The Weird / Scamming Farang Encounter Thread

[mitsubishi]

The 'Chain' Farang

This happened a while back but basically I was in a certain well-known establishment on Sukhumvit Road last year minding my own business.

So this farang guy bursts through the door looking around and spots me (I was closest). He suddenly said 'Can you help me?'

I said 'That depends on what it is.'

He said 'Follow me.'

Normally I'd of walked away at this point but it was on Sukumvit road near Robinsons and there was no way he'd try anything with that many people walking back and forth. Nevertheless I was wary and ready...

So he started babbering and rambling about being short of money because he lent it to 'Some Swedish guy.'

He went on to describe how he'd been thrown out of his lodgings (somewhere in Soi Africa) and all his bags were outside where ANYONE could steal them.

I was like 'Well <deleted> are you doing here then!' LOL.

Then came the 'hook.'

He basically wanted me to buy him a length of bloody chain and give him a hand wrapping his bags up with it!

Now I don't know about you but by now the red-alert warning alarms were going off! If not a scam to refund the chain later then surely one to get me into a mugging situation elsewhere...

I told him if he didn't have enough money to buy a length of metal chain he had bigger issues to deal with and walked away from the hardware store (the Thai storeman on the verge of cutting the chain to length!).

So if it wasn't a scam, it was waaay too weird to risk it.

Better to play it safe and off I went with him glaring in frustrated rage as I vanished into the Sukumvit crowds...

So that's my little encounter, what's yours?

[WhamBam]

I find it weird that I have never met a scamming / weird Farang here in Thailand. I must be frequenting all the wrong places.

Depending on how much the length of chain was going to be, I might have decided to buy it and help the guy. I cannot think he would have got that much from a refund.

[sipi]

Mine wasn't as weird, but just a annoying. Fellow Australian, shirtless asking for money in public. I told him he was an embarrassment to himself and his countrymen. I'll help anyone in need but this bloke was just painful.

[Costas2008]

Mine wasn't as weird, but just a annoying. Fellow Australian, shirtless asking for money in public. I told him he was an embarrassment to himself and his countrymen. I'll help anyone in need but this bloke was just painful.

Wow, Sipi, so you met Mr Neverdie?

Always wanted to meet the gentleman but never had the opportunity.

[eldragon]

Most of the shady foreigners I meet here play a long game. Or try to... As always, I only lend what I can afford to give. If a chap asks for 500, I'll give em 100 and tell him ask four more friends for the rest.

[mesquite]

I haven't met a scamming farang, but have met several who have pie-in-the-sky dreams. Things like buying carved wooden toy trains in Thailand and selling them for millions on Ebay, or growing some type of medicinal herb on land that is not theirs, then selling it for millions. Stuff like that. Whatever it is, they will sell it for millions.

Edited November 13, 2014 by mesquite

[pgrahmm]

There's a 40/50ish woman in CM that makes the rounds of all the malls/Big C's - apparently been doing it for years bilking people with many different stories of woe.....there was a thread on FB about it and it was amazing how many people and places this lady worked/works - still going on.....

[mitsubishi]

Most of the shady foreigners I meet here play a long game. Or try to... As always, I only lend what I can afford to give. If a chap asks for 500, I'll give em 100 and tell him ask four more friends for the rest.

Yeah I was telling some of the old heads about it and they reckoned it was a scam on a scam. See if I'd go with the chain story, lured somewhere else for another scam to be loaded on in. There's always the parasites thinking up new ways to try and scam. Incidentally he said he was Danish. Let me tell you.... He didn't look Danish!

[mitsubishi]

I haven't met a scamming farang, but have met several who have pie-in-the-sky dreams. Things like buying carved wooden toy trains in Thailand and selling them for millions on Ebay, or growing some type of medicinal herb on land that is not theirs, then selling it for millions. Stuff like that. Whatever it is, they will sell it for millions.

I was the big dreamer like that a long time ago, thankfully I woke up without losing my fortune or neck.

