Why does anyone rent a jet ski in Thailand?

[willyumiii]

With all of the publicity jet ski scams in Thailand have received world wide for years now,

I must wonder why anyone would even consider renting a jet ski in Thailand.

Even hotels advise against renting jet skis.

But obviously, some people still do it and still get scammed.

What kind of stupid is that?

Should anyone feel sorry for those who have ignored the warnings we have all heard for years now?

[MW72]

I think you over estimate how much publicity things like this get overseas.

I always tried to keep abreast of current afairs and I can't say that I ever heard of the jet ski scam before coming to Thailand.

Back home the most you will get in the media is big ticket items like military coups, flooding or natural disasters, maybe a business story but that is about it. You would really have to be digging deep to come across a jet ski scam story.

The other day you asked why people fall for bar girls. What's tomorrow's hot topic? Why do people get ripped off by tuk tuk and taxi drivers?

[Absolut]

I'm going to hazard a guess here and say that perhaps a lot of the people getting scammed come from developing / emerging markets (India, China and the like) where this scam is not widely reported and many people are first time tourists out of their own country.

Many well travelled people will do research before taking off to a new destination but it's very likely many first timers simply see the pretty pictures and just go. They've probably never even seen a jet ski anywhere but in the movies and the lure of being able to ride one is just to irresistible.

It wouldn't be too hard a stretch to say the more 'economical' hotels many budget conscious travellers are staying at do not have any warnings about this scam.

I have little to no sympathy for those who know about it, think it can't happen to them but still go ahead and do it but I can sympathise with those who probably have no idea of the trouble they are getting set up for. Those are the tourists who will never come back and will tell all their friends to never come.

[thehelmsman]

People rent jet skis because they are fun and they are on vacation. Simple as that.

Why do people Para sail in Thailand, a country not well known for their safety restrictions. Same, it's fun.

[geriatrickid]

I used to feel sorry for the "victims", but that stopped a few years ago, after I watched some of the customers in action. Without exception these people are selfish, and care only about their own "fun". I watch them operate the jet skis in an unsafe manner and in many, many cases, nearly injure swimmers. The renters are filth. They really are. These are not poor innocent victims. They know exactly what they are doing and they know who they are dealing with, and they just don't care. Anyone who has spent any amount of time on a beach like Patong will have seen the jet ski operators threatening people. They will have also seen the jet ski scum fueling the jet skis either on the beach or in the water, spilling fuel in the process. How can anyone who sees this then rent a jet ski? Watch the customers at Patong Beach closely. They dump their trash wherever they want, and they toss their cigarette butts onto the beach. The customers are supporting criminal and unethical behaviour. The jetskis are technically illegal. Every baht paid to rent one supports a criminal enterprise and supports corruption.

I hope that many more customers are ripped off or injured. They deserve it. There is absolutely no excuse not to know and appreciate how bad these jet ski rentals are.

[theoldgit]

Post in breach of Forum Rules removed.

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[thehelmsman]

I used to feel sorry for the "victims", but that stopped a few years ago, after I watched some of the customers in action. Without exception these people are selfish, and care only about their own "fun". I watch them operate the jet skis in an unsafe manner and in many, many cases, nearly injure swimmers. The renters are filth. They really are. These are not poor innocent victims. They know exactly what they are doing and they know who they are dealing with, and they just don't care. Anyone who has spent any amount of time on a beach like Patong will have seen the jet ski operators threatening people. They will have also seen the jet ski scum fueling the jet skis either on the beach or in the water, spilling fuel in the process. How can anyone who sees this then rent a jet ski? Watch the customers at Patong Beach closely. They dump their trash wherever they want, and they toss their cigarette butts onto the beach. The customers are supporting criminal and unethical behaviour. The jetskis are technically illegal. Every baht paid to rent one supports a criminal enterprise and supports corruption.

I hope that many more customers are ripped off or injured. They deserve it. There is absolutely no excuse not to know and appreciate how bad these jet ski rentals are.

wow...I hope your day improves.

[geronimo]

My guess is to ride it in the water .......

[juice777]

I was siting on the on the beach the other day,and noticed one of the touts was leaving the Farangs alone but chasing then Indians down the beach, they must see them as easy targets

[thaibeachlovers]

Because they are stupid, anti social louts?

