Share your scam stories here.

[Alexx]

I just read the discussion preceding this thread (numazu warned of the broken phone scam), and now I vaguely remember having read about the following scam: someone is walking and looking at his phone (which is already broken) and deliberately runs into a tourist and drops the phone, in order to accuse the tourist of running into him. He then requests a replacement, backed up by friends of the scammer who appear as passers-by and witnessed the accident.

 

I remember that one as well, reported from the Victory Monument skywalk in Bangkok that is usually very crowded. I think that was a few years ago, I don't know how common it is or was.

[DivineMadman]

Come on, all of you have been the victim of a scam. Each time a moneyboy lies to you - in order to make you give him money - it legally, from a strictly legal viewpoint, is a scam.

 

If I tell someone here in my country "please give me 100 EUR I will use it to help children in need", then when I use it to buy new clothes for myself I have committed a crime. So when a boy tells you "can you please help me, because <here follows a lie>" and you give it, you are the victim of a scam. Even if you know he is lieing and you still give (what I do, I tend to give in easily, even if I suspect its a lie) they are scamming you.

 

99% of money boys in Thailand are strictly speaking criminals. From a purely legal viewpoint that is. Each lie to get extra money is strictly speaking a scam. Else tell me why it is not a scam, and where you draw the line?

 

PS: same goes for us, we are criminals too since prostitution is illegal in Thailand; so from the viewpoint of the law it also applies to us. But since it is official government policy to not enforce that law I think the lable 'criminal' is not applicable for us. But it is for the lieing money boys :-)

 

Don't think I agree.

 

Let's take the run-of-the-mill off'ing a guy from a bar (or an app).  The MB provides an hour or a night of 'boyfriend experience" -- sexual services, an interlude or companionship, a feeling of being desired and/or desirable and perhaps some compliments, laughs, language lessons, etc..  The customer provides the personal decency expected from his side of the boyfriend experience and the negotiated payment.  That's not a scam.  That's the what' you're buying.  If I go to Chatuchack (or Chinatown in New York) and buy a knock off Louis Vuitton Bag, I know it's not real. The seller knows it's not real.  That's the deal.  It's not a scam.

 

Personally, in my own experience, MBs have not asked for extra money during or after a basic one-night-stand off.  So if we take the basic case of someone on the board who offs guys from bars or the apps, I think it is not correct to say that everyone has been "scammed."  

 

 

If we are beyond the one-night-stand and into situations where there is more of a long-term "relationship" (loosely defined) with an MB, such as the fantasy of the long-term boyfriend or, perhaps more realistically, the foreigner who will regularly off a guy when in town or, as with many of us, just someone who has stayed in touch, then yes occasionally we all may well get requests for money.  I have absolutely no doubt that there are some bad guys out there who ask for money to buy fancy clothes or yaba or whatever, but in my view they are very much the minority.  I think the guys really may need the money to pay their rent or send home because there are mouths to feed at home and no one else earning money, etc.  Is it a scam?  I don't think it really is.  Do 99% of the MB's do this or even have the opportunity to establish a long enough relationship with a customer to do this.  No.

[paulsf]

If you go into a bar or meet MB on an ap, there is an expectation of a financial deal. There is no way you can call offing a boy a scam.

If your not strong enough to say no, that's not a scam.

[gerefan]

There  is a difference between stealing and scamming as far as I'm concerned. Ive had money stolen on several occasions but not really been scammed. So have most posters from what I have read here.

 

Ive had far more money stolen in Thailand than anywhere else.

 

Another scam that hasn't been reported is the Airport Taxi Scam. You book a taxi and go to find the guy holding your name up. However there are other drivers around (before you get to the meeting point) who shout  "You book taxi" or something similar. They then ask your name and then say "Yes, Yes", and off you innocently go...The original taxi company is of course the one being scammed.

 

My taxi company now always tells me, in their confirmation email, not to go with anyone other than the guy holding the sign with my name on it.

[ChristianPFC]

Re above post: I have read that the scammers even copy the names the drivers of the company you booked hold up. But what if you paid online?

 

Bucky's experiences are totally plausible, and I think it is rather firecat69 who has been lucky or didn't realize he was scammed or money was stolen.

 

Now I remember two more situations:

 

Theft of money in Sakon Nakon when I was in the shower in my friend's house. Over 4000 Baht, thief was probably the driver. This was a year ago, next time I go I might ask where the driver is and reveal the truth (at that time, I told my friend I lost the money and asked for help searching).

 

That makes 4 confirmed thefts out of about 200 boys. I now have set up my camera in a hidden spot in my room and arranged light and angle so I can film that part of my room where I put my trousers (with wallet) when I take shower. Tested yesterday with a boy who might be a thief, but he stayed on bed reading book while I was in the shower. But I have a boy who I know is a thief because I counted before and after our previous encounter. If/when I invite him again, it will be caught on video! (Just of personal interest, I won't tell him that I know he is a thief.)

