Perennial scams – not only in Thailand!

[christianpfc]

Perennial scams – not only in Thailand!

Having been approached a few times by strangers in Paris who wanted to return the gold ring I just lost (I don’t wear any jewellery), I checked out the internet for this scam, because I am curious what their aim is. There I didn’t only find the gold ring scam, but the deaf child scam as well (I thought they were real!):

http://www.scaminfo.org/france

1. Sign a Petition Scam
Several children pretending to be deaf will approach you quite forcefully with a clipboard, indicating that you should sign it and give them some money.
As you remove your wallet to give them some money, they will see where you keep it and a few moments later when several children hug you to say thank you, they steal your wallet from where they know you keep it.

2. Gold Ring Scam
As you are walking or taking photographs, a person will suddenly bend down near to you and appear to "find" a gold ring. She will look at it and then will immediately point to the hallmark which says "18k" on the inside of the ring.
They will then say to you in French something along the lines of "That was lucky". After a few minutes talking they will then offer you the ring and proceed to walk away. They will then come back to you and say that they are hungry and need 5 Euros to buy a sandwich.
Your may think "This person just handed over a gold ring they found, whats a few Euros?" The result is that you end up 5 Euros lighter and only a piece of brass to show for it. Just avoid this scammers and save a few euros.

So for everyone who complains about Thai police not doing anything about scams in Bangkok, the situation is even worse in Paris. In Thailand, at least it’s Thai people who scam tourists (so I can understand that for Thai police Thai people come before tourists, even if in the long run the damage to tourism is bigger than a short gain), in Paris it’s Eastern European or Gypsy gangs.

When I was first approached with a gold ring, I finally took it and was about to walk away, when the woman said to me “I hungry. You give me money for food.” I told her I had no money. “Then you give ring back.” (The conversation took place in English. I initially replied in French, but she obviously isn’t French and replied in English.)

But there must be more to it. Getting 5 or 10 Euros for food a few times per day isn’t that much money (well, it’s tax free and they have no job). When they are not working a potential victim, they are in pairs. I assume once they know where you keep your wallet the other part of the pair later robs you, but I didn’t find any mention of this on the internet.

I recently observed a few of the deaf children talking to each other (and I don’t mean sign language), next time they approach me I will read their petition and ask if he/she is deaf.

[RichLB]

My favorite one occurred in Rome. We were walking to the train station with our rolling carry ons when approached by two Gypsy women - one carrying a baby. As they came upon us all of a sudden the woman threw the baby at my companion who instantly reached out to prevent it from falling to the pavement. Simultaneously, the other woman grabbed onto the carry on and attempted to run away with it. Fortunately, I had read of this scam on the internet and grabbed the carry on before the culprit could get away with it. Pretty brazen, though.

[Gaybutton]

I recently observed a few of the deaf children talking to each other (and I don’t mean sign language), next time they approach me I will read their petition and ask if he/she is deaf.

My father told me a story about when he was in college. He didn't have money to spare. One day he was on his way to a class and there was a man trying to solicit money from passing students. My father didn't want to be bothered and he was late. There was no alternate route. He had no choice other than to walk right by the man and, sure enough, the man stopped him and started his pitch. My father put up his hands and made gestures to indicate he was deaf and dumb, in hopes the man would leave him alone, let him pass, and try someone else. But the man apparently was quite experienced with students trying to duck him because he opened a pamphlet and held it up. Inside he had pasted in a handwritten note. It said, "You son of a bitch, can you read?"

[Rogie]

I've been caught out three times, two of them seriously.

Number one happened in Spain where my friend and I had just arrived for a week's holiday. He went off to sort out some business leaving me with the suitcases, mine and his. A local man approached me and kept me talking. After he'd gone I noticed one of the suitcases was missing. As if I didn't feel stupid enough already, as luck would have it it was my friend's suitcase that'd been pinched.

Number two happened in Rome. I was drinking coffee at an outdoor cafe and I was on my own. A man approached and feigned some sort of malady and proceeded to hold a card up to my face. After he'd gone I noticed my mobile phone was missing. Again, you can imagine what an idiot I felt. Luckily it was only a cheap phone, easily replaced. To console myself later, I imagined him taking one look at it, grunting, and tossing it into the Tiber in disgust.

