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shav00
Posted on 4th February, 2009
Yes I've just been scammed in Bangkok. On my first jet-lagged day in Bangkok I ended up being talked into taking a tour of the city in a tuk tuk for what I now know to be a really cheap price. I was taken to a fairly average temple and then to a tailor shop. I ended up being talked into getting a suit made. The fabric was high quality and the sales pitch was very hard sell, so I ended up paying a high price for what turns out to be a fairly poorly made suit that is worth probably half what I paid for it. The tailor shop name is Sup Fashion on Tanon Lanluang. AVOID THIS PLACE.

I was then taken to a jeweller's shop and a high priced souvenir outlet and gem factory, but luckily didn't spend any money at either place. The most bizarre thing is that at every non-shopping place we visited apparently complete strangers would talk up the next stop on the tuk tuk tour. At the first temple the man who was looking after the temple told me that Thai fashion was the best because it was all hand made and that they had a special on today - last day of some promotion for the lunar new year. At the second temple I ran into a british man who told me he'd just bought gems and does it every year to resell back home. The man at the gate was also telling me that it was the last year that foreigners could become members of jeweller's shops.

So now I feel very foolish, but I hope that others don't fall into the same trap.

jamesspignesi
Posted on 3rd March, 2009
These are the places that i consider the worst places to get scammed in ThailandI speak thai so i know what the going rates should be on everything from taxi,s to hotels. Koh Samui or any islands in the group by far the worst,Bangkok ,Chang Mai, Pattaya,just down right dangerous, Pai, Phuket,Krabi, really anywhere there are large numbers of tourists,your going to get scammed. Believe me i,ve heard them all. As far as restaurants go always ask to see a menu ,if they don,t have one don,t be afraid to ask. Most all local food should on the average never be more than 25 or 30 baht. If you would like more advice feel free to contact me about anywhere in thailand at homelessinalaska@yahoo.com

Scott
Posted on 17th February, 2009
I had problems on several occasions with bar/restaurant places trying to double charge me on food and beer in Chiang Mai. One is on Moon Muang with a lit up Jim Beam Gibson style guitar sign on a corner with several table and chair sets outside. I paid for one beer to the waitress who brought and just one minute later, another waitress attempts to charge me again. And so the argument ensued. I won that time.

Another is a German restaurant near the Kalare night market and next to an English and Belgium restaurant. I ordered a hefewiezen beer at the German restaurant and in the course of 5 minutes was approached by 5 pushy rude young Thai ladies in dirndl dresses demanding a food order when I was still trying to read page 1 of the menu. I politely told all of them I needed more time and then a young Thai man approached me and said, "You order food now or you check bin or you see police." This was way out of place and told them so, but they just said, "You check bin or see police." They brought out a bill for 198 baht when the 1 beer was supposed to be 120 baht! I pointed this out, but the Thai guy got in my face and way to block me and said, "check bin or police." I paid him the money, but told him he was wrong and will suffer bad karma and bad luck from misbehaving and doing me wrong. He still tried to block my exit, but I just walked, pushing him aside, and said, "kawp poon cup." He uttered something like threats as I walked away.

In the course of seconds as an evening gets older, Thailand goes from the land of smiles to the land of scams. Be careful.

Many internet shops in Chiang Mai and Bangkok tried to over charge me numerous times in the course of a month long trip. This was my 3rd time to LOS and will be my last. I won't be returning to LOS as some Thai are taking greed to extremes much more than just 1 year ago. I would reckon many are seeing a pinch in the downturn leading them to treat what tourists their are pretty badly. They just want our money, no if's, ands, or buts about it.

