TOURIST SCAM WARNING!!"

[Chad]

please discuss here..

[Tornado]

OHH Great idea !!here u go mr. FLW
post all the warning here PLEASE !!

[napoleon]

Good Idea for stupid and covetous tourists that whos are innocent for travelling.

I never had any problems when I travelled alone to many big cities around the world.


Please searching all information and becareful by yourself.

[FLW]

Pictures of the ERAWAN SHRINE TOURIST MAFIA:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21533131@N06/

[annamaria4711]

I think this is a good idea. It's not just about scams its about protecting Thai tourism...I know when people have asked me about Vietnam...one of the first things I tell them is about the amount of scam they are likely to confront, needless to say many of them side step Vietnam, that does not help the local economy, likewise with Cambodia, we were advised to go to Angkar Wat, go see it and leave Cambodia....again that does not help the local economy.

I find it wrong when I see two prices...in Italy once I was so annoyed with the vendor trying to double price a really nice family that simply wanted to engage and enjoy Italy that I felt that this chap was desecrating the spirit of Italy, that i stepped in and made sure they were charged local prices...when that has happened to us in Egypt..it gave me faith in that country..I told friends yes they were scandels but there were good people too who would step forward, hence friends felt good about visiting Egypt.

I really don't agree to a two tier price...I was so annoyed when I wanted to go and see the shadow puppet theatre in the night bazarr, I was asked to pay about 500bht...which was more than I was paying for my room at that time and a very rich Thai family who were dropped off in some Merc paid a franction..that would not happen in many Western places where prices are clearly displayed for all to understand.

The biggest scammers I ever encountered were the authorities in Ho Chi Min airport..biggest load of scammsters..needless to say i advise all my friends NOT to go to Vietnam..biggest bunch of thieves I've ever encountered

[FLW]

Yesterday, I had lunch at The Roadhouse, Rama 4 and Suriwong intersection.
The Tourist Mafia has representatives stationed there, by the Jim Thompson Store. For the last year, I have seen the same scammers posted there every time I go past.... right by the Police Box. I have photos.
We watched them hit on a dozen or more tourists during lunch.

[Tornado]

Originally Posted by FLW

Yesterday, I had lunch at The Roadhouse, Rama 4 and Suriwong intersection.
The Tourist Mafia has representatives stationed there, by the Jim Thompson Store. For the last year, I have seen the same scammers posted there every time I go past.... right by the Police Box. I have photos.
We watched them hit on a dozen or more tourists during lunch.

Yes , you saw it ! wow what else did you do after seeing that ? Wow I don't mind seeing the photos taken by you. i am being sarcastic.
If you really sure and you are so much in love to protect our tourism industry please report that to the authority that would be a lot more useful. Don't u think so

[annamaria4711]

I agree
You should report it not just photo it.
Once when we were going to the airport in BKK our taxi driver would not put his meter on.
So we got out, the taxi behind him asked us what was going on, we told him, he took the guys number plates etc and asked us to report to Tourist police at airport....
Its about protecting the tourist industry, by giving faith back to the tourists.

Do something
Don't just photograph it
Report it....

You'll be saving jobs for Thailand ...and the world is competitive enough as it is we don't need Thai thieves to be scamming Thailand...all of this is part of the corruption process every little bit will help to fight against it

[FLW]

Report it to who?
The Police?
These tourist scammers at the Erawan work in plain view of the Police Box on that corner.

I did send the photos and letters to the Tourist Police, TAT and TAC (tourist assistance center). ...in JUNE 2007.
Quite a few follow up letters sent.
The Bangkok Post did an article in January and published photos of 3 of the Erawan Mafia. Those same scammers are there still today.

Thousands of tourists being hit on every day, all over Bangkok, is making a bad impression on our guests.







Photos of the ERAWAN SHRINE TOURIST MAFIA.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21533131@N06/

.

[George W. Bush]

The taxi meter thing is certainly annoying, but to me these are rather petty issues. When visiting developing countries I expect to be confronted with such nuisances to a certain level. As long as Bangkok remains the reasonably safe and peaceful city it always seemed to be so far, I'll be fine.

[FLW]

Originally Posted by napoleon

Good Idea for stupid and covetous tourists that whos are innocent for travelling.

I never had any problems when I travelled alone to many big cities around the world.


Please searching all information and becareful by yourself.

Im curious if this is the official position of the TAT?

[FLW]

I pullud this article from bangkokscams site.

