Foreign Tourist Police and Mikes Jetski scam

[phycokiller]

I have noticed that one of the new FTPs is the same guy that has been working for the jet ski scammers for the last 3 months. He plays the part of innocent passerby who encourages the victims that its in their best interest to pay up for the damage they havent done. An acquaintance of mine was offered the same position for a 10% commission but perhaps he does it voluntarily just to ruin peoples holidays.

This may be lax vetting on the FTPs part but it seems a clear conflict of interest to me. Perhaps they may like to publicly clarify their position on the matter. Also be interesting to know the gentlemans job description on the work permit he no doubt has for the work he has been doing as an extortionist.

[simple1]

If this is accurate why not contact the head of the foreign tourist police. He's ex UK Police and was a member of the UK Royals protection team; comes across as an honest man who would take action

[balo]

I walked by one of the jetskis in front of Mikes the other day , they asked me if I wanted to rent and just for fun I said :look there is a small damage there and pointed with my finger. It's a problem I said. Problem you want problem ? was the response I got while I was walking away.

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[phycokiller]

If this is accurate why not contact the head of the foreign tourist police. He's ex UK Police and was a member of the UK Royals protection team; comes across as an honest man who would take action

yes I should, I very rarely make it to that part of town tho. no doubt the scammer didnt tell them of his current employment, and also I dont know the guys name and considering he mixes with violent thugs dont want to be seen pointing him out or anything, but if I get the chance I will

[Professor Kevin]

The Tourist Police support the famous gem scam in Bangkok so it makes sense the Tourist Police in Pattaya support the jet ski scam.

[Spoonman]

Clothing sales must be down if Mike is now running the jetski scam. Kinda surprising given the amount of people in his mall when I was there on the weekend.

[couchpotato]

Well Mr Phycokiller I'd like to know why and how you know this alleged person is a so called 'new' FTP. Have you seen him at the Police station perhaps, or have you been following or spying on other foreigners. By starting this type of thread, you must clarify your allegations for the rest of us, otherwise you are just trolling for spiteful posts. By the way there are no 'FTP's' in Pattaya, you need to get your facts together first.

I think you need to publicly clarify your postion, but doubt we'll hear from you again.

[petercool]

The distinction between Foreign Tourist Police Assistants (FTPA) and Foreign Police Volunteers (FPV) must be made. The former won't operate from the Soi 9 police station whereas the latter will. Uniforms would be worn by either if on official duty and they have different arm badges. Both might patrol the beach during the daytime but FPV would be in pairs not on his/her own. It would not be hard to tell who is who if they are indeed officially there. If they are there unofficially they are outside of any protection of any police force and can be apprehended by either foreign police body as well as by a Thai from either police forces or their Thai volunteer groups. So, yes, clarify things.

[denverbob]

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The distinction between Foreign Tourist Police Assistants (FTPA) and Foreign Police Volunteers (FPV) must be made. The former won't operate from the Soi 9 police station whereas the latter will. Uniforms would be worn by either if on official duty and they have different arm badges. Both might patrol the beach during the daytime but FPV would be in pairs not on his/her own. It would not be hard to tell who is who if they are indeed officially there. If they are there unofficially they are outside of any protection of any police force and can be apprehended by either foreign police body as well as by a Thai from either police forces or their Thai volunteer groups. So, yes, clarify things.

Thank you Petercool for your insight.

I am in law-enforcement and have been following for years the developments of these volunteer groups during my 6 weeks here in Pattaya & Phuket.

I guess we all remember Howard. I had a few chats with him back then and he seemed genuine and nice. I even remember the small tourist police station near Soi 6 on 2nd. Road. The lady translator was always very lovely and helpful, I believe I have seen her a few times on Walking Street, too. The obsession with police & uniforms seemed to explode with certain foreigners and Thais after Howard quit.

My friends, many of them in law themselves and I watch with astonishment how obsessed Thais and some foreigners are with showing of their uniforms and insignia day and night. Off-duty or on-duty. Must love those "police -scooters" with all kinds of flashing lights and sirens.

The guys on Walking Street are way too "dark and into your face" and their police belts look ridiculous. I counted about 15 of them tonight. They should head down to Phuket, the party-mile on Bangla. A couple of pairs of most helpful smiling volunteer patrols with the odd & friendly Thai Tourist police officer are a very pleasant sight and they seem to be fully accepted and integrated. They genuinely want to help and not one of them seems to have the need to be something he certainly is not and could never be. They are dressed in pants and a white T-Shirt, no weapons or belts and no showing-off.

