Sukhumvit Smooth Talking Scammer Still On Loose

[The Dude]

The Dude posted about a year ago about a smooth talking Canadian guy roaming the Sukhumvit ghetto with his airport tax scam. He strikes up conversation with tourists and spews his sob story about being short the 500 baht depart tax and preying on the goodwill of a jai dee tourist. The Dude has witnessed this "guy" pulling this scam or (attempting to) numerous times and even forewarned a few unsuspecting dudes. The guy is a master of this scam and has been using it as his income stream here in the country. He has been doing it for a minimum of 3 years.

The Dude spotted this guy on Tuesday working the ghetto in the wee morning hours and then saw him on the sky train platform working a guy at 11am. The Dude and said scammer boarded the same train headed from Nana toward On Nut. The Dude was headed to Emporium and was rudely bumped by the scammer as he sped down the steps towards the turnstile exit. The Dude watched in amazement as the scammer went to the exit thing where you put your ticket to leave the skytrain. The scammer gets close behind a Thai guy and slides thru the exit on his ticket! He did this so smoothly as if he had done it 5000 times. I looked to the security guy who understandably had no clue as it was done with such nonchalance. This guy is a menace. What are the chances that he is legal?

Should The Dude forward this guy's pic to the Canadian embassy with a story or mind his own business? Who knows what other ripoffs he engages in here. He is despicable in The Dude's book.

[London Crocodile]

I think this guy has aproached me before, dude can you PM me the picture?

[lung]

i remember... it was a year ago

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=52496

with pic ...

Edited November 16, 2006 by lung

[John_Rambo]

This guy is scum. The thing is, why haven't the Thai authorities done something about him already? Yes, pass your information on to the embassy. Hopefully they will encourage the police to pick him up and send him back where he belongs.

[VanZam]

This guy is still about on Sukhumvit, although looking slightly worse for wear than in the pic in the other topic.

He wasn't simply trying on the 500baht airport scam, but begging to "pay for a ticket home".

This was only about a week ago in the wee hours.

[tropo]

This guy is still about on Sukhumvit, although looking slightly worse for wear than in the pic in the other topic.

He wasn't simply trying on the 500baht airport scam, but begging to "pay for a ticket home".

This was only about a week ago in the wee hours.

Don't be a rat Dude. Leave him alone. You don't know his problems, and at the end of the day he's only collecting around 500 baht per customer.

[GuestHouse]

If I wanted to pick on someone, I don't see that I'd need to go so low to find someone beneath me.

Cluck Cluck.... Cluck Cluck

[tropo]

This guy is still about on Sukhumvit, although looking slightly worse for wear than in the pic in the other topic.

He wasn't simply trying on the 500baht airport scam, but begging to "pay for a ticket home".

This was only about a week ago in the wee hours.

Don't be a rat Dude. Leave him alone. You don't know his problems, and at the end of the day he's only collecting around 500 baht per customer.

Sorry VanZam, I quoted the wrong reply. I meant to answer the OPs query as to whether or not he should turn in the bedraggled Canadian scammer.

Rather than feeling compelled to turning him in, I feel sorry for the guy and I'd be more likely to buy the guy a meal if I ever bumped into him.

Edited November 16, 2006 by tropo

[taxexile]

Should The Dude forward this guy's pic to the Canadian embassy with a story or mind his own business? Who knows what other ripoffs he engages in here. He is despicable in The Dude's book.

these characters rely on the sympathy , generosity and naivety of others ( such as the poster above) to pay their way through life.

we all see beggars on the street and most people will see something in a particular beggar that tugs on a heartstring and a donation is made , you walk past ten beggars and do nothing but for some reason you give to the eleventh.

he works his magic and if others want to fund his lifestyle then so be it.

it is tempting to want to report him , but is it your social conscience or a mean streak that is driving this need ?

at the moment this guy is just scamming tourists , but who knows ? with his excellent scamming skills he could soon be persuading old ladies or lonely women to part with more than just a few baht.

maybe it would be better to bring him to book.

[curber]

WHOOOOOOOOOOAAAAA? Don`t be sending that S O B back to Canada ...we have enough already....throw him in a Thai jail ...much more appropriate.

