PM orders probe into suspected fraud as 2,000 Japan-bound tourists stranded at airport

[whaleboneman]

8 hours ago, elgordo38 said:

2000 a goodly number to catch the PM's attention all voters no doubt with a dash of elite which of course are election contributors. Who above all else want something for nothing. 

But there are no voters here.

[Moonmoon]

this is how to scam works

 

To become a member of the MLM company Wealth Ever, you have to pay

500 membership fees, Team Admin fees 850, 2 bottles Allysian Healthy Supplements 8350 Total of 9730THB.

After paying 9730THB you would become a member of the company Wealth Ever and as an added bonus, the company will bring you on a tour to Osaka, Japan during the Songkran period.

 

As proof, the company has already brought a smaller team of members to Japan before already.

 

The victims on seeing the bonus trip to Japan worth only 9730 during Songkran of cos wanted to take advantage of it and got everyone to sign up, from their own kids to cousins, grandparents, friends....

1 woman even got her whole MooBan to sign up!

 

of cos, victims usually fall for scams like this out of their own greed wanting to take advantage but in the end ended up getting con themselves. 

[oldcarguy]

Are they "stranded" ?

 

They are Thais at a Thai airport .  if all of them were stuck in Japan and no return ticket then you could say stranded ,

 

But really all they have to do is go back to their Thai Home , yes  without the trip to Japan   and a loss of the money.

 

Other stories like this all over the world ,  in the USA and Europe the Credit card companies might fight for you , But I doubt that would happen in Thailand ,

 

and if its like the Poster above said that it was a "Gift"  after buying some other overpriced item then the value of the "Gift" to them is Zero !

 

Here they play the free weekend Holiday "Gift"  and you get a free flight or free room ,   but whatever is not free is so overpriced it pays for the other......

 

Keep your eyes open  !

[elgordo38]

1 hour ago, whaleboneman said:

But there are no voters here.

OK trick question I give in. 

[starky]

Probe + No legal action = 0 result

[starky]

43 minutes ago, oldcarguy said:

Are they "stranded" ?

 

They are Thais at a Thai airport .  if all of them were stuck in Japan and no return ticket then you could say stranded ,

 

But really all they have to do is go back to their Thai Home , yes  without the trip to Japan   and a loss of the money.

 

Other stories like this all over the world ,  in the USA and Europe the Credit card companies might fight for you , But I doubt that would happen in Thailand ,

 

and if its like the Poster above said that it was a "Gift"  after buying some other overpriced item then the value of the "Gift" to them is Zero !

 

Here they play the free weekend Holiday "Gift"  and you get a free flight or free room ,   but whatever is not free is so overpriced it pays for the other......

 

Keep your eyes open  !

Exactly! can't believe it took this long to say it what are they staying in the airport for?  Whats more gullible getting ripped off or waiting for the person that ripped you off to get your money back?sheep...

[Moonmoon]

14 minutes ago, starky said:

Probe + No legal action = 0 result

I am watching Live now on facebook. Tom Shogun is being question and answering the charges live now in police station. Cant post the link cos its in Thai. Forum rules doesnt allow posting of Thai language media.

[Moonmoon]

4 minutes ago, starky said:

Exactly! can't believe it took this long to say it what are they staying in the airport for?  Whats more gullible getting ripped off or waiting for the person that ripped you off to get your money back?sheep...

according to the police, they already knew of the scam before hand, but couldn't take action before the promised date for the trip.

The police had to wait until the agreed time and confirm that the promised trip did not take place as promised then only they have a case of fraud. 

The authorities were already prepared before hand and that was why they had plans to house the victims on another level and had transport ready to ferry them all to the police station to take all their statements.

[starky]

Just now, Moonmoon said:

according to the police, they already knew of the scam before hand, but couldn't take action before the promised date for the trip.

The police had to wait until the agreed time and confirm that the promised trip did not take place as promised then only they have a case of fraud. 

The authorities were already prepared before hand and that was why they had plans to house the victims on another level and had transport ready to ferry them all to the police station to take all their statements.

Ok so how we're they "stranded" in that scenario, particularly if they knew beforehand? Cheers. 