SEPT 2008,
"Hello, I have recently returned back home to Sydney after a 2 week holiday in South East Asia, Overall experience has been great with the exception on my last day in Bangkok, 15/08/08,The little lane between Patpong 1 and Patpong 2 (around the corner they sell bags closest to Slilom road) a tout forced me to go and see a "show" up stairs, i nicely hesitated and said "no im shopping," then he said "just to have a look for one second and you dont need to pay for anything and dont need to drink and there is an Australian comedian who is doing a show right now",found it hard to believe as there was no ads or sign but was eager to see,

Went upstairs and as soon as i reached top, someone from behind pushed me inside the go go bar, then i was sucked in to some dirty filthy disgusting sex shows with grandmothers performing, at that point i got sucked in, i wanted to leave, then the tout who sucked me in started to yell in Thai to some middle aged thai man, (the club's manager) and demanded i pay a covercharge, i asked what for? then he said you are in my club and you have to pay as the sign says (500 baht), i told him that the sign was not displayed outside, then he laughed and started to speak in Thai with the lying Tout, Manager demanded i pay 1000 since its a fine for violating the rules, i told him i didnt have that money, then he asked whats inside your bag, (i had 2 cameras digitalcam and another a hd video recorder, unlucky no power on both aftera whole day of us), I told him ok i got some money but this ismy only money, he demanded i handed it over, and he asked for more, at this point i became abit scared because the guy who pushed me in was right behind me along with the tout on the side who lead me in.

So I gave the manager 1000 baht, he then asked I also pay 1000 baht to the ticket desk which was on the left hand side of the entrance, and then i also had to pay 1000 baht to the tout and the guy behind me aswell.

Thats a total of 4000 baht, then i was escorted to a seat and was told to watch the show after the show i could leave, then a fat lady came in and ask i get a drink, i told her no because i dont drink, so she sent me a bottle water and asked that i pay 1000 baht for it, i said no. then 2 girls came from both sides and locked me in and grabbed my shopping and ask i pay them 1000 for tip each (3000), I would then get my shopping bag back, unfortunately it was the remaining money i had in my shoulder bag i was really forced to give. They threw my shopping bag back to me, right after they did , noticed the door was clear so i made a run for the exit and went to the Sky Train station for help.

Spoke to the security guard at Sala Daeng, who was limited in english and he approached a group of young people who happened to speak fluent english and kindly helped me throughout the night. Who assisted me to go the police station and became my translators to the local police officers in the station which was like 5 minutes away by motorbike in Patpong where I went to make a report. I was so shocked that I didn't want to return back to the area, Police asked me if I wanted to get my money back, i told them it didnt really matter as long as I lived and besides I still had money back in my hotel which was enough for me to get back to the airport. I did not get the name of the place but I can remember the exact location of the bar. I told police that I will point out the place but will not go inside or near it. Police told me it was fine and that I had to meet another patrol in the area so I can show them where it was and explained to them what happened briefly.

A detective then kindly took me back to little station in Patpong where i met 2 police officers who asked me to show me where the place was, and then they asked me to come with them and said there would be no problem we are police officers. I told them i will only point where it is and I will leave. I then walked down along Patpong 2 with the police officers and right in the corner i pointed out to the police officer that that was the place where the incident occured. So i left it at that and ran to nearest cab to take me back to the hotel."

These rip off bars have been operating for 20 years or longer. The Police know where they are.
They only escorted the victim so they could get their piece of the action.
Does anybody here actually believe the Thai Police have any concern for foreigners?

PATPONG SCAMS:
http://www.google.com/search?client=...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[FLW]

Scammed in Thailand.

More reports on the internet.

"While we were walking along the night market, a guy approached us and asked us if we want to watch the shows. We asked for the price and he said 100 baht/head for the cover charge and we can leave the bar if we didnt like the show. We decided to check out the bar because we thought we can leave if we didnt like the place anyway.

THE BAR AND THE GIRLS

The bar looked okay. It was clean and the seats were cushioned. There were other customers inside. We felt it was an "okay" bar. We were ushered to our tables, which were right in front of the stage. On the stage there were four women dancing on the poles, some without nothing on while others had ill fitting panties. The first "girl" on the left, didnt look like a girl. I honestly think she's a he. Her boobs were as flat as a board and there was an unusually big bump inside her panty. The first girl on the right was short, stocky and her boobs were sagging so low you would want to beg her to wear a bra. The second girl on the left was probably the most good looking one. She was slender and her boobs were in place. The second girl on the right... Hmm...I dont know how to describe her without sounding mean. She was heavy, her hair was all over her face and her panty looked two sizes too small. As one of my friends put it, "Walang karapatan maghubad sa harap ng mga tao." Their dancing didnt even jive with the beat of the music. It was really terrible.

