Watch out!
Here is a small list of some of the scams I’ve encountered or heard of on this trip. For some reason I can’t resist when a scum bag lie’s to me and offers something that’s to good to be true. I always end up going with them and have to wiggle around to get of the hook, even though I’m well aware ahead of time that it’s B.S. Maybe I just have to much time on my hands, but I’m to curious to just walk away, I want to know their angles…
Most of the scamers have key words or phrases that you end up noticing, here’s a couple to listen for – “the last day” or, “Once per year” or, “How much money do you make?” or, of course “do you want to make some money?” They usually try to make you feel a bit rushed too. It’s hard to think logically when you feel pressured.
Anyway, here’s the first scam. People know about this one, but it still snags a bunch of hot, tired, confused travelers. Before you even speak with jewelry shop owners, just assume that they’re ALL shady bastards in Asia!
Bangkok, Thailand – The “tax free day!” That’s the worst and there are a couple of ways to get you into their jewelry shops. The first is for a Tuk-Tuk driver to offer a “free ride”. They tell you they’ll just stop at one or two shops and you just walk in, look interested for five or ten minutes and the shop will pay for his petrol! You don’t have to buy anything!
The other way (#2) is for you to take a Tuk-Tuk (anywhere) and they offer to take you to three temples for a ridiculously cheep price! One of the three temples will have a scum bag either praying to Budha or hanging around next to the temple. When you get near (or inside) the temple they’ll start explaining the history, religion and give you some tips on Bangkok. Either way (# 1 or 2), you’ll hear the same story by the end and they’re very friendly people!
They’ll inevitably tell you “not to mention this to anyone”, but “there is a jewelry sale going on today, one day per year, no taxes!” They tell you how something like 75% of the “normal” price of jewelry is from taxes, so today (only today) you can save a lot of money! Then they say, “you seem like a nice person, so I’ll tell you about it, since only Thai people know”. Then, “you can buy it now and go home and sell it and make 3-4 times your money!” and “if you like Thailand and can go home and make some money, maybe you’ll be back. That’s good for my country.”
They’re so damn slick! Now you’re hot, tired (jet lag) and can’t wait till tomorrow to think about it. If you buy, it’s non-refundable, since it’s a “once a year sale” and they make you sign a paper saying you won’t turn around and sell it some where! Slick Bastards!
OK, another pretty common one, “The casino scam!”
When I was in Thailand last year (2004) a guy came up to me and asked (in perfect English) if I played any instraments. Since I have long hair he though that I might play something, but he was really friendly. I told him that I used to play the drums a bit, but never got any good. He told me that he’s in a band and doesn’t make much money, but loves what he does.
Sounds like a pretty cool guy so far…
Then he asked me what country I was from, everyone askes that, but he seemed nice so I told him America (not Dengue). He got all excited (not normal when you mention “the states”) and asked what city? I told him Miami, he told me that his sister is a nurse in training and is considering going to Miami to work at some hospital. He couldn’t remember the name of the hospital, but he said his sister would. Then he asked me to come to his home and speak with her, she’d be happy to meet someone from the same city that she might move to!
Sounds alright, but there’s that gut feeling, I went anyway…
I got there and conveniently she “wasn’t home from work yet”, but “her husband” was. He asked if I would stay for a few till she arrived, I agreed. About a minute later “the husband” asked if I’ll ever been to Las Vegas? I said yup. Then he asked if I liked to gamble? I said no, I work to hard for my money to loose it in a couple of minutes. How much money do you make at work?
Trick question, because they know that no one is going to say thay have a bunch of money and a killer job. Especially to someone they don’t know, in another country. Then he got to his point…
Do you want to make money? That’s all I needed to hear and I knew this was some kind of scame. Instead of getting up and leaving like I knew I should, I stayed to see what the scam was. “No, no” he said, I’ll just teach you a few card tricks. They’re simple and anyone can learn them. I said no, I don’t want to make any money and no, I’m not iterested in any card tricks. He told me that he worked on a casino ship, at one of the table’s and he would make sure that I won all night!
He would even give me HIS money, so if anything went wrong, I wouldn’t loose a thing! No risk! If I learned his card tricks, with my “personality”, I would win a lot and we would split it 50-50! He said HE was in charge of the table, so don’t worry about a thing.
Two things that came to my head right away were – If it sounds to good to be true, it usually is, especially as a tourist in Thailand! -And- They obviously were lying about the sister, so they can’t be trusted!
I told them that the last thing I want to do is steal from a bunch of innocent people while I’m far from home! Then I got up and left, they thought about trying to stop me till I got up and they remembered how small they were.
I ended up seeing the same guy with another traveler (Remo) about an hour later, so I ran up to them both and said hi to them. I asked the traveler if this guy’s sister is a nurse and if she’s going to move to his country (Switzerland). The scum bag looked at me like I betrayed him and I gave him a nice fat smile and waved good by to him. I ended up making a good friend out of it though and now I’ve got a place to stay in Switzerland.
I told Remo about the whole thing over a nice cold beer (that he bought me) and the only thing we could think of, that would actually scam us, was that maybe the security on the ship wouldn’t let us off at the end of the night. They would probably take all of our money and demand more (out of our pockets) to keep us out of jail, since we did steal it from the other players. Probably not to far off.
Tags: Scams
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