[tropo]

Should The Dude forward this guy's pic to the Canadian embassy with a story or mind his own business? Who knows what other ripoffs he engages in here. He is despicable in The Dude's book.

these characters rely on the sympathy , generosity and naivety of others ( such as the poster above) to pay their way through life.

we all see beggars on the street and most people will see something in a particular beggar that tugs on a heartstring and a donation is made , you walk past ten beggars and do nothing but for some reason you give to the eleventh.

he works his magic and if others want to fund his lifestyle then so be it.

it is tempting to want to report him , but is it your social conscience or a mean streak that is driving this need ?

at the moment this guy is just scamming tourists , but who knows ? with his excellent scamming skills he could soon be persuading old ladies or lonely women to part with more than just a few baht.

maybe it would be better to bring him to book.

He would never receive any cash from me through any scam, however I would never turn him in. Maybe you should get together with the OP and "bring him to book". There are police types in every community.

Regarding beggars, I personally only give money to handicapped people (blind, crippled etc). That's my policy.

[taxexile]

There are police types in every community

yes there are , and this begs the question , if , in your community there is some wrongdoing that affects members of your community , do you turn a blind eye and let the wrongdoing continue or do you take positive action to end the wrongdoing and improve conditions in that community for the benefit of all.

although this scammer is hardly a threat to the people of sukhumvit , it sounds like sukhumvit would be slightly better off without him.

[fruittbatt]

If the Canadian is begging daily, it would appear he does not have the requisite income to stay in Thailand. Thais despise people like this as falang kee nok. Foreign beggars are an iconic stereotype of the "undesirable alien".

To some extent this stereotype rubs off onto low-budget travellers (back-packers) or others who are not ostensibly wealthy. So the Canadian is not doing anyone a favour by his activities.

The Canadian Embassy is unlikely to intervene in this situation. I wonder if foreign begging may be considered "illegal work" by Thai police or Immigration? If so, it is probably just a question of time before the man is sprung.

The humanitarian aspect is tricky. We like to help those less fortunate because their poverty exists at the expense of our wealth, IMHO. However, I see no reason why a falang beggar should be regarded with more compassion than a Thai beggar. In fact, given the fact that he is pulling a sympathy scam, I would not give him a satang.

[bendix]

I dont see that it's a police issue - what crime is he committing? For all we know he is here legally and both begging and telling lies don't seem to be police matters, so what's the issue here?

None of our business, I think.

[Nawtilus]

Doubt he is here legaly and begging is not legal so I believe here.

If he is genuinely begging, then so be it, leave him be.

If he is genuinely scamming, then hand him over to the police.

You know it is not just 500 baht a day, he could and probably is making a great living from this. I wonder if he stays at Emporium Suites.

[The Dude]

I dont see that it's a police issue - what crime is he committing? For all we know he is here legally and both begging and telling lies don't seem to be police matters, so what's the issue here?

None of our business, I think.

He is committing crimes daily as evidenced by his riding the sky train and not paying. This was the thing that irked me the most about this guy. After he did that he went to the street and grabbed a taxi. My guess is that he knows a scam to get that for free too. He probably knows exactly where to have the guy stop, gets out and makes a run for it. He's a criminal

[qualtrough]

I am gobsmacked that someone would buy this scammer a meal. Why not buy him some vaseline as well and then roll over for him too? The Dude is totally right on this one. Can I have a shovel?

[dantilley]

I dont see that it's a police issue - what crime is he committing? For all we know he is here legally and both begging and telling lies don't seem to be police matters, so what's the issue here?

Well, I doubt he has a work permit for begging... mind you, I guess the issue is, does it count as work?

Almost certain he's on overstay though, I would suspect. All conjecture though, admittedly.

[davidjtayler]

Dont see what the big deal is .. If you want to give him some money, give ... If you dont, then dont ...

There are many beggars everywhere for many different reasons .. bit hypocritical to point out only one ....

[Soju]

Dont see what the big deal is .. If you want to give him some money, give ... If you dont, then dont ...

There are many beggars everywhere for many different reasons .. bit hypocritical to point out only one ....

I'd agree with you if the beggar is truly in need of money and has no option to work. But beggars who are pulling scams and just too lazy to work are a different matter. The more beggars there are, the less the truly needy ones will get and the more skeptical people get of all beggars. IMHO, it's a good thing to rid a society of scammers who beg for a living, trying to make an easy living, and to allow the authentic beggars to stay. Of course it's difficult most of the time to distinguish between a truly needy beggar and a scammer, but in this particular case I must side with the Dude. Just hope he's got enough shovels to go around.

[bendix]

Welcome to thaivisa.com, the new home of the moral majority.

What a load of sanctimonious twaddle this thread is.