 

On my second (?) trip to Thailand, a friend took me to ICK disco in Ramkhamhaeng 89/2 (then Singapore, then Wave, now permanently closed). I paid for drink with 1000 Baht note. My friend got drunk and disappeared (so he told me the following day when communication was resumed). I looked around for my friend and waited for change until closing time. Then I asked waiter for change, but nobody spoke English so I left without change.

[a447a]

Just remembered -I was pickpocketed once on a baht bus. But as gerefan says, that isn't really a scam.

 

But I still think Thailand is much better than Vietnam or Scambodia.

[Shonen]

I had a girl on the street in Bangkok bring me to a gem shop and I bought a piece of junk ring for 3,000 baht. I think it was fake.

 

I asked a women who I thought was in charge of the beach chairs in Pattaya how much to use a chair. She said ten thousand baht. We both laughed.

 

My present boyfriend told me that if I buy him a gold necklace and bracelet , other Falange won't hit on him. I remind him that I've been going to Thailand for 12 years. What a mb he is. I tell him he's my number 1, which means I have others. I can't think of anything else.

[Guest cdnmatt]

If I tell someone here in my country "please give me 100 EUR I will use it to help children in need", then when I use it to buy new clothes for myself I have committed a crime.

 

Lieing isn't a crime.  Well, unless you're under oath I guess.

[firecat69]

Re above post: I have read that the scammers even copy the names the drivers of the company you booked hold up. But what if you paid online?

 

Bucky's experiences are totally plausible, and I think it is rather firecat69 who has been lucky or didn't realize he was scammed or money was stolen.

 

Now I remember two more situations:

 

Theft of money in Sakon Nakon when I was in the shower in my friend's house. Over 4000 Baht, thief was probably the driver. This was a year ago, next time I go I might ask where the driver is and reveal the truth (at that time, I told my friend I lost the money and asked for help searching).

 

That makes 4 confirmed thefts out of about 200 boys. I now have set up my camera in a hidden spot in my room and arranged light and angle so I can film that part of my room where I put my trousers (with wallet) when I take shower. Tested yesterday with a boy who might be a thief, but he stayed on bed reading book while I was in the shower. But I have a boy who I know is a thief because I counted before and after our previous encounter. If/when I invite him again, it will be caught on video! (Just of personal interest, I won't tell him that I know he is a thief.)

 

On my second (?) trip to Thailand, a friend took me to ICK disco in Ramkhamhaeng 89/2 (then Singapore, then Wave, now permanently closed). I paid for drink with 1000 Baht note. My friend got drunk and disappeared (so he told me the following day when communication was resumed). I looked around for my friend and waited for change until closing time. Then I asked waiter for change, but nobody spoke English so I left without change.

 

You are laughable sometimes Christian. First try looking up the definition of scam and also stop using your poor judgment of boys to infer I don't know what is going on. At last count I have been to 71 countries with almost none of the ridiculous events that seem to happen to you have happened to me. And your 200 boys is a small fraction of the number of boys I have had in my room.  I have had 1 theft not a scam. Boy stole my iPhone and it was new and it was expensive .  It made be more careful where I put my iPhone but after a few days I failed to let it color my feelings about the honesty of Thai Boys in general. 

 

You need to engage your brain if you don't want thefts to happen.  Yes if you put too much temptation in front of someone who is desperate for money , he may steal from you. That is not a SCAM. How many people have to say it.

 

Just like when I used to visit massage parlors , I would never leave money in the room unattended. Wallet would come with me into the shower.

 

Bucknaways comments about how easy it would be to break into a safe is equally ridiculous. I'm sure it is just as easy to break into his home wherever he lives.  Safes are not meant to protect you from a master criminal with tools breaking into your room. Rather they are meant to keep visitors in your room from having easy access to your valuables.  Assuming you are not staying in a dump then the chance of an employee breaking into your safe is minuscule.

[bucknaway]

Do I need to comment?

No.....

I just gave the facts to be interpreted any way the reader chooses.

[firecat69]

You gave the facts in a thread about scams . Breaking into a room and pulling the safe out is so far from any definition of a scam that it is patently ridiculous.

 

This is a SCAM thread. Look up the definition on Google and then report all the scams you like, otherwise start a new thread on thiefs.

[bkkguy]

This is a SCAM thread. Look up the definition on Google and then report all the scams you like

 

while you are on Google do a quick search on Thailand scams and there will be more than enough of them reported there for you - or are we limiting this to just scams within the gay scene? or maybe the participants here are just not particularly into renting jet skis, etc

 

"buffalo me die send money" and repeated motocy accidents involving various relatives are not just lies they are scams and they do still occur with ever more modern variations and people do still fall for them even if you with your infinite wisdom and worldly ways never experience them in the among the superior quality of pickup you favor

 

while many baht bus drivers and most meter taxi drivers in Pattaya are a rip-off if not a scam most of the taxi and tuk-tuk drivers around tourist areas in Bangkok are scammers with their "grand palace closed", "no meter after 6:00PM" etc

 

just because many of these scams are avoidable and you personally don't experience them does not mean they don't exist or that you have to be a naive gutter-dwelling sex tourist to get sucked in!

