Is this some kind of scam?

[Beetlejuice]

One way to smuggle Drugs Sent them to someone else If the coast is clear collect the drugs

Stay away from someone like this Only inviting trouble

Best advice yet.

A vulnerable young girl travelling alone. The perfect choice for an unaware drugs mule.

Has anyone ever seen the 1988 British TV mini series, Bangkok Hilton?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfSFSLtlgtI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QfOwB7e73Q

[keithet]

Me and a friend were standing by bts a lady asked for 10 baht for bts my friend gave to her and then she looked at me and asked for 10 baht.

I laughted and called my friend stupid.

Then told her to go.

Needles to say it was my friends first day in bkk

[taotoo]

Is that the one where Nicole Kidman pisses herself?

[barmatt]

Is your friend hot looking?

[Cuban]

I guess two other things I'm wondering are:

• If these are scam attempts, what kind of scam?
• Has anyone else experienced situations like these? Especially by Westerners? Recruiting Westerners to approach other Westerners seems like a smart idea.

The first thing the con-artist does in convince the "mark" it's not a con, if they can establish the "mark" is corrupt in some way all the better then it becomes an apparent "joint-venture" and the "mark" is invested in the scam themselves - it's exactly how the 419 scams work - a dumb mark will spend $200 to justify in their mind that the $20 was not a con.

[larsjohnsson]

Do you belive every person that talk to you are doing some kind if scam? One asked about hostels! The other asked where she bought her nice leather briefcase! And suddenly those two are doing a scam

[somchaismith]

Do you belive every person that talk to you are doing some kind if scam? One asked about hostels! The other asked where she bought her nice leather briefcase! And suddenly those two are doing a scam

I know a few Westerners who've been here ten years plus who are very lonely. That's because they see Thais as inferior and every foreigner they meet has to have something to give them or they don't want to have anything to do with them.

[jacko45k]

Only times I have been conned in Thailand, has been by foreigners.

You never took a taxi?

[gaucho]

Many scammers have electron scaners to copy your credit card # without even

taking them out of your wallet, however they must be in very close proximity

to you for a few minutes....could be one of these scame

even if its in your pocket ? im interested in this if it is actually going on lol

sounds pretty hi tech but if there was such technology wouldnt everyone

be a victim ?

sit in any crowded public place you could scam everyones card if this were possible ??

yes this technology does exist ..they can walk past u and garner your details ...spend 15 dollars and get the special new wallets ...they look like spectacle holders ...or do what my cheap charlie mate does ...and wrap your cards in aluminium foil ...

[jayceenik]

Do you belive every person that talk to you are doing some kind if scam? One asked about hostels! The other asked where she bought her nice leather briefcase! And suddenly those two are doing a scam

Not EVERY person!!

But the first encounter related by the OP was too bizarre for it not to be a lead-on to a scam approach.

Lost baggage, dropped in BangNa (of all places ?) by taxi, seeking a HOSTEL in MegaBangNa. In MegaBangNa, come on 555555

And coming to BKK intending to stay in hostels but never heard of KhaoSan Rd hostels ? Didn't carry a Lonely Planet ? Hadn't plan where to spend his first night on arrival in BKK ?

I'd have lost my hearing right there, alarm bells ringing so loudly !!

Indeed, I'd say the Caucasian girl wasted her time 'helping' that guy looking for 'hostels' on her phone.

OK, the possible scam might have amounted to nothing more sinister than a request for an 'emergency' money loan. Still, ...

The second encounter related just might have been innocent but, right on, if you feel uneasy walk away !!

[Oilhound]

Many scammers have electron scaners to copy your credit card # without even

taking them out of your wallet, however they must be in very close proximity

to you for a few minutes....could be one of these scame

even if its in your pocket ? im interested in this if it is actually going on lol

sounds pretty hi tech but if there was such technology wouldnt everyone

be a victim ?

sit in any crowded public place you could scam everyones card if this were possible ??

yes it's true, and very easy to do and cheap for the card reader, but you can get a case for your cards now. They can't sit in a coffee shop and read everybodys at once, they need to get beside you, and it wouldn't be good if they were going to every table.

[arunsakda]

The first guy was hoping to get invited back to your friends apt (for a bit of fun). Her friend showing up scuppered his plans

The girl was on her own and scared to travel alone into BKK, she saw another Western female alone and decided to chance her luck and make a temporary friend for mutual benefit.

or they could both have been just a corny pickup line.....

in any case, caution is appropriate.

First thing I thought here if she is even remotely attractive. Might be just trying to get laid, and a free place to stay. A scam none the less. Edited April 9, 2014 by arunsakda

[larsjohnsson]

Do you belive every person that talk to you are doing some kind if scam? One asked about hostels! The other asked where she bought her nice leather briefcase! And suddenly those two are doing a scam

Not EVERY person!!

But the first encounter related by the OP was too bizarre for it not to be a lead-on to a scam approach.

Lost baggage, dropped in BangNa (of all places ?) by taxi, seeking a HOSTEL in MegaBangNa. In MegaBangNa, come on 555555

And coming to BKK intending to stay in hostels but never heard of KhaoSan Rd hostels ? Didn't carry a Lonely Planet ? Hadn't plan where to spend his first night on arrival in BKK ?

I'd have lost my hearing right there, alarm bells ringing so loudly !!

Indeed, I'd say the Caucasian girl wasted her time 'helping' that guy looking for 'hostels' on her phone.

OK, the possible scam might have amounted to nothing more sinister than a request for an 'emergency' money loan. Still, ...

The second encounter related just might have been innocent but, right on, if you feel uneasy walk away !!

So what was the scam in these two cases ??

[Scarpolo]

lets keep in mind the OP,

this is a guy, telling a story, as related to him, from a female.

was this an excuse she gave for being late one day?

was this an excuse that she used to not see him that day?

was this a manipluative concoction from a female to test the worthiness and reactions of the man she sleeps with?

was this a way of manuevering out of something else?

idk,

its all fishy, but is it fiction?

[mrfaroukh]

Probably scam, i was approached twice by Italian, good looking, driving good car. Fist ask for an address, then make some story and try to sell you some leather jacket or stupid camera they got as a gift from their job and could not carry them to Italy etc.

[Skywalker69]

The lady in 7/11 ask me for 20 Baht for a large Pepsi...spooky huh, do you think I should be worried..the next day she did it again when I got a pepsi....aarrrrhhhh...man are we being invaded

You better go and see your shrink, sir. ; )

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Scarpolo]

The lady in 7/11 ask me for 20 Baht for a large Pepsi...spooky huh, do you think I should be worried..the next day she did it again when I got a pepsi....aarrrrhhhh...man are we being invaded

You better go and see your shrink, sir. ; )

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

htey have shrinks in thailand?

I want to find a female shrink then, approximately 27

[crazygreg44]

does anyone here in the forum remember the young, casually clad swiss guy who was adressing foreigners, in areas where tourist stay (Sukhumvit, Khaosan) ? He pretended to have worked in Thailand , had some ominous stamps in a passport as proof, being told by his boss that he could not work anymore as the company was finished. But now incidentally was near broke andneeded to fly home. He showed you a flight ticket out of Thailand, and said that this ticket was not fully paid yet - still 100 US dollars needed. If you could help him out ?

The flight tickets - he must have had a pile of them, there was actually always a close date printed, so the scam looked really really real !! The ticket thesedays were real tickets, the same agents would hand over, with flight, airline and date details added by typewriter.

Some time ago, i helped him ONCE then TWO years later he adressed me in a different location, didn't realize he scammed me before . . . . don't ask me what happened after . . . I am a mellow , humble guy believe me . . .