Number three was in Milan, and once again the curse of Italy struck. Although I must say that's a bit unfair to say that as I have been to Italy many times and always thoroughly enjoyed myself. This 'scam' was quite an elaborate one. It started as I was driving my car in central MIlan. For a start that's a brainless thing to do. I was on my own in a right-hand drive car so clearly I was immediately identified as a tourist. I was the archetypal stranger in a strange town, and I was lost. I suspected a flat so had to pull in. Yup, flat as a pancake. Almost as soon as I got out of the car I was approached by a man who kept me talking (sound familiar?). After he'd gone I found my money, passport and camera were missing. Now, not only was I in a strange town, I had no money, I had a flat tyre, and I don't speak Italian. I later realised that the puncture was deliberately done by the thieves, who had been following me on a moped and must have used a sharp implement to slash the tyre. Well it all got sorted out eventually but even today, several years later, when I think about it I seethe.

The common thread linking them is distraction. In two of them there was obviously an accomplice who sneaked up outside my line of vision and stole the stuff.

This topic's title is pertinent - 'not only in Thailand!'. Considering the amount of travelling I have done in Thailand I have never been scammed here, at least not in the way the term is usually recognised, so although we shudder to hear about victims of the jet ski mafia or rogue taxi-drivers or petty thievery on baht buses, in my experience you are unlikely to be successfully scammed at random by somebody you don't know. I think the most likely way that visitors, or even ex-pats, can be defrauded is by somebody you do know. Admittedly you would not know them well, but even in the classic 'picked up a ladyboy down by the beach, took her back to my room and woke up to find my wallet gone', you do know the person, even if only for an hour or so. How many of us have fallen victim to the entreaties of our young Thai friends? Those we would say we know very well. Knowing somebody 'very well' is no insurance unfortunately.

[Gaybutton]

After he'd gone I noticed one of the suitcases was missing.

That reminds me of one of my all time favorites. Many years ago, in Philadelphia, my grandmother had an old lady friend who was somewhere in her mid-80s. Her husband had died years before and her children had long since left Philadelphia for greener pastures. She lived alone and her only real companion was her dog, a big German Shepherd.

One day my grandmother's telephone rang and it was her friend, extremely upset and sobbing. Her beloved dog had died during the night.

Once my grandmother had calmed the lady down, they had to figure out what she would do with the dog's body. Between the two of them they came up with the idea of calling the local ASPCA or dog pound or whatever it was. She was told they could dispose of the body for her, but it was her responsibility to get the body to them. She said, "How can I do that? I'm an old lady. I don't drive and I can't afford a taxi." They advised her they don't pick up the bodies of dead animals, but their building was quite near a subway station in South Philadelphia. The subway seemed to be her only alternative.

She took an old, large suitcase and stuffed the dog's body inside. Then she had to drag that suitcase all the way to the subway station, haul it down a long flight of steps, and ride the subway all the way to the destination station. Can you picture an old lady trying to drag a heavy suitcase for blocks in the middle of summer heat? And those were the days before anyone had ever thought of rollers on luggage.

When the subway arrived at her destination station, she was exhausted, but now she had to start dragging the suitcase up the long flight of exit steps. No escalators back in those days.

Before she got very far a nice gentleman offered to help her. He carried the suitcase up the steps for her, much faster than she could climb the steps herself. When she finally arrived at the top, she was shocked to discover the man was gone. So was her suitcase!

I would have loved to have been there to see that man's face when he pried open the suitcase to examine the treasures he had stolen.

And to me, the best part of the story was once he got over the shock, now not only was he the one stuck with the dog's body, but I'll bet he spent the rest of his life trying to figure out what that nutty old lady was doing going around town with a dead dog in a suitcase.

Ahhhh yes, don't you love it when justice is served . . . ?

[christianpfc]

The dead dog in the bag - hilarious!

On my very first holiday in Thailand, several taxis at the airport refused to use the meter, so I finally gave in and agreed to 600 Baht to Sathorn. During the ride, the driver offered me lady, boy, young lady, young boy. That were my first impressions of Thailand! After that, it got better.

When I was approached at the Royal Palace, I already knew that scam from the internet, so I played dumb to get first hand experience.