[Moonmoon]

1 minute ago, starky said:

Ok so how we're they "stranded" in that scenario, particularly if they knew beforehand? Cheers. 

they had to let the whole episode play out, to have a case. 

 

If they were not stranded, then there would be no case of fraud. They would be in Japan already. 

But becos they were stranded, there is a case of fraud. 

The police had to let it happen. Becos if the Police acted before hand and made arrests, there would be no case. 

 

Edited April 12, 2017 by Moonmoon

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

18 minutes ago, Moonmoon said:

they had to let the whole episode play out, to have a case. 

 

If they were not stranded, then there would be no case of fraud. They would be in Japan already. 

But becos they were stranded, there is a case of fraud. 

The police had to let it happen. Becos if the Police acted before hand and made arrests, there would be no case. 

 

 

That's an interesting notion. And perhaps there's an element of truth to it.

 

But, this person's advertisements clearly stated that the group was going to fly on Cathay Pacific. And Cathay Pacific clearly and publicly stated two weeks before the scheduled departure that no planes had been chartered, and to do so normally would have to be scheduled 4-5 months in advance. So by the time Cathay Pacific went to the police in late March, there was no way that these people were going to travel on a charter to Japan. Because zero trip arrangements had been booked.

 

The other related issue of all this is, from all the indications I've read, the authorities at the airport were TOTALLY unprepared and unaware that this huge group of people were going to turn up the other day for a promised, but fake, trip to Japan.  If the police had actually done anything serious in the wake of Cathay's filing of a police report, they certainly should have expected to have a big problem on their hands at the airport come the promised departure date. But pretty clearly, neither the police nor the airport authorities had done any advance preparation for what landed on their doorstep the other day. So it's not like they were prepared, but just waiting...

 

Once Cathay Pacific filed a formal police report over the promised trip on their airline that was being advertised not being REAL, the police could have called in the woman behind this scam for questioning. They could have gone public warning people about the scam via a police news conference that would have gotten wider dissemination. And/or, they could have put the authorities at the airport on alert for the prospect that a lot of travelers might be showing up for a fake trip. From all indications, they did none of the above.

 

 

 

Edited April 12, 2017 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Moonmoon]

2 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

That's an interesting notion. And perhaps there's an element of truth to it.

 

But, this person's advertisements clearly stated that the group was going to fly on Cathay Pacific. And Cathay Pacific clearly and publicly stated two weeks before the scheduled departure that no planes had been chartered, and to do so normally would have to be scheduled 4-5 months in advance. So by the time Cathay Pacific went to the police in late March, there was no way that these people were going to travel on a charter to Japan. Because zero trip arrangements had been booked.

 

The other related issue of all this is, from all the indications I've read, the authorities at the airport were TOTALLY unprepared and unaware that this huge group of people were going to turn up the other day for a promised, but fake, trip to Japan.  If the police had actually done anything serious in the wake of Cathay's filing of a police report, they certainly should have expected to have a big problem on their hands at the airport come the promised departure date. But pretty clearly, neither the police nor the airport authorities had done any advance preparation for what landed on their doorstep the other day. So it's not like they were prepared, but just waiting...

 

 

yes true, The police knew a small group were already being scammed and were already in wait but probably only realised the magnitude of it when the whole of 3500 Thais poured into the airport.

 

Maybe the reports I've seen were made to make the police look good.

 

Through interviews of some of the victims they have said themselves the police were helpful and good in organisation of the affected. 

 

But we all know that can just be some PR stunt

 

 

[anon4546543]

"The legal process would only commence after victims filed lawsuits". Please  PM. You can do better than that.

[maxman71]

THB 15k - 20k for a 3 day trip to Japan ??? That was a burning red flag that this was a joke of a scam. Maybe at least the victims will get a month's supply of Ms. Shogun's best vitamin supplements...

[metisdead]

Some troll posts have been removed. 

[FredNL]

Have you heard the joke about 2000 Thais that went on holiday to Japan? 

They didn't go...