Anyone that uses those horrid things near people trying to relax on the beach deserves to be scammed.

There was a time that people using jet skiis in Pattaya had to go way out to use them off barges moored offshore, but I see that is no longer the case.

Burn them all ( jet skiis ), I say.

[gerry123]

has just posted a new topic ?????????????

[NOC]

I used to feel sorry for the "victims", but that stopped a few years ago, after I watched some of the customers in action. Without exception these people are selfish, and care only about their own "fun". I watch them operate the jet skis in an unsafe manner and in many, many cases, nearly injure swimmers. The renters are filth. They really are. These are not poor innocent victims. They know exactly what they are doing and they know who they are dealing with, and they just don't care. Anyone who has spent any amount of time on a beach like Patong will have seen the jet ski operators threatening people. They will have also seen the jet ski scum fueling the jet skis either on the beach or in the water, spilling fuel in the process. How can anyone who sees this then rent a jet ski? Watch the customers at Patong Beach closely. They dump their trash wherever they want, and they toss their cigarette butts onto the beach. The customers are supporting criminal and unethical behaviour. The jetskis are technically illegal. Every baht paid to rent one supports a criminal enterprise and supports corruption.

I hope that many more customers are ripped off or injured. They deserve it. There is absolutely no excuse not to know and appreciate how bad these jet ski rentals are.

I appreciate your sentiments and concur.

I think it would be great fun to watch a covert group of tourists, sneak into the country and arrange to rent all the jet skis, all over Thailand, en mass, then pilot them out to the middle of nowhere and torch them.

Of course they would need to film it and post it on youtube. They would also need a waiting vessel to pick them up and deposit them safely back into the country from which they came.

The jetski scammers would come unglued!

Having a ground crew to film the reaction from the scammers would be the icing!

Now, that would make the news!

[thaibeachlovers]

Wishful thinking.

[dennis123]

Jetskis are great fun!

Since mine is total loss I regularly rent one at Sai Kaew (the navy) beach, near Bang Saray, never any problems.

[Bulldozer Dawn]

Easy.

There is a lot of videos and other information available on the web clearly define the risks of renting a jet ski in Thailand.

Unfortunately the SEO links are on in English.

The new renters are from India, China, Kuwait and the like.

It will take a while for the information to build up on websites in their language. The positive thing is that that is happening as we speak.

I posted months back that one of the reasons that the Chinese are still coming here is that they have limited access to google.

[yellowboat]

I associate jets skies and Thailand with the word scam. Most people from what I have seen are just too oblivious. There is a sucker born every minute. Those who perpetrating the scam can attest to that

[Stradavarius37]

I used to feel sorry for the "victims", but that stopped a few years ago, after I watched some of the customers in action. Without exception these people are selfish, and care only about their own "fun". I watch them operate the jet skis in an unsafe manner and in many, many cases, nearly injure swimmers. The renters are filth. They really are. These are not poor innocent victims. They know exactly what they are doing and they know who they are dealing with, and they just don't care. Anyone who has spent any amount of time on a beach like Patong will have seen the jet ski operators threatening people. They will have also seen the jet ski scum fueling the jet skis either on the beach or in the water, spilling fuel in the process. How can anyone who sees this then rent a jet ski? Watch the customers at Patong Beach closely. They dump their trash wherever they want, and they toss their cigarette butts onto the beach. The customers are supporting criminal and unethical behaviour. The jetskis are technically illegal. Every baht paid to rent one supports a criminal enterprise and supports corruption.

I hope that many more customers are ripped off or injured. They deserve it. There is absolutely no excuse not to know and appreciate how bad these jet ski rentals are.

Geriatric indeed. A true "get off my lawn" post!

[2fishin2]

I used to feel sorry for the "victims", but that stopped a few years ago, after I watched some of the customers in action. Without exception these people are selfish, and care only about their own "fun". I watch them operate the jet skis in an unsafe manner and in many, many cases, nearly injure swimmers. The renters are filth. They really are. These are not poor innocent victims. They know exactly what they are doing and they know who they are dealing with, and they just don't care. Anyone who has spent any amount of time on a beach like Patong will have seen the jet ski operators threatening people. They will have also seen the jet ski scum fueling the jet skis either on the beach or in the water, spilling fuel in the process. How can anyone who sees this then rent a jet ski? Watch the customers at Patong Beach closely. They dump their trash wherever they want, and they toss their cigarette butts onto the beach. The customers are supporting criminal and unethical behaviour. The jetskis are technically illegal. Every baht paid to rent one supports a criminal enterprise and supports corruption.