roskott
Posted on 22nd April, 2009
Warning: Unseen travel agent Bangkok

We arranged our trip trouhg tahiland in November/december 2008.It was high season, so UNSEEN said it was wise to book transport and accommodation in advamce.
1. they did'nt book transport in advance
2. they scharged us at least twice/three times the price for transport
3. we agreed upon a price for guesthouses and then tehy put us in guesthouses of half or one third of the price
So their profit margin is about 200%
In Lopburi they put us in a "guesthouse"{Baan Monkey guesthouse} which don't deserve that name. UNSEEN charged us for 1000BAHT and it was worth at the most 200 BAHT!We refused to stay there. To our complaints they reacted very crude.
UNSEEN is'nt a travel agent, it's a money maker!

cs
Posted on 28th April, 2009
Photos of the scammers at the Grand palace.
Thailand Tourist Mafia.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29324583@N05/sets/72157616768273247/

Lisa
Posted on 5th May, 2009
When asked if it's your first time in Thailand, never say yes and always say you've visited a few times..especially to travel agents in Bangkok, taxi, motorbike taxi and tuk tuk drivers.Sorry to say it but lying is essential at times.I was charged at least double the price for a train/ferry from Bangkok to Koh Samui. For a couple of baht more I could have bought a plane ticket and got there in an hour instead of the long overnight trip.Thai greeting with head lowered always helps too.Let it be a habit.Always remember your manners and be respectful..it'll be reciprocated and at least if you are ripped off it'll be more pleasant! Learn the basics of the language overnight if you can pick on someone willing like I did..the day to day how are yous, how much, pleases and thankyous etc and dont forget the numbers for bartering! Consider buying a book before you leave no matter how long your stay is.. 'English-Thai The fun way to learn the language' ISBN No.9-7427-2222-6 It's easy.Have a good trip.

Richard Malone
Posted on 17th June, 2009
I met a lady at Patong beach in Phuket. Told me she'd visited a large gem shop and the staff were very nice. They offered to clean her diamond engagement ring for free. They even drove her back home and offered to deliver her ring all cleaned to her hotel. I said, it must have been a big diamond. She kept smiling for about another minute. C'mon, she almost deserved it.
Let's face it, you don't have to leave your common sense at home when you travel.

Paul Jeffery
Posted on 9th August, 2009
The only scam I had was, upon arriving at the Bunglumpoo area of Bangkok on an airport bus service, was after being accousted by tuk-tuk drivers. Asking where I was staying, I said the name of the place, which was in Khaosan Rood. One driver said it was a km away, I'd need a tuk-tuk (I had a suitcase with me). Little did I know it was little more than 100m away, the road just behind me. I asked the price, he said 150baht. He took me around the block, and dropped me at the other end of the road, saying he couldnt drop me outside the place. I was actually somewhwat further away from the inn than when I got off the bus, and 140 baht in a taxi back home (New Zeland) would have cost less for the distance travelled!

But on the other end of the scale, another tuk-tuk driver took me downtown and back, one hour or so for 50 baht. I willingly gave him 100 and bought him a can of coke.

chris murrell
Posted on 23rd September, 2009
It was dead easy to catch the bus in Bangkok and a fraction of the price of a Taxi/tuk-tuk. The public water taxis are cheap and interesting too. The taxis that hang around the doors of the hotels are a rip off.

dave scott
Posted on 4th October, 2009
Brothers/Sisters:

Has/is Thailand really become such a hellhole ?

I was gonna take 2-3 unpaid weeks off work to make a 1st visit with an eye towards moving there for good at some point...but all the bad press about the scams, terrorism, weak police, weak government, instability, abuse of animals, low level of service, the 3rd world nonsese, the fact the Thai's seem like a bunch of shallow ignorant retarded children make me wonder...

I was hoping to live somewhere cheaper, have an easier time finding a girlfriend/wife, being amongst more friendlier/chill people (than in the USA), the Buddhist culture, beaches, less stress, experience more community, etc, etc.

