Police raided VCK 27 Dec 2019

[Boy69]

What's next maybe the go go bars ? They might raided this venues as well ?

Very depressing thought...

[DivineMadman]

1 hour ago, Boy69 said:

What's next maybe the go go bars ? They might raided this venues as well ?

Very depressing thought...

As PaulSF mentioned, these Immigration "raids" already happen with some frequency at the gogo bars in BKK (gay and straight and ladyboy).  No big deal.  If it's a phase when the regular police or  Immigration police are wagging their dicks around, then the non-Thai guys will wear street clothes in the bars.  But over time it all sorts itself out and things go back to normal.  The massage shop on the corner of Soi 4 got slapped down a while back for having foreign workers, but things are back to normal.  

If there was even a whiff of anything underage happening at these places, then - and this is just my opinion - holy hell would break out and the result would be far more serious, which is why I think the BKK gay bars and massage shops are all very careful about that.  IMO.  

Even Big Oud will be replaced someday.  All this too shall pass.  No guarantees things won't get worse.  Best to enjoy it while we can.  

[vinapu]

5 hours ago, DivineMadman said:

 

If there was even a whiff of anything underage happening at these places, then - and this is just my opinion - holy hell would break out and the result would be far more serious, which is why I think the BKK gay bars and massage shops are all very careful about that.  IMO.  

 

and chasing that out would be very noble thing for police to do but this story is all about police posturing as somebody mentioned above

[vinapu]

9 hours ago, mgb said:

Orange shirt? really????????????????

to march hair color of you know whom

this guy looks great even partially covered , 

[paulsf]

An interesting point on charges.   If they have passport stamps up to date. (Monthly visa run) and are caught working in shops or gogo’s, the charges are just working without a permit.  Not being in the country illegally.    Because of this they are usually just fined and released. 
if passport is not stamped up to date , then can be charged with being in the country illegally and working without a permit. Usually comes with jail time as it gets sorted out a fine and deportation for up to 10 years.  

[speedoo1]

Maybe, but AFAIK providing sex services for remuneration (some would call it prostitution) is also illegal in Thailand and punishable.

[DivineMadman]

PaulSF is correct.  At least so far the guys have been charged with working illegally (or at least how the Immigration Police press report reads).  At one of the Prince raids a guy did get caught for being in the country illegally or a very long overstay, I forget which.  

[macaroni21]

12 hours ago, paulsf said:

If they have passport stamps up to date. (Monthly visa run) and are caught working in shops or gogo’s, the charges are just working without a permit.  Not being in the country illegally.    Because of this they are usually just fined and released. 

Does working illegally on a valid visit stamp also incur an entry ban of x years, beside a fine?  If so, it would still be a heavy price to pay considering that these guy need to earn a living.

[macaroni21]

I think many of us here would also read other forums from time to time, but just in case anyone missed it, I am going to re-post a Thai Matichon story  that was translated into English  (by ???).  Credits: I first saw the post by Trongpai on Gaybutton, who linked to Rooster59's post on ThaiVisa. https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1140766-immigration-raids-luxury-‘gay-spa’-in-bangkok-11-foreigners-arrested-some-earning-50k-per-day/

Quote

 

Immigration raids luxury ‘gay spa’ in Bangkok - 11 foreigners arrested - some earning 50k per DAY

Thailand's immigration chief Lt-Gen Sompong "Big Oud" Chingduang (on the right) and his staff presented news about the bust of a luxurious "Gay Spa" in Soi Aree 4 in Phayathai. 
Two dozen gay sex workers from Thailand were allowed to go free but 11 foreigners were arrested. 

The premises looked innocent enough on the outside with a sign stating "VCK Cool Space".

But inside it was anything but. Investigators found 35 men just in their underpants waiting to provide sexual services and massages.

The raid on V Club 7 came after a similar raid on The Prince at the end of October and observation of a website under the name www.vclub7.net. 

Here under a heading of "Our Boys" are men with names like Kid, Jimmy and Tool. There is also a Mr Mick, a Caucasian but he seemed to be absent on the day of the raid. 

Immigration found 24 Thai men offering service at the exclusive club for foreigners and hi-so Thais.

They were all let off with a warning. 

But the 11 foreigners were charged with working without work permits and doing work they were not allowed to engage in. 

They comprised 4 men from Myanmar and Laos, two from Vietnam and one from Cambodia. 

One of the men from Vietnam - a male model called Bobby - said that he earned 5,000 baht an hour and gave 1,500 of this to the club. 

He admitted to once earning 50,000 baht in a single day.

Charges at the club ranged from 2,500 baht to 6,500 baht  for a service reported Thai Rath.

 

Some new information to note: There were a total of 35 masseurs at the time of the raid -- a pretty large selection. One third were foreigners. All the 11 foreigners "were charged with working without work permits", meaning none were overstayers. And the last sentence gives us an idea of how much VCK charges.

[DivineMadman]

Presumably under the good guidance that they should keep their head down for a while, VCK has now taken down the V Club 7 massage spa page (the link now just goes back to the home page).  However, I checked with manager Trin at VCK yesterday and he confirmed that they are open for business as usual.  

(BTW - I'm NOT trying to say that VCK should be on everyones go-to list.  I think that VCK has a great selection of the better looking non-twink types, and gets them by charging a premium, but as I've posted before, I always seem to have less than a great time there.  I just want to skip it because they more often than not rush everything, not because Big Oud says it's hurting Thailand's reputation.  ) 

[Boy69]

2 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

Some new information to note: There were a total of 35 masseurs at the time of the raid -- a pretty large selection. One third were foreigners. All the 11 foreigners "were charged with working without work permits", meaning none were overstayers. And the last sentence gives us an idea of how much VCK charges.