In my case it was working a business, I didn't lose much money but everytime I hear the young dudes rambling their tales and dreams in a bar etc I see the same castles in the sky. LOL

[ExPratt]

Plenty of wrong uns in Thailand . might be because it is so easy to stay or work here without much hassle , people run out of dough and get desperate.

[mrtoad]

I was walking down Sukhumvit a few afternoons ago, around 4pm on the way to a meeting. Some blonde, Aussie woman who looked like a bloke, stopped mexand asked if I spoke English. Thought tgey might want directions, however a talevof woe about a purse being stolen and needed to get to somewhere to get some money, but needed money for a taxi. Stank of a scammer and told them to go to their embassy.

[anto]

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There's a 40/50ish woman in CM that makes the rounds of all the malls/Big C's - apparently been doing it for years bilking people with many different stories of woe.....there was a thread on FB about it and it was amazing how many people and places this lady worked/works - still going on.....

Is she a Farang ? I was stopped in the grounds of McCormick Hospital ,Chiang Mai by a Lady 35 to 40 years old aprox ,yesterday .Small slim build ,wearing jeans .She could have been Thai and spoke broken English .Her speel

''are you Christian ? (McCormick is a Christian Hospital ,founded in 1889) .I have a tumor ,but have no money .Can you give me money '' She was on the verge of tears ,and when i said no ,the tear gates opened .I just turned and walked .

Edited November 13, 2014 by anto

[meatboy]

i did encounter one of them waitresses in a smart suit in soi cowboy 1982,who after i sampled her produce took me to that big shop on the corner of soi thongolor the one thats sell those yellow chains.she said i was a hansum man and i lie you.

that was the last time i visited that fun place for 24yrs.then i was visiting my bil.

going back to my encounter,DID I? yes only a small one,not to heavy.

[pmarlin]

I know of several whose sole source of income is borrowing money and never paying it back. to me that is a scam.

[neverdie]

Mine wasn't as weird, but just a annoying. Fellow Australian, shirtless asking for money in public. I told him he was an embarrassment to himself and his countrymen. I'll help anyone in need but this bloke was just painful.

Wow, Sipi, so you met Mr Neverdie?

Always wanted to meet the gentleman but never had the opportunity.

555555

I didn't see him mention the words, handsome, sexy, buff etc etc. Couldn't have been me

[neverdie]

There's a forum I occasionally read, you know, online, it's about Thailand.

There's a group of digital pikeys on there that reakon they're under 30y.o. And making the big bucks.....many of them proclaim to be wealthy Entrepeneurs. Many of them seem to be rorting the visa system & live in 3000 baht per month rooms, scratching around the sois and drinking beer on the steps of seven eleven.

I reakon they'd be some of the shadiest type characters. I've come accross.

[pgrahmm]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

There's a 40/50ish woman in CM that makes the rounds of all the malls/Big C's - apparently been doing it for years bilking people with many different stories of woe.....there was a thread on FB about it and it was amazing how many people and places this lady worked/works - still going on.....

Is she a Farang ? I was stopped in the grounds of McCormick Hospital ,Chiang Mai by a Lady 35 to 40 years old aprox ,yesterday .Small slim build ,wearing jeans .She could have been Thai and spoke broken English .Her speel

''are you Christian ? (McCormick is a Christian Hospital ,founded in 1889) .I have a tumor ,but have no money .Can you give me money '' She was on the verge of tears ,and when i said no ,the tear gates opened .I just turned and walked .

That seems to be one of her standard questions and approaches based on what I read in FB....I forgot to mention she frequents hospitals too.....so I think you've just met her......

She frequently plays the Christian card & goes where she'd be likely to find them.....

Edited November 13, 2014 by pgrahmm

[manly100]

A bloke "usa I think" had a broom and was sweeping the foot path, as I approched he claimed he was doing a good job keeping everything clean and therefore I should give him just 100-200 baht to help him out. As he seemed to be the type to turn nasty if I refused I choose to say no and he turned nasty hitting the taxi I got into with his broom and shouting what fat bad man I was. Comical really. I often say no to white beggers just because I know they will go nuclear when they don't get a free hand out.