THE SHOW

While the four women were dancing on the poles, a completely naked girl approached us and asked us to buy them some drinks. She said that we have to buy them drinks before they'll do the tricks. Since we were there already and we really wanted to watch the show, we decided to buy them two drinks. The girl went up the stage. She was holding a string of paperclips, about 2 feet long. She inserted this chain of paperclips inside her vagina, then she pulled it out while dancing. Another woman went up the stage. She was old! She was probably 47 years old and her boobs and pubes evidence of her age. She was on the heavy side too. She inserted a stick with a magnet on the tip. There were paperclips chained together to make a ring on the floor. She used the stick with magnet to get the rings on the floor and hooped them on the neck of a bottle of alcohol. The clincher here was she was rolling on the floor as she does the trick, hence exposing her 47 year old vagina for the whole world to see. After the 47 year old woman, another girl went up the stage. She wasnt carrying anything. She danced for a bit then, suddenly, she pulled out a string of plastic flowers from her vagina. Not only that, she was swinging the string of flowers as she pulls them out. I really felt that the show was human rights violation and women exploitation to the maximum level. Making them parade their bodies naked is bad enough, making their vaginas do some freak show is despicable.

THE SCAM

Now, as we were watching the show, one of the waitresses gave us the menu for the drinks. We didnt want to order but she was very insistent. She told us that the drinks were part of the 100 baht cover charge. At that point, we were quite suspicious already. A few minutes after our drinks came, a big woman wearing some cheap suit went to our table and handed us the bill. We were all shocked to see that we were charged 6900 baht. There wasnt even any breakdown on the bill, just the total amount of 6900 baht. We all looked at each other. We didnt know what to do. She was shouting at us, saying "Pay up!" Barbie asked Mama San how the bill amounted to that and she wouldnt answer us. She said, "Shup up, you talk too much. Pay up!" At that point we were all so scared. We didnt know what to do. There was a bouncer who approached our table and this thai Mama San kept on shouting at us and demanding to pay up. Grace told Mama San that we didnt have enough money. Mama San said, "Show me your wallets!" The nerve of that woman! The right to privacy is an international human right. Even if Thailand wasnt a party to the ICCPR, the right to privacy has already become part of customary international law, so Thailand is bound to respect it. We kept on haggling and she gave us 900 baht discount. I was so scared at that time that I just wanted to pay up and get out of the bar. Barbie was adamant however that we are not going to pay that amount for some freak show that we didnt even enjoy. Finally, the woman told us to go to the bar. I think we were causing too much commotion already so they had to move us away from the table across the stage. At the bar she told us to just pay 500 baht each. The amount was kinda acceptable so we decided to pay up, besides, we really wanted to get out of the bar. While Barbie was counting the money, Mama San tried to grab it from her hands. Barbie pulled her hand away and counted the bills in front of her. We wanted to make sure that she wouldnt trick us and say we only gave 2500 baht when in fact we gave 3500 baht. Finally, after paying we hurried out of the door and walked as fast as we could away from the bar areas. Apparently, we were lucky. Some people got ripped off thousands of money. Our 500 baht per person was actually a good deal already. One of my friends, Anna Jaye, said, "Grabe talaga tayong mga Pinay, even under the most stressful situation, tumatawad parin."

[FLW]

Happy New Year.

[FLW]

The transportation in Phuket is a monopoly and they charge 10X what a Bangkok Taxi costs for the pleasure of riding in the back of a truck!
They are rude thugs that are ruining Thailands tourist industry.

Below are reports from bangkokscams regarding the Tourist mafia in Phuket.


Andy, Wed 12 Nov 2008 14:32:02 MST
I have just returned from Phuket, the tuk tuk drivers are a nightmare and trying constantly to rip you off. I ended up moving to a hotel between Karon and Patong and hired a motorbike. If I wanted to go into town at night, I would flag down a tuk tuk and offer him 100 baht, I would always get it as he was already going that way. Phuket is the most tourist unfriendly place I have visited, I will never go again, even though it is beautiful.
...
written by Andy, Wed 12 Nov 2008 14:34:53 MST
On my final day I booked a private taxi to the airport, the company sent a shared mini bus, I refused to get on and demanded my money back. The company eventually agreed and we travelled alone, I hear this is common in Phuket. My advice is not to pay the tour company, but pay the driver on arrival at airport. Taxi was 600 baht, another scam in Phuket.
...
written by never to return, Thu 13 Nov 2008 05:32:50 MST
I loved Phuket but the scams and taxi and tuk tuks there make it a nightmare gooing out of there way to rip you off. i will never go back because of this crap.
...
written by Theo, Thu 13 Nov 2008 22:50:03 MST
The problem with the taximeters is they dont always take the shortest way to the destination. If one travels the same track often one will notice significant difference in prices, and a lot of difference in time the ride takes . It not only happens to falangs. Thais, from upcountry told me they got scammed too when the driver found out they didnt live in Bangkok.
...
written by mike, Thu 01 Jan 2009 12:49:35 MST
I will never go back to phuket simply because of the tuk tuks we could not go anywhere with being harased by them, the scared us so we left phuket before our holiday finished. NEVER NEVER EVER AGAIN.

