for his release" was in fact talking about bail.

What else is there?

had to frequently pay out sums of money to the police and lawyers to apparently finance the “case” against him.

At the same time the police kept taking it and demanding more.

At some point the authorities demanded more money to take the dollars to Bangkok for forensic investigation – costs of which the family had to cover.

He was released on R75 000 bail, but not given his passport.

A month and R180 000 later, the family pleaded poverty. They deposited their last R20 000 and the 43-year-old man was able to leave and head for South Africa after finally being given his passport in a barter agreement.

It was only on Wednesday, after Sequeira was given his passport to withdraw the last R20 000, that he managed to leave the country.

Surely if they needed to send the notes for analysis, then they wouldn't have known they were fake in the first place.

He was released on bail, but still had to pay more money.

I think you're being a bit naive.

[Jimi007]

This story smells fishy. Why would anyone exchange their cash at a travel agency instead of a bank? Why would you bring US Dollars to Thailand instead of Thai Baht? It just doesn't make sense...

You can see that you've never been in South Africa.It's very usual that you get a ticket and they chance all kind of money.Nothing unusual.You must be an idiot to bring Thai bahts because you get maybe 15 bahts for a dollar.Try to change bahts in Indonesia.You get 50% when you're lucky.

As I said later you're pretty much an idiot to carry cash around... Use an ATM card.

[whybother]

As I said later you're pretty much an idiot to carry cash around... Use an ATM card.

That doesn't give the police a excuse to accuse you of having fake notes and put you in jail for a month.

Edited September 30, 2011 by whybother

[Richard4849]

An unquestioning mind might reach the conclusion you are reaching, but I see other possibilities -- especially when there is a lawyer involved telling the family that the cops are demanding money for this or that.

[Jimi007]

As I said later you're pretty much an idiot to carry cash around... Use an ATM card.

That doesn't give the police a excuse to accuse you of having fake notes and put you in jail for a month.

How do you know they were not fake? If he used an ATM card, he wouldn't have had a problem...

[sotsira]

This story smells fishy. Why would anyone exchange their cash at a travel agency instead of a bank? Why would you bring US Dollars to Thailand instead of Thai Baht? It just doesn't make sense...

Do you think the guy could buy Thai Bath in S.A.?????????

What's a Thai Bath? I usually only see showers! I use an ATM card where ever I have traveled without a problem. You get a higher exchange rate usually than cash and you won't end up in jail like this guy.

Using an ATM card is the most expensive way to get your money when you add up all the charges from the local ATM(150bt) and the banks charges from abroad usually 2-5%

Travellers Cheques are the cheapest way for tourists and the safest.

Edited September 30, 2011 by sotsira

[DP25]

Using an ATM card is the most expensive way to get your money when you add up all the charges from the local ATM(150bt) and the banks charges from abroad usually 2-5%

Travellers Cheques are the cheapest way for tourists and the safest.

150 baht to withdraw 20,000 baht sounds like a good deal compared to buying fake US dollars in Africa and getting caught trying to change them in Thailand

[Nisa]

So ... were the dollars fake or not?

He signed a paper saying they were

[tombkk]

An unquestioning mind might reach the conclusion you are reaching, but I see other possibilities -- especially when there is a lawyer involved telling the family that the cops are demanding money for this or that.

My thinking exactly: Sounds more like an entrepreneuring lawyer.

[Richard4849]

So ... were the dollars fake or not?

He signed a paper saying they were

First, we don't know what the paper said. Did he confess that the confiscated bills belonged to him? Did he confess that they were fake? Did he confess that he intentionally passed fake bills? Who the heck knows?

Second, it has no bearing on whether the bills were actually fake or not.

[tombkk]

So ... were the dollars fake or not?

Unlikely, as Rennies is a reputable company. Of course, they could have made a mistake. But since the question is not answered in the story, I don't think this was the reason for his arrest.

In a country were cash money between USD and THB is exchanged in the millions every day, I wonder why he was arrested for a mere US$ 1,000.

I also have no experience (personal or anecdotal) of anybody being arrested on fake charges until he ran out of money and then released without further ado - and then had to pay an overstay fine.

My suspicious is that there is more to the story than has been published.

[Richard4849]

So ... were the dollars fake or not?

Unlikely, as Rennies is a reputable company. Of course, they could have made a mistake. But since the question is not answered in the story, I don't think this was the reason for his arrest.

In a country were cash money between USD and THB is exchanged in the millions every day, I wonder why he was arrested for a mere US$ 1,000.

I also have no experience (personal or anecdotal) of anybody being arrested on fake charges until he ran out of money and then released without further ado - and then had to pay an overstay fine.

My suspicious is that there is more to the story than has been published.

There often is.

[tombkk]

There is another question: He was out on bail, and his (South African) embassy refused any help, because he was not actually in jail. I don't really know the policy of the RSA, but somehow I doubt they would refuse to help any of their citizens just because he is not physically in jail.

And why mention the Portuguese embassy? The OP fails to mention anything that would justify their involvement.

This is just bad journalism. Someone please tell us the whole story before we can make up our minds about this.

[Richard4849]

Possibly a dual national, based on his surname?

[Nisa]

So ... were the dollars fake or not?

He signed a paper saying they were

First, we don't know what the paper said. Did he confess that the confiscated bills belonged to him? Did he confess that they were fake? Did he confess that he intentionally passed fake bills? Who the heck knows?