The numbers seems very exgurated and not realistic.

[Guest]

Are the police raiding straight premises as feequently ?     I expect such places commit all the same offences and there are many more if them.

[pong]

Yes and no-depends on what tips they receive, and these may very well be from competitors facing declining bisnis. Most raids in the more distant past were for drugs includsing sometimes custoimers-as mgb above also writes for SIN. This may of course also very well apply to str8 places. In the days of yore it was a common sight in the well known Thai gutter Press (Thai Rath and the like) to see pix of bargirls all trying to hide their faces being paraded out of such bars-more likely out of the patpong area. That they specifically aim for foreign workers is a bit of a new thing, but then its always Burmese/Khmer they find, quite logically, and in this m2m also now the VNese. I highly doubt though if the nr of such foreign ladies is as big in the str8 bisnis, Burmese are certainly not known for that at all.

[jason1975]

Is it really possible to earn 50k in tips in one day? Hmmm..

[spoon]

All this news did to me is now im wondering who the hell is this bobby model from vietnam. I bet he get so much publicity now that whole world of gay elite is now looking for access to his service after he is being released. One can never get that high tip a day simply by looking good so i bet he is willing to do a lot to get that much tips and it could be from 1 high roller customer. We heard boys getting motorcycles, cars, golds, phones, expensive shoes and clothing, even diamond rings, so if we factor those in value, 50k baht tip in one of the day he work seems very possible. What he needs to do for that can be anyone's guess.

Dont get me wrong though, it is sad to hear boys who get caught might spend jail time and more. But im just wondering what is the purpose of the news detailing what these boys can get. Maybe as a promotion to all handsome model who want to make quick money to come and work illegally in bangkok? 50k in one day is enough to get a lot of young hot guys to be enticed to at least try it out.

[vinapu]

14 minutes ago, jason1975 said:

Is it really possible to earn 50k in tips in one day? Hmmm..

we all doubt reliability of such figure as based on their numbers quoted   it would require 10 1 hr sessions and each of those 10 customers tipping well over odds, all in one day so this is clearly fairy tale.

On another hand it's quite possible that once in blue moon well off customer is taken to the stratosphere by the boy and lavished improbable tip. After all there are those guys in bars sporting golden necklaces, expensive phones, driving customer given motorsais or motorcycles  so why not to rob a bank and giving half proceeds to the boy? 

But those will be once a lifetime cases , not daily, weekly or even monthly occurrences 

[Boy69]

38 minutes ago, spoon said:

We heard boys getting motorcycles, cars, golds, phones, expensive shoes and clothing, even diamond rings, so if we factor those in value, 50k baht tip in one of the day he work seems very possible. What he needs to do for that can be anyone's guess.

There are very few high end boys who can make such extrovagent amounts .

36 minutes ago, vinapu said:

we all doubt reliability of such figure as based on their numbers quoted   it would require 10 1 hr sessions and each of those 10 customers tipping well over odds, all in one day so this is clearly fairy tale.

Excatly ,the immigration police is seeking for sensational news most likely they  pumped the numbers .

[DrimVoiz]

There are high-paying regular customers in BKK so I think 50k is possible...but I wonder how this boy who earn this looks like...

[ggobkk]

The police press release says "once earned 50K in a day".  Once is not a regular budget builder for any of the guys.

[Tintinx]

On 12/27/2019 at 3:30 PM, DivineMadman said:

I think the raid might have been yesterday and the police press conference was this morning?

The press conference at the Immigration Bureau was held on December 27, 11:00 am. As you can see in the pictures, by then they had prepared some "info material" to show to the press. The raid itself took place on Saturday, December 21, in the late afternoon. I should know, since I was there when it happened! 

[Tintinx]

deleted

[Tintinx]

On 12/28/2019 at 3:43 AM, babybear2 said:

what happened to customers at VCK?

Fortunately, I haven't been in a room yet. I wouldn't want the police to knock on the door during a massage. 

I was sitting at the bar observing the stage, when the police stormed the place. I didn't know exactly what to do, so I sat there for a while. At some point, when more and more police showed up, obviously bringing in the guys they found in the massage rooms, I decided it was time to leave. 

They did let me go, but only after I showed them my passport. Well, my passport was at the hotel safe. So instead I had to tell them my name and birth date. After this was entered in a smart phone, a photo showed up - the photo of me that was shot when I passed immigration at the airport. Since everything was correct I was then able to leave. 

[vinapu]

6 hours ago, Tintinx said:

Well, my passport was at the hotel safe. So instead I had to tell them my name and birth date. After this was entered in a smart phone, a photo showed up - the photo of me that was shot when I passed immigration at the airport. 

I'm impressed, so that means we don't need to carry our passports with us when about the city  I guess

[jason1975]

On 12/30/2019 at 6:38 AM, ggobkk said:

The police press release says "once earned 50K in a day".

Thanks for clarification! I was scratching my head and figuring out how it is possible to earn 50k in tips every day.

[Tintinx]

On 12/31/2019 at 3:18 AM, vinapu said:

I'm impressed, so that means we don't need to carry our passports with us when about the city  I guess

My thoughts exactly. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology!