Foreign Couple In Phuket Pass Fake Uk Banknotes At Kata Currency Booth

[bridge2bridge]

strange... usually exchange booths write down at least the passport number, dont they?

the bank makes photocopies of the notes plus passport...

No, the booths don't write down passport number (at least not for me when I exchange) and no, the banks don't make copies of exchanged notes and (again speaking from experience) also does not photocopy the passport.

i havent exchanged foreign notes in any BKK bank without having passport and notes photocopied... us dollars and other currencies

the photocopies have to be usually signed by you...

i still have such a photocopy (passport plus notes), as the currency wasnt exchanged eventually...

also superrich takes photocopies (at least of the passport)...

actually i was wondering, if it was a requirement by law...

at what bank did you exchange money?

He means an outside booth, not inside a bank.

The booths NEVER ask for passport.

Maybe they should now.

[NomadJoe]

Unlikely they returned a day later to commit the same crime at the same place with the same staff. I would be looking at the staff.

Why is it unlikely??? From their point of view it's much less of a risk to go back to the shop where it already worked with one and the same staff several times instead of going to a new shop and risk being made out right away. And I honestly don't believe that the staff had anything to do with it. She's new in this job and obviously has no clue what British pounds are supposed to look like.

Both of them passed bad bills one day, then they show up together the next day to pass some more bad bills with the same girl. The only reason they didn't get caught was because the exchange hadn't yet been notified of the fake bills. Pretty risky. Another possibility which happens pretty often in these kinds of cases is that the foreigners acquired the bonus bills somehow unknowingly. I have dealt with a couple cases that ended up like that before.

Also, I agree with the poster that pointed out that this happens often and isn't really news, but I guess it is here because it is foreigners, so it's a bit more headline grabbing thus newsworthy.

Edited July 21, 2012 by NomadJoe

[radiochaser]

I have never exchanged money at a bank in Bangkok. I found their exchange rate to be lower than elsewhere. I have exchanged them at small kiosks on the sidewalks and at other money exchange places in Bangkok.

I myself (I have a Thai wife) have changed upwards of $500.00 U.S., in $100.00 dollar bills and have never shown any identification during the exchange and never saw the person accepting the bills make copies of them.

The person working does quickly scrutinize each bill and on occasion looked closely at the front and back of a bill. I never had a problem with any exchange of the $100.00 bills. .

I did leave the apartment without the $100.00 bills I intended to exchange one day and only had $20.00 bills that I had not intended to exchange in Thailand. The lady asked someone else in the business to look at the $20.00 bills, I think because they were wrinkled, and then pointed to an exchange chart showing a lower rate of exchange, but accepted them. Again, none of the bills were copied and I showed no identification.

With the exception of the street side money exchange kiosks (when I run low on Bhat) the places I go to exchange usually deal with Thai and not foreign people. I have never seen any Falangs, Indian, Arabic, or Chinese in them. I never had a problem in any of them.

I am curious why others have had to show identification since I have never had to.

Edited July 21, 2012 by radiochaser

[MaiChai]

The Thai banks now use a special machine for checking foreign currency is real. Obviously this non bank exchange booth doesn't have this machine, and I wonder why they bother doing foreign exchange?

[HerbalEd]

strange... usually exchange booths write down at least the passport number, dont they?

the bank makes photocopies of the notes plus passport...

Throughout Thailand I've exchanged many notes for many years and have never been asked for my passport, and I have never had the notes photocopied. In fact, several times I've exchanged up to fifty 100-dollar notes at one time and still have never been asked for passport or any other ID.

Edited July 21, 2012 by HerbalEd

[Cantankerous]

I doubt these small mom & pop money changers will ever start photocopying ID like the banks, let alone ask you for it. But basic countrfeit detection items like pens/lights and also a CCTV camera runs a lot less than the 10,000 baht they lost.

Funny that the BIB didn't ask for all the notes back, I'm sure mom & pop will make their money back on the remainder...

[fasteddie]

i did, they refuse - also at superrich...

once i managed, with quite some "effort", showing only my bank card - being their customer...

Must be your looks then, sorry, no other explanation.

is there anybody else who has to show passport when changing money at superrich or BKK-banks?

There seem to be two mechanisms here, Changing money at an extrenal booth of a bank, rather than internal, secondly using a standard moneychanger shop instead of an organisation like superrich. I have never been asked for ID at an outside exchange booth, or at a moneychanger, The exception's have been Superrich where they always ask for ID and make a photocopy, and inside the banks where I have been asked for ID. This in 33 years of coming here.

Same same in my 46yrs of coming here.

[phl]

The part which i find hard to believe is that the total amount changed was only 240 pounds

People in possession or in business of fake currency, do not exactly walk around changing small money, the whole aim is to change as much as possible.

So if according to OP they changed with no problem the first time, the typical move would be to change a large sum.

It is also NOT typical for the 2 to show up at the same place together, after already appearing alone previously.

It is a possibility that the couple was not even aware that the pounds were fake.

I had a customer once, who changed money in the exchange booth( around 10 000 baht), right across the road from hotel and was given 5000 baht in fake 500 baht notes

the 500 baht notes were a really bad fake, as the color was rubbing off just with fingers. We did alert the police, but they did not care, did not even go to see the exchange booth. No doubt owners of exchange booth, could tell the difference in fake thai baht

[Jimi007]

It is a possibility that the couple was not even aware that the pounds were fake.

<snip>

I agree. Just last year a South African was arrested here for the same thing and he got his notes from a well respected money changer in S. Africa.