Second, it has no bearing on whether the bills were actually fake or not.

The guy signs a paper admitting his guilt, gets released on bail and doesn't contact his embassy to tell them of his claimed experience of extortion and to get a passport or help with getting back home.

Sounds very fishy to me.

Also, reputable or not, a travel agent and any just about any other company can mistakenly pass bogus bills, especially of a foreign currency, and there certainly could be an employee there converting real dollars with fake dollars.

But if this guy didn't contact his embassy then I suspect he was in on the scam. Maybe I missed the part about his contacting the embassy but the only thing I saw was a warning at the end of the story telling visitors they should contact their embassy.

Certainly anything is possible but there is enough criminals & actual crimes out there for cops to extort money from than risk going after law obeying tourists.

Edit: The excuse of mistakenly signing a paper you that you can't read the language has been played out decades ago as a valid excuse.

Edit II: I see he claims to have contacted the embassy but they refused to get involved ... more fishy.

Edited September 30, 2011 by Nisa

[gpdjohn]

"But a New Zealander introduced to him as a tourism police officer and one of the few officials who could speak English, told him it was safe to sign the document as it was “just a formality”.

Glad to see the farang helped him out.

[tombkk]

Possibly a dual national, based on his surname?

That's an assumption, the article doesn't say anything about it.

[tombkk]

"But a New Zealander introduced to him as a tourism police officer and one of the few officials who could speak English, told him it was safe to sign the document as it was "just a formality".

Glad to see the farang helped him out.

Yeah, I forgot to mention this. The "Tourist Police Volunteers" are usually very helpful people. I doubt that they would mislead any tourist into signing a document in which they commit a crime. I would like the name of the NZ guy and hear his side of the story.

[DP25]

So ... were the dollars fake or not?

Unlikely, as Rennies is a reputable company. Of course, they could have made a mistake.

Assuming he's telling the truth about where he got it

[Richard4849]

Possibly a dual national, based on his surname?

That's an assumption, the article doesn't say anything about it.

It wasn't an assumption.

It was a theory.

That's why the word "possibly" is in there.

[Nisa]

So ... were the dollars fake or not?

Unlikely, as Rennies is a reputable company. Of course, they could have made a mistake.

Assuming he's telling the truth about where he got it

And Rennies has the equipment to detect fake foreign currency.

[osiboy]

"He paid a fine for overstaying his visa and was free to leave with no pending criminal action against him on record."

So not only was he possibly scammed out of all his money he was incarcerated and held in Thailand for a month. Then they have the nerve to fine him for overstaying his visa ontop of everything else there in lays another scam. So if there was no pending criminal action taken then I would pressume that the notes were not fake and all the monies extorted from him over the month were returned in full.

so he is innocent then yeah ? , no charges ?? <deleted> , How do they continue getting away with robbing tourists like this ,........... incredible , a similar thing happened to me in phuket many years ago , police demanded 200,000b from me and would not return my passport,...... i have never returned , why do our embassies not do something ? what are they scared of ??? ..........a bit of justice maybe ?, if i was'nt married to a thai i would not go anywhere near the place now , a miracle that anyone does .... land of scams !

[OzMick]

If nothing else stinks about this story, the B20,000 overstay fine is definitely on the nose.

After a 10 day holiday, his passport was held by police for almost a month (ie a maximum of 40 days), and as they flew in to Thailand he would have a minimum 30 day visa on arrival. So how does he qualify for a B20,000 overstay fine?

If his passport was legitimately held by police, why wouldn't they give him a clearance for Immigration?

[ThaiMouse]

This story smells fishy. Why would anyone exchange their cash at a travel agency instead of a bank? Why would you bring US Dollars to Thailand instead of Thai Baht? It just doesn't make sense...

Jimi007 from South Africa it is nearly impossible to get any Thai Baht as not much of that currency comes into SA. When I first moved to Thailand, I had to bring US$ with me, that's all Rennies Travel could give me. So there is your answer. South Africa has extremely strict exchange control regulations, on false move and you join the AIDS Bunnies in Jail. Any jail sentence in SA is a death sentance, you will get AIDS/HIV within two weeks and that is a fact here. Rennies were correct the bills were not fake at all, this was just an extortion racket, but this matter is being taken further in SA by the law courts. This is not the end of the matter.

Have a good weekend.

[Nisa]

This story smells fishy. Why would anyone exchange their cash at a travel agency instead of a bank? Why would you bring US Dollars to Thailand instead of Thai Baht? It just doesn't make sense...

Jimi007 from South Africa it is nearly impossible to get any Thai Baht as not much of that currency comes into SA. When I first moved to Thailand, I had to bring US$ with me, that's all Rennies Travel could give me. So there is your answer. South Africa has extremely strict exchange control regulations, on false move and you join the AIDS Bunnies in Jail. Any jail sentence in SA is a death sentance, you will get AIDS/HIV within two weeks and that is a fact here. Rennies were correct the bills were not fake at all, this was just an extortion racket, but this matter is being taken further in SA by the law courts. This is not the end of the matter.

Have a good weekend.

No traveler checks in SA?

Personally, I would be more comfortable (as most people) using a credit card (which the article says he was using to pay the cops) or ATM to pay such things as Hotels than risking carrying around large sums of cash while traveling.

Wonder how much he brought considering the last day he still had $1,000.