Stash that gold

[reader]

Experienced travelers shouldn't have to be reminded that it's not wise to wear gold necklaces, watches or anything that advertises their wealth. That doesn't, however, seem to be the case as incidents are not becoming any less common.

From Pattaya News

Two Indian tourists claimed that their gold necklace was stolen, allegedly by two transgender individuals who approached and hugged them. This, in fact, was the 3rd time the hugging-and-stealing incidents happened in Pattaya recently. 

On May 6th, around 02.30 a.m. this morning, Puttharak Sonkhamhan, Deputy Inspector from the Pattaya Police Station, responded to a thievery report at second Pattaya road, Nong Prue sub-district, Bang Lamung, Chonburi.

At the incident scene, Mr. Pravin Suresh Sutrave, a 43-year-old Indian businessman, was reportedly in shock and told the police that he was roaming around when two transgender individuals approached him and his friend, trying to seduce him and hugging him.

Mr. Pravin said he refused and pushed the individuals off who then rode away on their motorcycle. However, he realized that his gold necklace worth 37,000 baht was stolen and immediately called the police.  

Initially, Pattaya police came to investigate the crime scene and requested security camera footage nearby to track down the suspects. They affirmed to catch the suspects as soon as possible to restore the Pattaya tourism image. TPN notes that the suspects in the two prior recent theft incidents, also described as two transgender individuals, have yet to be arrested. It is unclear if the same parties are responsible.

 

[Travellerdave]

Yes they were asking for trouble, but it seems strange that he was not immediately aware that his necklace had been removed. Maybe this was an insurance scam.

i have a Collection of gold jewellery which stays back home in a hidden safe . I’ve also a few convincing gold items which I do take to Pattaya which I purchased some years ago in Benidorm. Maybe even wearing those is not a good idea as the necklace could be wrenched off from a motorbike causing me some injury.

[vinapu]

what somebody needs golden necklace for , in fact any necklace  is mystery for me I don't expect to solve in this lifetime

[macaroni21]

For citizens of poorer countries, foreign travel is a big deal. It's a symbol of status, simply because such "luxury" is very costly compared to their cost/standard of living back home. I've seen many people dress up for this status event, in the same way we dress up to attend the opera even if, in truth, there's no one there whom we need to impress. We just feel that dressing up would be the appropriate thing to do in such a situation. 

The foregoing is my theory whenever I see unusually well-dressed tourists at bazaars and food courts of foreign countries.

There's also a rather comical scene I recall -- from Buenos Aires airport around 20 years ago. This woman was all dressed up to board a flight. Unfortunately, she had too much metal jewelry on her. Obviously, there was no way she could make it through the metal detector. First she had to remove her earrings, brooches , bracelets and necklaces in full public view, but even then the metal detector went hysterical and it turned out that she had all sorts of metallic sequins sewn onto her glittering dress, so she was led away for a strip search. 

She sort of made a scene too about the risk of her jewelry being stolen while they went into the Xray machine in a tray, and how she would be separated from that tray when she was led away for the strip search.  Officers eventually carried the tray with them into the strip room.

I had a hard time controlling my laughter. What's the point of dressing up for the flight when you have to undress for the public in a busy airport?

[reader]

From The Thaiger / Pattaya News

Another Indian tourist reported gold necklace stolen in Pattaya

In what has become an all-too-familiar story, Pattaya Police announced that an Indian tourist reported that a transgender woman stole his 30,000 baht gold necklace. The theft is the latest in a rash of gold necklace thefts being reported by Indian tourists in Pattaya and occasionally Phuket.

The victim this time was a 43 year old Indian man who says he was walking alone late last night on Pattaya Beach when a person that he believed was transgender approached him. While he was enjoying the views of Pattaya Beach at night, at around 11:30 pm a motorbike approached him on a

The person he thinks to be transgender was able to snatch an 80-gramme gold necklace right off his neck before speeding away into the night on their motorbike, according to his police report.

“I was shocked that it happened to me because the road was very crowded.”

This is at least the 10th time that similar thefts of gold necklaces from Indian tourists have been reported in the Pattaya area in recent months. Pattaya Police announced a specialised patrol force in May to combat this particular type of theft, and declared again at the end of last month they would crack down on Indian gold necklace thefts.

Police officers did not find any potential suspects or any evidence at the scene of the crime. They vowed to study CCTV camera footage in the area to identify and arrest the perpetrator of the gold necklace theft.