Apart from that, no problems anywhere I've been so far.

[Alex]

I would have loved to have been there to see that man's face when he pried open the suitcase to examine the treasures he had stolen.

Me too, I bet his expression was priceless. Great story!

[Gaybutton]

I bet his expression was priceless.

I had met that old lady once or twice and I remember seeing the dog too. I couldn't have been more than 15 years old when that happened. When my grandmother told me the story, I couldn't stop laughing. She got angry with me because her friend was so upset by the whole incident and she thought laughing about it was terrible. But I still couldn't stop laughing. You know how infectious laughter can be. My grandmother ended up laughing too and she would retell the story often until the day she died. I still can't think about it without laughing out loud myself, and I'm a wee bit older than 15 now!

I've got another dog story of my own, but it doesn't involve a scam. I was 11 years old. My brother was 3 years younger. We wanted a dog. I always feel sorry for my father. Every Thursday he would take half a day off and come home to relax. But with kids like my brother and I, I don't think he ever got his chance. All he wanted to do was sit down and read his newspaper, but we were always right there to spoil it for him.

He was trying to read his newspaper when we asked him if we could have a dog. Of course he said no. We cried and carried on until he finally gave in and said ok, but he's not going to pay for a dog. We called the local pound, but they said we could only adopt a dog if we have a fenced in yard, which we didn't have. My father said, "Then you can forget it. I'm not fencing in the yard for a goddam dog."

We continued crying and he gave in again. He said he'll spend up to $15 for a dog, and no more. He also said the dog will have to be a male because he's not going to pay for a dog to be spayed and he's not going to have puppies all over the house. We called several pet shops and finally found one that had male pups for $12. The only problem was the pet shop was miles away from where we lived. It was the middle of summer and we had a new car. But this was still in the days before cars were usually air conditioned and ours was not. My mother wanted to keep the windows rolled up as much as possible to retain that new car odor.

We drove, hot as hell, but we finally made it to the pet shop. I went up to the cage where the pups were kept. One, a male, came right over and started licking my fingers. That's the one I wanted. The owner told us these are miniature terriers. Wrong! The dog turned out to be a large Labrador Retriever!

My father bought the dog, some dog food, and a couple dishes for the food and water. We left the pet shop with my father and brother sitting in the front of the car and me sitting in the back with the dog.

We got about halfway home when the dog decided this was the right time to get into position. I said, "Dad, what's the dog doing?"

He gave a quick glance and got mad as hell. Nobody had thought to buy a collar or a leash, so we couldn't stop anywhere. My father yelled, "Don't you dare let that goddam dog shit in my new car!"

But the dog wouldn't stop. I was scared, so I didn't know what else to do. I did the only thing I could quickly think of. I held my hand under the dog and he proceeded to fill my hand. It looked just like a large chocolate soft swirl by the time he was done. Then I started to cry.

My father turned to see what I was crying about and when he saw, he lost his temper. He started yelling at me and the dog was frightened. The dog hid under the front seat of the car and was completely out of sight.

And guess what replaced that new car odor . . .

My father pulled into a service station so I could get rid of the "deposit." Those were still the days when the service stations still had attendants who did everything. When the man came over to the car I was still crying. My father said, "What can my son do with that?"

The attendant could see only me, not the dog. All he could see was a crying kid with a handful of shit. He got a totally puzzled expression on his face and said to my father, "Damn, mister. Too bad you couldn't get him here about ten minutes sooner."

[crabby]

My first Pot-Bellied pig was named Hammy. Hammy died from pneumonia. She weighed about 150 lbs. Thomas and I wrapped her up in an old sheet and duct taped it closed. We took her up the street to the dumpster next to the little league park. We took her out of the back of the truck and threw her into the dumpster. As we drove off we saw that there was a game going on and several of the players had gone to the dumpster to poke the dead body with their bats. They started screaming and cemented our reputation in the neighborhood as "the crazy white boys with guns".

[Alex]

I've got another dog story of my own, but it doesn't involve a scam.

Well, the pet shop owner sold you a Labrador Retriever claiming it's a Mini Terrier. I'd call that a scam. Quite a story, by the way, and it reminds me that I really shouldn't browse this forum while eating a chocolate croissant. Unless I want to lose weight, that is.