Jen and Alex
Posted on 14th November, 2009
We were also victims of the Sup Fashions scam, but upon talking to others back home who had been to Thailand and had custom made suits, we realized that we had been taken before giving the whole amount to the venerable "Mr. Jack". When Sup's goon picked us up at our hotel the day after put down a deposit, we went along with him, intending to ask for most of our deposit back as we knew we had been scammed. Let's just say we did not get any money back, and to avoid being taken to the police as Mr. Jack threatened (Thais can turn on you in an instant if they are not happy with the way things are going) we shelled out an addidional 8000 baht "for costs" to leave it all behind us. In Canada, when you leave a deposit, it covers costs, yes?

Avoid the "Thai Factory Tour" at all costs. And if a guy approaches you in a temple, you don't speak English.

Terrence Seymour
Posted on 6th December, 2009
On my 4th trip to Thailand i was ripped off by a scam. I have always heard of scams in Thailand but always thought it was just people being paranoid as i had never been ripped off up till my 4th trip. Upon arriving in Surit thani after a 8hour Van ride from Penang we were dropped off at the usual small shop that serves food, drinks and travel tickets..... To be told that the boat to Koh phangan we had tickets for was a "slow boat" and wouldnt be leaving for 3 hours but if we would like to pay extra they would issue us with tickets for the "fast boat" that was leaving in a hour and we would be relaxing on the island before the slow boat even left the mainland.... Ofcourse after 8 hours crammed into a van this sounds grat so we all go with the deal. 10 mins later the best bus iv ever been on in Thailand turned up to pick us up and take us the 60km or so to Bandon where the boats leave from. The driver had another adult male with him and a young 12-14 yearold boy with him too. The driver then proceded to drive to Bandon without touching the accalerator!!! We traveled at about 20-30 kmh on the open roads which ofcourse made us miss the boat we had paid extra for.... I was starting to get worried at the speed we were doing and stopping in small towns along the way so i kept a look out the windows and got someone on the other side of the bus to look out theirs to makesure no one got into the baggage compartments while we aere stopped etc. Everyone on the bus were getting really Pi%&ed off by now and knew we had been scammed. No one noticed the young boy dissapear during the drive though...... On arrival at the bandon pier we all got our bags and quickly took pics and vids of the bus and driver etc for evidence. I was almost run over as i was filming through the front window. The driver gunned it and almost took me out!! I smashed his mirror on the way past and then raced upto the police office to make a complaint but they wernt interested at all and said the boat we had originaly got tickets for was about to leave and we will miss it if we dont leave now. So we all got on the ferry and dispersed and after a couple of singhas started relaxing abit and glad to be on the way to KPG for my 3rd trip there. I went into my bag to get my phone that had a picture of my mother eatting huge chilli prawns in KL who had just passed away on it to quickly find out it was gone and so was everything i had bought so far on my trip along with alot of my other kit!!!! THAT LITTLE BASTARD BOY!!!! i went and found others who had been on the bus and htey had a look to find they had been ripped off too!!! So sure enough... the old little boy climbing through the luggage compartment scam is alive and kicking in the land of smiles and i will never go back again! BEWARE

ClubSiam
Posted on 25th December, 2009
Thai Police have a network of scammers deployed all over Bangkok every morning. They are intent on defrauding every foreigner they meet.
photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29324583@N05/sets/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21533131@N06/sets/

Tracey
Posted on 3rd February, 2010
We walked past a market near Kho San road where the market seller was selling items such as backpacker brochures (which were free), half used toiletries, single condoms, and worst of all - a used tooth brush!!!! We couldn't believe it, obviously been stolen from a backpacker. Other market stalls near by also sold a lot of second hand clothes that looked like they had belonged to travelers. How do these people think they can steal and then sell these items??