[digger70]

Why does the PM has to order to probe? Isn't the Police suppose to investigate such matters ?Maybe the Police are not doing there job and he has to get them of there lazy but? just thinking (:

[Ajarnbrian]

On 4/12/2017 at 1:00 PM, onemorechang said:

Oh,  people Scammed in Thailand.

What ever next. 

( a little bit of own medicine never hurt  )

Nasty to suggest that the ordinary Thai people who were victims of this scam somehow deserve it.

[jerojero]

PM again micromanaging and ordering people about, militarily. Just do your civilian job and over haul the RTP! After all you literally took the job, so own it.

 

 

 

 

[DrTuner]

Oh the irony. The coupmaster telling people not to be gullible .. but do turn on the telly at 6pm and believe that.

[DrTuner]

20 hours ago, overherebc said:

You beat me to that. We're going in May and I can assure you it's a lot more than 15,000. Doesn't even cover one air fare.

Where were they going to sleep, the local park on a bench?

Maybe they thought it'll be a zero baht tour. 

[onemorechang]

1 hour ago, Ajarnbrian said:

Nasty to suggest that the ordinary Thai people who were victims of this scam somehow deserve it.

Like they care about me, when the boot is

on the other foot.

21 years tells me,   your full of it.

[pentap]

It's not nice to hear of such a despicable thing but on the other hand, and in a some what strange way, it's nice to hear of instances where by, they cheat their own kind.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[metisdead]

A post containing a link to Bangkok Post has been removed as well as the reply:

 

26) The Bangkok Post and Phuketwan do not allow quotes from their news articles or other material to appear on Thaivisa.com. Neither do they allow links to their publications. Posts from members containing quotes from or links to Bangkok Post or Phuketwan publications will be deleted from the forum.

[oldcarguy]

and what finally happened ?

 

last I heard they were moved to the Arrivals level  by the  Police

 

and the Airport got back to a little more normal, the Thais had left for a few days holiday and the Tourists were  mostly already there to play in the water !

 

 

[Sydebolle]

For once:
- it was not the small farmer with no means getting cheated
- it was the greedy middle class falling into the trap of "too good to be true"
- no phone, email nothing in the ads
- something like THB 30 million got creamed off in a "Thais-scam-Thais" programme

Nobody traced how the money got to the scammers; this deal must have gone with heavy (Thai) paper trail.

While I don't subscribe to cheating it remains a fact, that the biggest threat of Thailand is .... their own people! Serves them right and the amount in question per passenger might teach them a lesson (or not?)! 

[ChidlomDweller]

On 4/12/2017 at 0:27 PM, webfact said:

“Thais believe too easily. Don’t trust anything before checking otherwise you will be cheated,” he said. 

Yes, ask all those idiot whistle-blowers from 4 years ago.

[anon4546543]

14 hours ago, Sydebolle said:

While I don't subscribe to cheating it remains a fact, that the biggest threat of Thailand is .... their own people! Serves them right and the amount in question per passenger might teach them a lesson (or not?)! 

Serves them right. Yes I suppose if you loath a whole race of people, it serves them right for being scammed. As for a paper trail, you may find that short term money lenders who will not mutter a word had some influence. And it will have been mostly cash that was used based on advise of duped friends and family members.  Money lenders that extort 10% per month and use brutal methods to reclaim their money. The real problem is that Thailand is an emerging economy, so many people have high expectations but modern education has not caught up with many of the population. And the are mostly a peaceful and trusting people. To say that they deserve what they get is not only harsh, but lacking any common decency or understanding.

[Bangkokazy]

Cool to read that it's not only tourists who are fooled in Thailand.

[anon4546543]

55 minutes ago, Bangkokazy said:

Cool to read that it's not only tourists who are fooled in Thailand.

Before I settled into Thailand with my wife, I was not scammed on any occasion in at least 10 visits. Makes me wonder where you could possibly have been scammed and how aware/ dumb you were. I have been scammed by taxi drivers in British Columbia, England and France. Got lost in the currency and taxi fares and the translations. Sorted that out really quickly. Scams happen no more in Thailand than any other country. If you are scammed and I hope you are not, it is possible that you did not read your countries foreign affairs warnings on each country and Learn a few facts.