[FLW]

Phuket Taxi Scams report. This report is from 2005.
Nothing has changed.
How difficult is it to provide a secure airport with a safe place to catch a taxi?

When will Thailand get its act together and stop treating visitors like garbage?
These people are ruining Thailand's reputation as a friendly, safe destination.

Hotel Owner warns visitors!
http://www.phuket-info.com/forums/ac...i-warning.html


Check out this article in the Phuket Gazette
May 30, 2005

PHUKET CITY (Khom Chad Luek, Phuket Gazette) : Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura has ordered an investigation into a tour company with offices on the bypass road for allegedly intimidating tourists into buying overpriced package tours.

The Tourist Police denied having received any complaints about the company in question, which is located close to their office on the bypass road.

The Governor ordered the investigation while chairing the monthly CEO Governor’s Meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall on Wednesday morning.

During a discussion of Phuket’s “transport mafia” woes, former Phuket Town Mayor Phummisak Hongsyok, who attended the meeting in his capacity as President of the Phuket Real Estate Club, mentioned that a high-ranking police official was involved in operating a “tour company” that picked up fares at the airport.

“I have received many reports from tourists about one ‘influential’ company that [somehow got the right] to pick up passengers at the airport. From there, they take them to their company offices, sometimes detaining them for one or two hours and forcing them to buy highly overpriced tour packages,” he said.

K. Phummisak said that the tour company would also call around to various hotels and arrange accommodation for the tourists, charging them in some cases 1,000 baht fare or more upon arrival at their hotels. He added that the company also received a commission from the hotels involved.

“If we don’t take action against this soon, it will create big problems for Phuket tourism in the future,” he said.

Gov Udomsak readily agreed that something had to be done to rectify the problem and take action against the tour company, which he already knew to be located next to Tourist Police Station [on the bypass road].

“The Tourist Police can’t tell me that they don’t know anything about this … This issue has come up time and time again in these meetings…but I don’t see anybody taking the initiative to do anything about it. We talk about it all the time, then nobody does anything. I just don’t understand it,” he said.

It is understood that Provincial Police Deputy Commander Pol Col Kokiat Wongvorachart will head the investigation.

The Governor also suggested putting the owners of the company on the provincial list of “influential figures”, thus allowing those responsible be dealt with at a higher level as part of the the Prime Minister’s “war on corruption”.

The Gazette contacted the Phuket Tourist Police office and was told by inspector Pol Maj Bundit Khaosutham that it was “100% untrue” that any Tourist Police officers were involved.

“As for the tour company next to our office, we don’t know each other. I don’t think that they would be brave enough to treat tourists like that right next to the Tourist Police office because it would be so easy for people to report them…

“In fact, we never get complaints from tourists about being forced to buy overpriced tours or being dropped off in the wrong locations [after refusing to buy them],” he said, adding that he had nevertheless assigned a team to investigate the allegations.



.

[FLW]

Year after year the scam at the entrance to the Grand Palace continues.

Here are reports dating back 4 years! :
http://www.google.com/search?client=...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

The Kings Grand Palace neighborhood is swarming with tourist mafia scammers.
They stand next to the security guards, right at the front entry and lie to every single tourist thay meet. They tell tourists they cannot go inside and divert them into an elaborate scam.
The management, security, maintenance personnel and every vendor in the area sees it happening, every day!

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


This group of Policemen are standing across the street from the entrance, watching the Tourist Mafia scam visitors.
I approached them and asked if the Grand Palace was open?
One of them said yes, it's open.
I then told them that that group of men was telling everybody it was not open!
They had a brief discussion in Thai language, then all together they said IT IS CLOSED!
Yes, the Police are cooperating with the Tourist Mafia.
image hosted on flickr




.

[Dek Thai]

Good Chad.

[George W. Bush]

Everytime I sense somebody wanting to take advantage of me I give him a huge and big smile.
Because smiling all the way to every and anybody usually is the right thing to do in Thailand.

[Imperfect Ending]

Don't listen to taxi car advice cause they're probably just working together with the destination of their choice.