I hope that many more customers are ripped off or injured. They deserve it. There is absolutely no excuse not to know and appreciate how bad these jet ski rentals are.

Your comments are really a special kind of stupid. Take it however you like

[phitsanulokjohn]

IMHO The OP is 100% correct in his posting.

If you want to leave yourself wide open to being scammed,then you can only point the finger of blame at ones own self.

[Rumblecat]

It's a pretty dumb question. People on holiday rent jet-skis at beaches all over the world. They do the same when they come on holiday to Thailand because they're not aware of the scam. I can't believe someone would actually need to make a topic to have that explained to them, but like the OP says... what kind of stupid is that?

[asdecas]

Contrary to popular belief, there is life outside ThaiVisa. Some former addicts have even made it back to the normal world, a world not populated almost entirely by news of scams, hubs, reenactments, pointing coppers and officials with a propensity towards foot-in-mouth disease.

[NoshowJones]

I think you over estimate how much publicity things like this get overseas.

I always tried to keep abreast of current afairs and I can't say that I ever heard of the jet ski scam before coming to Thailand.

Back home the most you will get in the media is big ticket items like military coups, flooding or natural disasters, maybe a business story but that is about it. You would really have to be digging deep to come across a jet ski scam story.

The other day you asked why people fall for bar girls. What's tomorrow's hot topic? Why do people get ripped off by tuk tuk and taxi drivers?

Yes, true. When I first came to Thailand, I never knew anything about bargirls and barfines.

and I did come for the girls.

[Lukecan]

Cause its bloody fun to rent one, and no you won't get scammed if you're not a sucker. If they can't extort money from you they'll just move on to the next target, one of them will surely bite. Indians tend to be on the naive side for example.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Same reason people still rent bargirls. See my other thread.

[Benmart]

Why do people "Run with the Bulls"?

Why do people go over Niagra Falls in a barrel or other device?

Why do people sky dive?

Why do people do what they do?

Choice? Freedom? Ignorance?

I don't know.

I'm not in the business of asking why, but rather in taking care of my own side of the street..

[sawadee1947]

I must wonder why anyone would even consider renting a jet ski in Thailand.

Hmmh, maybe submarines are two expensive...?

[bbbbooboo]

Stupid IS what stupid DOES ?

[Stevemercer]

I reckon jet skis are great holiday fun. I love to take Thai friends out and scare the hell out of them. The worse thing that ever happened to me was a Thai girl lost her $200 sun glasses. I'd never heard of jet ski scams until I started reading TV.

I just wish you could hire catamarans. A lot of fun cruising up and down the strip....and quiet. You have to stick offshore away from the swimmers to pick up the best breeze so it is safer too. There is a Japanese bloke I used to hire from at Jomtien, but maybe he has passed on by now.

[Jonmarleesco]

That depends on just how global knowledge of the scam - together with others - has gone. And perhaps things have changed of late, but I've never had any Thai hotel warn me against renting a jet ski.

[tomyumchai]

I used to feel sorry for the "victims", but that stopped a few years ago, after I watched some of the customers in action. Without exception these people are selfish, and care only about their own "fun". I watch them operate the jet skis in an unsafe manner and in many, many cases, nearly injure swimmers. The renters are filth. They really are. These are not poor innocent victims. They know exactly what they are doing and they know who they are dealing with, and they just don't care. Anyone who has spent any amount of time on a beach like Patong will have seen the jet ski operators threatening people. They will have also seen the jet ski scum fueling the jet skis either on the beach or in the water, spilling fuel in the process. How can anyone who sees this then rent a jet ski? Watch the customers at Patong Beach closely. They dump their trash wherever they want, and they toss their cigarette butts onto the beach. The customers are supporting criminal and unethical behaviour. The jetskis are technically illegal. Every baht paid to rent one supports a criminal enterprise and supports corruption.

I hope that many more customers are ripped off or injured. They deserve it. There is absolutely no excuse not to know and appreciate how bad these jet ski rentals are.

every day there seems to be a contest to be the biggest R-sole poster but you have earned the poster of the week award, the head honcho of the retreads