This is not the thread to get deeply into this matter I am aware, but most certainly several of these volunteers here in Pattaya would never ever make it into a regular police force , most not even into any volunteer support group in any other country.

I frequent a restaurant where one of the Soi 9 volunteers shows up in full uniform anytime: boots, with various shirts carrying all kind of stitched-on details of membership of various police departments in Pattaya. He also always displays some kind of ID-card around his neck, stating he is a certified police translator and crime investigator.

A couple of days ago he sported a T-Shirt with "Transnational Crime Unit Investigator " or similar on the back. He constantly pretends talking into his walkie-talkie and is said to be a bully wherever he shows up, trying to intimidate people by telling them how well connected he is and how he can get people locked up or deported. His big blue truck is prominently displaying police caps, stickers, fake bullet-holes and more of the same.

As long as the local police forces allow such psychopaths in their midst, I am afraid i can not have much respect for any of them. Pity it is, that individual volunteers with good intentions and good behavior are tarred with the same brush as these bad apples.

One can only hope there are supervisors who get rid of such elements. They should realize such people are hurting the reputation of all the police forces and their supporters. How can a direct superior not take strong disciplinary action against such bullies in their midst? Either they are not aware of this or part of the problem?

So we keep smiling when we see the next 3 or 4 police-men with sore armpits and loaded with anything but guns, walking by and sweating with their beer-bellies and in their black uniforms and we keep admiring the truck with the bullet holes, a wonder the tough guy has survived the attack on his car.

What I have seen in Thailand would not be possible in the USA. But we must admit, there are some people volunteering that go over the top in my country, too. However the law does not stand by idle back home. Trust me.

Sorry to have distracted from the disgusting jet-ski scam. Maybe the supernatural-, I mean international-crime-investigator, should head down to the beach and put an end to this. I would definitely admire him and his colleagues for this. Some of the Walking Street Rambo-Force could join him for back-up.

You all enjoy your holiday. Back at work in a much more sober environment very soon, unfortunately.

Bob, Denver

[phycokiller]

Well Mr Phycokiller I'd like to know why and how you know this alleged person is a so called 'new' FTP. Have you seen him at the Police station perhaps, or have you been following or spying on other foreigners. By starting this type of thread, you must clarify your allegations for the rest of us, otherwise you are just trolling for spiteful posts. By the way there are no 'FTP's' in Pattaya, you need to get your facts together first.

I think you need to publicly clarify your postion, but doubt we'll hear from you again.

sorry I wasnt clear, he was in uniform with 2 other farang police patrolling beach road, as in the type that work in walking st at night rather then the soi 9 type as far as I can tell, no spying neccasary

[soihok]

Probably was "coutchpotato" going on the tone of his post

[Professor Kevin]

I stopped to watch the scam one time across from Mikes Mall and got the camera out to take some shots when I noticed the 'soldiers' being deployed into the crowd to intimidate anyone with a camera.

Very organized operation being supervised by a woman that is perched above the beach, directly across from Soi 11.

From my observations there are at least 3 older Thai ladies overseeing things for the real jet ski owners at the main scam locations.

No way the police are letting some bottom feeding, beach toughs, rake in hundreds of thousands every day.

My educated guess is the police own the jet skis and those ladies are trusted relatives making sure the beach toughs hand it over....

[StealthEnergiser]

My guess is that a Chonburi Godfather may conrol it !

[phycokiller]

the gentleman concerned was negotiating extortion's opposite Mikes all day today. he seems to be the main negotiator now. I thought perhaps he may have resigned from the job due to the obvious conflict of interest but I suspect its his main income. You can easily find him if you are interested, just go to the steps at Mikes and wait for a jetski to return, they extort money from all of them these days. Then go up to walking st in the evening and see him in uniform with the other tourist police, or whatever the correct name for them is.

[Tokay]

My guess is that a Chonburi Godfather may conrol it !

And that would be an excellent guess.

[Woody1]

the gentleman concerned was negotiating extortion's opposite Mikes all day today. he seems to be the main negotiator now. I thought perhaps he may have resigned from the job due to the obvious conflict of interest but I suspect its his main income. You can easily find him if you are interested, just go to the steps at Mikes and wait for a jetski to return, they extort money from all of them these days. Then go up to walking st in the evening and see him in uniform with the other tourist police, or whatever the correct name for them is.