[NoshowJones]

Mine wasn't as weird, but just a annoying. Fellow Australian, shirtless asking for money in public. I told him he was an embarrassment to himself and his countrymen. I'll help anyone in need but this bloke was just painful.

The fact that he was shirtless, I would have warned him to stay away from me until he gets a shirt on, or else, as I would not have to worry about six Thais backing him up.

[arunsakda]

I got a "you have a lucky face" Fakir on Suk 11 last week.

[anto]

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I got a "you have a lucky face" Fakir on Suk 11 last week.

Was he Indian ?.Got one of those a few years ago in Lower Sukhumvit .Said i had a lucky face ,and then asked me to think of a number .Then he took out a piece of paper on which he seemed to write the correct number .It was scrawled badly though so i was not 100%sure he got it right .Then he said he would tell me my future for B3,000 .I declined his generous offer .

[vincent13]

Patong used to be, maybe still is, full of falang trying to flog timeshare by all sorts of dubious methods: scratch the card "wow you've won a free music system, come with us to office to claim prize". Drove me mad!!

[slipperylobster]

In the past, I used to go out alone. It seemed that every scammer in the world would gravitate to where I would be sitting, and start up a conversation. I think that they pick the guy with the howdy doody look. You know, kind of naive (even though that look is inherited, not earned). They liked me because I was alone, appeared to have cash, and would acknowledge their existence. Most of the time, i believe, they were looking for a free drink. Now, I do not spend much time in bars, but this was quite a while back. If you buy one drink for them, and they do not ever return the favor, then they are scammers, or no better than that.

The long term ones would try to weazle into some kind of friendship. Learning your name, meeting your other friends (they had none), and if they could not borrow money from me, they would ask one of my well off friends (without my knowledge) for money. I had one fat guy come to my house and befriend me, daily, for two months. Then, my well off, close personal friend would tell me this guy wanted to buy his motorcycle..but had no cash. I should have known better...but I just said...he seems ok.

After not paying for the motorcyle for months, the scammer would return the bike (as he was leaving the country anyway) and say sorry he could not pay. (Basically owned the bike for six months free of charge.) The owner of the bike would tell him that he did not want the bike back, he wanted the money. So the scammer runs off with the bike, sells it, but never gives the owner back the money. Ten years now. I lost one good friend that way. The scammer disappears without a trace. Funny, I ran into him in Krabi a while back. He said..."ohhh that. I offered to return the bike and he said no...anyway...that guy was rich and does not need the money...I have problems!!!"

Then another disappearing act.

Careful.

Edited November 13, 2014 by slipperylobster

[Ulysses G.]

I miss the French scammer in Chiang Mai. He would go up to Westerners and ask if they spoke French. If you said no, he would look for someone, who did, to bother. He did this for years and seemed to get a lot of suckers. I have not seen him for a while though.

[Scully]

I've never seen a hardware store near Robinson's.

[anto]

^ I have .

[balo]

Only scammers I've seen are the Russian/Ukrainian guys playing deaf and asking for a donation . You'll spot them at Big C and Central . They've been all over Thailand with this scam, Phuket, Bangkok, Pattaya and CM.

Edited November 13, 2014 by balo

[Greenhill]

Well, you're not very observant because there is one there, almost right nextdoor in the 1st set of shops, heading towards Nana direction - a real old family place!!

[horsewell]

I met a English guy with a sad story of being down on his luck and needed some cash 1500 to cover his room but later saw him walking round the entertainment district with mobile and beer in had. Probably was looking for enough for a night out. That was Bangkok.

Met a pool shark in a upmarket bar in Phuket. Saw him a mile away. Started with drinks and then a few games win and some losses. He lost the game before the pitch. 1000 baht for the next game? Then 500 when I didn't bite. The told my Thai friend off when i was out of earshot.

Related but not about Thailand, was in Cambodia recently. A Phillipine woman asked me about my home country. Said she was going to go there soon and to go somewhere and talk with her over some food. She was way to insistent on taking me somewhere else. I didn't go. Sure it was fishy.

[eeeya]

damn it now my feeling are hurt.. ive never been approached.

Maybe its the "I'll cut you" look on my face when my radar starts pinging