Japanese Loses Over 60,000 Baht to pickpocket

[reader]

Why anyone would be carrying that much cash at that time of night frankly puzzles me. Although pickpocket thefts in Pattaya are not uncommon, this stands out as an extraordinary amount.

From Pattaya News

A Japanese man, who was exploring Pattaya’s night scene with his friend, said he was pickpocketed of over 60,000 baht in cash by two transgender suspects in the late hours of Thursday, November 9th.

Mr. Toshiaki Shinohe, the victim, filed a complaint with Pol. Capt. Natchaphon Saengsi, Deputy Inspector of Investigation at the Pattaya Police Station, stating that he was pickpocketed while riding a Songthaew at around 11 PM in Soi Buakhao, Nongprue sub-district, Banglamung district, Chonburi province.

Mr. Toshiaki told the police that he is an engineer from Japan and had traveled to Pattaya for a vacation. Before the incident occurred, he and his friend took a Songthaew, a form of transportation in Thailand with two rows of seats in the back, and sat facing each other.

 

Along the way, Mr. Toshiaki recounted that two transgender women joined them and sat next to him. They then struck up a conversation to engage his interest.

When the two transgender women disembarked the vehicle, Mr. Toshiaki noticed that his wallet containing 40,000 Thai baht and about 23,000 baht worth of foreign currency (100,000 yen), as well as his ID card and ATM cards, had gone missing. The Japanese tourist suspected that the two transwomen may have reached into his pocket and stolen his wallet while talking with him. He further commented that he was saddened by the incident and promptly came to report the grievance to Pattaya police.

Pol. Capt. Natchaphon stated that police were reviewing CCTV footage to identify the culprits.

[PeterRS]

Depite its advances in technology and payments systems, Japan remains largely a cash society. Carrying around large sums is not unusual. It is also an incredibly safe country where street theft is also extremely unusual. It seems someone should be advertising that such incidents are in fact far from uncommon in many other countries. (But I'll bet this is not something on the TAT's agenda 😵).

[vinapu]

21 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Depite its advances in technology and payments systems, Japan remains largely a cash society. Carrying around large sums is not unusual. 

Nothing wrong with carrying cash but still carrying almost 2000 $ that late  is very odd. What kind of shopping he was planning to do ? Off whole bar of girls? 

[PeterRS]

39 minutes ago, vinapu said:

Nothing wrong with carrying cash but still carrying almost 2000 $ that late  is very odd. What kind of shopping he was planning to do ? Off whole bar of girls? 

My guess is that when you are used to carrying around what for the rest of us would be far too much money, if you are Japanese and used to carrying around wads of cash very safely, you just do not differentiate between times of day.

[fedssocr]

he needs to learn the vinapu many pockets method

[a-447]

Japan has 2 seasons -summer and winter - when cash bonuses are handed out to employees. The better the company is performing profit-wise, the higher your bonus. Some companies can pay up to a year's wage or more if it is doing well. Needless to say, politicians grant themselves huge bonuses.

These are cash bonuses, handed over in bulging envelopes and stuffed into your pocket. I worked for a very large Japanese company and was the happy recipient of rather large envelopes. We all headed off to the bars and restaurants and spent up big. The thought of being mugged just never crossed anyone's mind. Afterall, this was Japan.

And BTW, wages are paid monthly and are paid in cash, not into your bank account - although things might have changed, although I doubt it. The envelope would be handed unopened to your wife, who would then give you your monthly allowance to pay for food, transport, entertainment, etc. 

Unfortunately, Japanese think that the whole world is like back home and so are prime targets when they travel. 

[PeterRS]

14 minutes ago, a-447 said:

wages are paid monthly and are paid in cash, not into your bank account - although things might have changed, although I doubt it.

Many years ago when I worked in Tokyo, my company was one of the few which paid salaries directly into bank accounts. But then this was the branch of an American company. I knew from Japanese friends working for Japanese companies that all were paid in cash.

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, fedssocr said:

he needs to learn the vinapu many pockets method

correct, spread money between many pockets and do not use wallet. That way even if you are robbed  , highly unlikely thief will clan you of everything as most of theft is opportunistic.

Why don't use wallet ? two reasons- first it's bulky and tends to bring attention to wrong bulge, second , if used most likely all documents and money will be in one place, hand for you  but also handy for thief

[vinapu]

56 minutes ago, a-447 said:

Unfortunately, Japanese think that the whole world is like back home 

too bad that guy learned costly lesson that is not

[reader]

I have two pair of pants and one pair of shorts with at least one zippered pocket. 

Agree with Vinapu about distributing cash in separate pockets. Only place I was ever pickpocketed was in Buenos Aires subway and lost equivalent of $65 because all in one pocket.

[a-447]

6 hours ago, vinapu said:

Why don't use wallet ? two reasons- first it's bulky and tends to bring attention to wrong bulge,......

If you stick your wallet down the front of your pants you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone!

[10tazione]

2 hours ago, a-447 said:

If you stick your wallet down the front of your pants you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone!

Hopefully they dont pull to hard on the wrong bulge then!

[vinapu]

5 hours ago, a-447 said:

If you stick your wallet down the front of your pants you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone!

thre are bulges which it's better not to draw any attention to and that is what I had in mind