For those who say begging is illegal, get a grip. Not only do the polilce make a nice little income out of taking 'licence money' from beggars (who are usually run by mafia gangs), but half the things that make Thailand attractive to most of us are, ostensibly, illegal.

Shall we report everyone who has ever paid for - shock horror - the company of a girl? I purchased and watched a counterfeit movie the other night - should I make an appointment at Thonglor Police Station to turn myself in? Oh, and one night last month I bought a beer at a pavement bar at 1.30am - to whom should I report this heinous outlaw act?

[rafval]

You know it is not just 500 baht a day, he could and probably is making a great living from this. I wonder if he stays at Emporium Suites.

I think if he was making a great living he wouldnt be risking getting into trouble with the law just for the sake of saving 20b on a skytrain fare

[Scott]

I am not sure why you would want to turn him to the Embassy. I don't think they have any particular power over him. If he does something wrong--as in illegal--then the police should be involved and they can contact his embassy. Until then, he's perfectly OK.

He is the sort of guy who will probably get sorted out rather quickly with the new visa regulations. Next time you see him, you might want to notify the police to check his passport, which they can legally do.

[tropo]

There are police types in every community

yes there are , and this begs the question , if , in your community there is some wrongdoing that affects members of your community , do you turn a blind eye and let the wrongdoing continue or do you take positive action to end the wrongdoing and improve conditions in that community for the benefit of all.

Ok, you've begged the question, so I won't leave you in suspense in want of an answer.

While I'm in a foreign community, I don't get involved with petty crimes, and that is exactly what this is at the very worst. The guy needs to eat, he's hardly living it up is he? You've already mentioned that he's looking pretty rough. It would seem that he's only just getting by, and maybe he has a serious drug habit or something. Maybe the guy needs some help rather than being thrown at the mercy of the Thai police.

I suppose at the end of the day, I'm not as quick to condemn people as some on this forum.

Edited November 17, 2006 by tropo

[Douggie Style]

While my general philosophy is to live and let live, it does bother me that this guy has collected 500 baht *x times daily * 3 years.

The way I see it some of those 500 baht ‘donations’ would have gone to a more deserving cause...especially in Thailand.

The guy is only able to continue the scam through taking advantage of others kind intentions.

Continuing in this behaviour is limiting his ability to get back on his own feet; his energy and intelligence is spent honing his scamming skills. Secondly, it burns people who may think twice in future about giving to a genuine cause.

The embassy should provide assistance to return in case of need.

Finally continuing the scam for 3 years is indicative, the gentleman has either a specific reason to not return or has simply become stuck in a pattern of behaviour, which really has no future.

In this case, I would consider it a case of tough love and not think twice about informing the appropriate authority [or call Dr. Phil>> a ticket home and free mini bar...].

Edited November 17, 2006 by Douggie Style

[tropo]

Welcome to thaivisa.com, the new home of the moral majority.

What a load of sanctimonious twaddle this thread is.

For those who say begging is illegal, get a grip. Not only do the polilce make a nice little income out of taking 'licence money' from beggars (who are usually run by mafia gangs), but half the things that make Thailand attractive to most of us are, ostensibly, illegal.

Shall we report everyone who has ever paid for - shock horror - the company of a girl? I purchased and watched a counterfeit movie the other night - should I make an appointment at Thonglor Police Station to turn myself in? Oh, and one night last month I bought a beer at a pavement bar at 1.30am - to whom should I report this heinous outlaw act?

Yes Bendix, I whole heartedly agree.

It might be worthy too for the moral police to consider that most bargirls working in Thailand are guilty of lying to foreigners in order to obtain cash...and on a much grander scale in most cases. Scamming? Most certainly yes. Where do we draw the line? For all we know, this guy could have been fleeced of all his worldly possessions by a bargirl.

Much better for the OP to put the guy on a flight home than turn him over to the police.

[The Dude]

I've decided not to do anything (not my business) as I feel he will do it to himself at some point by ripping off the wrong Thai cab driver or store owner. He's probably been caught ripping off the skytrain and others I suspect and he smooth talks his way out of it as if it were an honest mistake. Someday he won't be able to pull this off I suspect

Edited November 17, 2006 by The Dude

[Buckwheat]

Hey Dude....

Maybe he lost all of his money betting on the Mets.

Dig it?

[London Crocodile]

I suppose at the end of the day, I'm not as quick to condemn people as some on this forum.

That's one way of looking at it, the other would be to suggest that perhaps you are just more naive than some others on this forum.

[Creeper]

Probably just another English teacher trying to survive.