This is a very informative thread!!!! Without the OP bringing this to my attention, I would never have guessed / believed such ruthless rogues existed!……………………………………………Sorry, I slipped, my elbow landed on the keyboard, and that's the nonsense that was produced!!

There's nothing worse than a,"wanna be copper"!!

[Rimmer]

One post removed

[luudee]

FTP in Pattaya where never intended to help the tourists. I have

personally seen them beating up a guy in handcuffs and being more

then useless. Only intend is to intimidate and show off. Not once

have I seen them doing something helpful of useful.

luudee

[moonseeker]

Thought I stop by the beach for a quick coffee and see the action in front of Mike shopping. 16.00 and already a scam going down. Young Arab couple with a Foreign Police Volunteer on the beach with the crooks & victims and a few Thais laughing their asses off (across the road), ripping the couple off to the tune of 10'000 Baht. A group of elderly tourists, German & Scandinavians, very upset: "This happens every single day, many times! We have been coming here for 20 years and we will NEVER come back again. This place has become so dirty, so dishonest, we are appalled!" Must agree, poor tourists who often loose their entire holiday budget in just a few minutes. Where are the bloody embassies, airlines? Why don't the enforce proper warnings? Shame...shame..shame....MS>

[thainet]

Thought I stop by the beach for a quick coffee and see the action in front of Mike shopping. 16.00 and already a scam going down. Young Arab couple with a Foreign Police Volunteer on the beach with the crooks & victims and a few Thais laughing their asses off (across the road), ripping the couple off to the tune of 10'000 Baht. A group of elderly tourists, German & Scandinavians, very upset: "This happens every single day, many times! We have been coming here for 20 years and we will NEVER come back again. This place has become so dirty, so dishonest, we are appalled!" Must agree, poor tourists who often loose their entire holiday budget in just a few minutes. Where are the bloody embassies, airlines? Why don't the enforce proper warnings? Shame...shame..shame....MS>

Actually I don't really care either way about Volunteers, but when you post 3 months after the last post on this thread and lie in the process then you are only out to do harm. Reason I know this, is because my friend and I got coffees to go at the shop inside Mikes at 3pm, and sat opposite Mikes until until 5pm. We saw two discussions going on (one with a middle eastern couple and one with a Russian?). There was the City Hall beach patrol around and the guy that works out of Soi 9 at times, but absolutely no Foreign Volunteers of any kind (either Tourist, Soi 9 or any other entity),

So post away on jet ski scams that have been going on for many years and will go on for many more, but don't outright lie/and or make things up, unless of course you are trolling for reactions.

[moonseeker]

Thought I stop by the beach for a quick coffee and see the action in front of Mike shopping. 16.00 and already a scam going down. Young Arab couple with a Foreign Police Volunteer on the beach with the crooks & victims and a few Thais laughing their asses off (across the road), ripping the couple off to the tune of 10'000 Baht. A group of elderly tourists, German & Scandinavians, very upset: "This happens every single day, many times! We have been coming here for 20 years and we will NEVER come back again. This place has become so dirty, so dishonest, we are appalled!" Must agree, poor tourists who often loose their entire holiday budget in just a few minutes. Where are the bloody embassies, airlines? Why don't the enforce proper warnings? Shame...shame..shame....MS>

Actually I don't really care either way about Volunteers, but when you post 3 months after the last post on this thread and lie in the process then you are only out to do harm. Reason I know this, is because my friend and I got coffees to go at the shop inside Mikes at 3pm, and sat opposite Mikes until until 5pm. We saw two discussions going on (one with a middle eastern couple and one with a Russian?). There was the City Hall beach patrol around and the guy that works out of Soi 9 at times, but absolutely no Foreign Volunteers of any kind (either Tourist, Soi 9 or any other entity),

So post away on jet ski scams that have been going on for many years and will go on for many more, but don't outright lie/and or make things up, unless of course you are trolling for reactions.

Hi there Thainet:

Neither do I care much about the volunteers, in fact I rather support the good ones. This was not about any volunteers, this was about the scam. You are right, it has been about 2 months since my last trip to the beach. Today I was nearby and as almost 100% of the times after 16.30 a scam was going on. I did not specify about any volunteer, have no idea who and what the foreign looking guy with the police outfit and hat,on the beach with the Arab couple was. You seem to be able to clarify as you mention Soi 9...??? If you were close-by I am sure you also seen the reaction of the four Thais across the road after the, let's call him mediator, walked up to them right after the Arabs had been convinced to pay up. And you might have also observed a group of Germans and Scandinavians on the side-walk and some more on the beach who got quite loud and condemned what was going on.