 

also the opening post said "I thought it might be an idea to share our scam stories here, so people can recognise & avoid them" so perhaps we can get over pedantic definitions of what is and is not a scam and focus on unpleasant things to be aware of and to avoid!

 

bkkguy

[firecat69]

Well I'll agree meter taxis in Pattaya are a rip off but I have never been ripped off by a baht bus driver. Since I always have a few 10 baht coins in my pocket, I find it impossible to be ripped off.

 

Taxis in BKK along Silom Patpong area and in front of Soi Twilight sometimes try to get a flat fare . Awful easy to wait for the next moving taxi or if it is raining spend the extra 40 baht to any location I would be going to. Still not a scam or thievery. Just say no and move on to the next taxi.

 

And as far as my superior pick ups just an idiotic comment.  My comments have been plain that if you put temptation in front of someone who may be desperate for money then you may suffer the consequences. Not that hard to do certain things that reduces  the probability of a theft to near Zero and if you don't protect your iPhone , you may lose it as I did.

 

So when members report multiple cases of money etc being stolen from them , you have to wonder why they continue to be careless?

[paulsf]

I feel cheated. I keep coming to Thailand, for months at a time. I have never been robbed or cheated or scammed. What am I doing wrong. Other than a couple of taxi drivers that don't want to use the meter, I don't have any stories to tell.

[firecat69]

I feel cheated. I keep coming to Thailand, for months at a time. I have never been robbed or cheated or scammed. What am I doing wrong. Other than a couple of taxi drivers that don't want to use the meter, I don't have any stories to tell.

And you are in the Vast Majority!

[Londoner]

Agreed.....I wonder how any of the victims are drunk when the alleged crime takes place?

[bucknaway]

The best scams are those that happen without the victim knowing they were cheated or scammed.

 

When you spot the scam and avoid it, it's not a good scam.

[Alexx]

Well I'll agree meter taxis in Pattaya are a rip off but I have never been ripped off by a baht bus driver. Since I always have a few 10 baht coins in my pocket, I find it impossible to be ripped off.

Agreed, you are well prepared and that's how you avoid getting ripped off. You are making an excellent case for sharing scam stories, so that others will be prepared just as well. That's why I don't understand why you seem to have a problem with that.

[firecat69]

Just to be clear I don't consider the taxis in Pattaya a scam either.  I just think you must haggle really hard to get close to a reasonable fare. But I have gotten the same fare from Royal Garden Mall to Bangkok Pattaya Hospital as I will pay for a baht bus to myself and direct. Two guesses  which I'd rather take . But again you are free to turn down the price. I see no difference between that and the prices charged for drinks on Soi Twilight.  If you don't like the price do not enter. As far as being prepared for it I certainly did not need anyone to tell me the baht bus fare in most cases for a non thai is 10 baht in a thread about scams . As i remember I asked at the Hotel Desk what the fare was.  And by the way I once got on a baht bus with no money. I was so embarrassed when I walked to his window . His response was don't worry and he drove away.So maybe we should start another thread of all the kindnesses we have received when visiting Thailand.

 

 

I have a couple of problems with members who post 3rd party stories about a scam they never experienced and have no reason to know if it is true.

 

I also feel it is interesting that certain members seem to make the same mistakes over and over again and somehow it is not their fault. It is.  A boy steals from you and you don't confront him and you invite him back so he can do it again.  Boggle my mind.

 

And by the way I have never googled scams in Thailand and would likely not believe anything on site where anyone can post anonymously .

 

If a member here posted about an actual scam who happened to him personally, I would pay attention to it.

[firecat69]

The best scams are those that happen without the victim knowing they were cheated or scammed.

 

When you spot the scam and avoid it, it's not a good scam.

There is no perfect scam, just ask Bernie Madoff

[bucknaway]

I just remembered another scam.

 

Two Americans and one Philippine walk into Pantip plaza......

 

(This is a synopsis of a post I posted on sawatdee during my 2015 trip)

 

We decided we would buy copy phones. To make a long story short, they switched the phones with the lower quality copy and not the higher quality copy we paid for.

 

It's difficult to tell from the outside unless you look at it with a fine tooth comb.

 

... I still have the phone. I'm afraid to sell it or give it away. I think someone will try to pass it off as the real thing and try to sell it.

[firecat69]

Hilarious you walked into Pantip to buy an illegal copy and you got a bad illegal copy. You got what you deserved.

[bucknaway]

Anyone care to know how the scam worked or how they pulled it off?

[firecat69]

Just to review this thread.  9 never been scammed, 2 possible thefts but not sure and Bucknaway and Christian who seem to have a lot of negative experiences.

[bucknaway]

Christian gets around more than I but I'm sure we both try to do, see and experience the most.

 

We also tend to do things alone without others handle our purchases.

 

But yes, I have been scammed around thailand even when I was on guard....