Tracey
Posted on 3rd February, 2010
We were victims of a Royal Fashion scam in Chiang Mai where co-incidently 3 different friendly strangers at different tourist locations throughout Chiang Mai advised us, by marking on our maps places to go, such as avoid the tourist markets and go to the local markets instead, go see the flower show (which didn't exist) and different temples. They also all advised us to go to Royal Fashion Tailors in Chiang Mai for the suits we wanted to get. It was our first day and we were still jetlagged, so we were fooled into thinking that 3 independent people cannot be wrong, and this must be a good place to go to. One even told us what price to expect to pay - same for foreigners and Thai's alike - we later realised this price was totally extortionate and way above the price we should have paid. We walked into Royal Fashion and told them we didn't want to buy today, only look and before I knew it my boyfriend was being measured up before we even had a chance to ask "how much?" As a result, we had many unpleasant experiences for fittings, they tried to sell us something else each time we went for a fitting, the suits and dresses I ordered were nothing like the ones in the brochure and were very poorly made and ill fitting (one dress in particular was nothing at all like the one in the brochure and they kept trying to convince me that I didn't want it like the one in the brochure, they would not make any more changes towards the end, even though I kept telling them the sleeves were too long etc, they made out they had changed it, but they were still the same fit, they did not give me the silk scarves they had promised me at the end and kept trying to take us on a factory tour for umbrella's and shoes. They insisted we pay upfront and claimed my credit card wasn't working so they could ask for my payment in cash, they could even take me to the ATM! (I bet they could, and look over my shoulder for my pin number no doubt too after having got my credit card details swiped). We now realise after reading other blogs that other people have been approached by these "friendly strangers" in order to guide them towards Royal Fashion Tailors. The hotspots we got trapped are Wat Phra Singh, a local pretending to be from Bangkok, the Police Commission house - by someone pretending to be an important traffic police worker who was high up and even had a niece in Melbourne (we are from Australia) and a man and his daughter (who happened to be wearing a waistcoat made by coincidently Royal Fashion themselves by the moat where the fish are fed near Thae Pae Gate. It wasn't until now that we realise how slick these co-incidences were. Every time we went in to Royal Fashion Tailors we had a sick feeling that we felt that we were being scammed. When we enquired on postage, the salesman's eye's lit up, they tried to tell us we had 7kg and that it would cost over $300. We declined this offer and when we got back to the guesthouse we were staying in, we weighed our severely overpriced purchases and they only weighed in at 6kg, surprise surprise and postage for that would never amount to what they had quoted us.

Royal Fashion Tailors in Chiang Mai is run by two very smooth, slick Indians, who claim to be brothers, do not trust Royal Fashion Tailors in Chiang Mai on Chang Moi Road, they will overcharge you for second rate material, and I am still expecting my credit card to come through with a charge where they ran my card through and claimed it did not work because I need a pin number not a signature.

I share this as I do not want others to be tricked in the same way we were, these con artists need to be stopped.

Clarke
Posted on 7th February, 2010
Dell Darnley-Davidson & his wife Jas (last selling holidays & fractional ownership at Bor Saen Villas at Phang Nga) are the biggest con artists in Thailand! We are one of many people who had booked holidays in a private waterfront villa including free car, meals and spa and not gotten anything because they are no longer operating there and can't be found (at the moment)! Please stay well away from them - he is a blue eyed Scottish and a fast talking salesman who smokes like a chimney while she appears as a quiet thai girl and doesn't understand too much english - don't fall for her either.
They have ripped off too many people and need to be jailed!

thaiscams
Posted on 24th February, 2010
New forum for Thailand related scams.

Amanda Coffin
Posted on 10th March, 2010
Don't forget the rather serious scam in the duty-free shops in the Bangkok Airport.

The clerks will slip a small item -- perhaps a small vial of perfume or a pack of cigarettes -- into the bag with your purchases at the check-out. Many travelers assume that this is a small thank-you bonus gift, but it's a setup. The police, participants in the scam, are waiting just outside the duty-free shop to arrest the unwary customer for "shop-lifting" the extra item. Of course, handing over a large bribe makes the charge disappear, but perhaps not in time to catch one's flight.

BBC news has done several stories on this scam, and it continues to be a problem. My advice: if you do buy anything at the duty-free shops, watch the clerks very carefully and do NOT allow them to place anything in the bag that you have not paid for!

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