I am appalled by what is going on, so are many others, I feel any normal and ethical human being must feel the same way, seeing naive and mostly not upper class (rich) people who came for a short trip to Thailand, being ripped off in this way. I am not trolling for anything and I don't need to make things up, you seem the one with an agenda, not that it would matter..... Calm down and have a nice weekend. And sorry, just reading my original post again, I should have written "foreign mediator in some kind of uniform", only just realized my choice of words might point to a certain group, which was not intended, as i did not recognize the type of uniform the guy was wearing, but he has been involved many times ...., I actually have friends in the various volunteer groups and support their work mostly. Again, have a great weekend. MS>

[skyaslimit]

Ah..its been so long since I visited pattaya and its been too long since I watched Tom & Jerry show.

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[moonseeker]

Ah..its been so long since I visited pattaya and its been too long since I watched Tom & Jerry show.

Sent from my GT-S5360 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Great. But in this case I see a small benefit for newbies who might catch the scam before becoming victims if it stays on page 1.

I have watched this for years and I still get very upset when I see the faces of the victims. It is just disgusting. As said, I should have not even mentioned any foreign involvement, the defenders immediately get jumpy. Also in my case absolutely not needed, as I fully support better law-enforcement, paid or volunteered..

Take care and have a nice Sunday.

MS> aka. Jerry

Edited May 17, 2014 by moonseeker

[surangw]

I stopped to watch the scam one time across from Mikes Mall and got the camera out to take some shots when I noticed the 'soldiers' being deployed into the crowd to intimidate anyone with a camera.

Very organized operation being supervised by a woman that is perched above the beach, directly across from Soi 11.

From my observations there are at least 3 older Thai ladies overseeing things for the real jet ski owners at the main scam locations.

No way the police are letting some bottom feeding, beach toughs, rake in hundreds of thousands every day.

My educated guess is the police own the jet skis and those ladies are trusted relatives making sure the beach toughs hand it over....

it would be amusing to see videos posted of persons with cameras being intimidated

( the videos made by others not involved)

that would give TAT something to really explain

[marstons]

To be expected that some of them are good but also to many badge flashes who tarnish the others. The police do not give protection even if the conflict ends up in soi 9 police station where the FVP will not even open their mouths to victims to help, they are official told not to get involved in jet ski scams. Thai police do not get involved either, all to scared to involved. Witnessed it quite a few times. As I understood it volunteer police have no powers unless accompanied by a real member of the police.

Give them the chance to harass other farangs with car checks in the middle of the night they que up to do it.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Rimmer
Libellous

[skyaslimit]

To be expected that some of them are good but also to many badge flashes who tarnish the others. The police do not give protection even if the conflict ends up in soi 9 police station where the FVP will not even open their mouths to victims to help, they are official told not to get involved in jet ski scams. Thai police do not get involved either, all to scared to involved. Witnessed it quite a few times. As I understood it volunteer police have no powers unless accompanied by a real member of the police.

Give them the chance to harass other farangs with car checks in the middle of the night they que up to do it.

Really? You are not kidding me. I really have to spend a weekend in pattya.

Sent from my GT-S5360 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[moonseeker]

Sticking to the subject of people being cheated by these jet-ski outfits: I wonder any Indians reading TV? They might have knowledge of similar Indian Travel Forums and could link to the warnings on TV. MS>

[Rimmer]

Off topic post removed

[hazelandhoward]

Bit of a silly question i know but i thought 2 or 3 years ago Pattaya's Mayor set up some sort of investigation and was going to get this scam stopped...what happened?

[slygeeza]

but absolutely no Foreign Volunteers of any kind (either Tourist, Soi 9 or any other entity),

the foreign volunteer refered to in the op does not wear a uniform when he is doing the scam. I dont now if he ever pulls out his ID but hes pretending to be an innocent passerby that wants to help. hes a young skinny guy that usually wears fingerless black gloves, both in mufti and also when in uniform. you can often see him sitting on the sidewalk talking to the other scammers, he waits for the action to start before making an appearance. dont think hes there everyday now because its low season

everybody gets scammed at mikes, they know that if you know about the scam you wont rent from them, and if you dont you are fair game

Edited May 18, 2014 by slygeeza