Thailand and Bangkok are great place’s to visit, but it should be remember that the people that come and live in this beautiful country are not very rich, in fact they consider the average worker in a western country to be very rich; often Thai girls from poorer regions will dream about marrying a nice western man.
Because of the little money these people make, and they realise how much money we can have – they will often try to take advantage of us, and this is not on! Please read on so you can avoid getting scammed!
Tuk Tuk Scams
When you get in a Tuk Tuk, at times they will tell you about excellent markets they no about with very cheap prices. They will offer to guide you to the different destinations for a small fee, which you would not realise is that the driver is going to take you to places where he will earn a commission if you buy something. Most people will realise very quickly that this is not a real market, and they will ask to go else where. This will often get the driver upset and he can often leave the tourist standard in the middle of no where.
Bar Scams
Some bars will often try to over charge you for drinks, you will walk in believing the drink is a set price but as you drink and the bill’s in the tin add they will slowly increase each drink hoping that when it comes time to pay you will not check (as often people do not).
Not many bars will try this, as they realise when they do get found out it will be black listed by many tourists – this does not stop the one’s that are either very silly or new to the scene!
Girl Scams
If you take a girl back to your hotel, make sure anything that is valuable is locked in the room safe or in the safety deposit box down stairs! It is not overly common, but if a girl sees a lot of money or some expensive laying around, they may take it in the middle of the night and claim nothing the next day. This can be hard to proof and the best option is to avoid it.
Bangkok Deals will also be fair and advise that there have been rare case’s in towns like Pattaya, where girls will put sleeping powder on them in certain places so the tourist will fall asleep and they can do what they please.
There are also stories of massage girls claiming random people owe them money in the street, this is only a rumour currently as we have not meet anyone we trust fully that can verify this, although it is worth having on your mind.
Police Scams
The police in Bangkok, and all over Thailand can be very corrupt. Often if they see you do something wrong, rather then take you in they will ask for a on the spot fine which is just a bribe. We do advise you give them what they ask for as it will save you having any problems.
Police can be very bad when it comes to scams, in towns such as Pattaya they are known to work with Jet Ski Operators to get tens of thousands of baht out of unsuspected tourists.
This of course, is not to say that the police are all bad; in fact if a real crime is committed they will dedicate them selves to finding the suspect and bringing them to justice! They of course, do not earn much so yes, turn to scams to help earn a little extra money to help there family.
Hotels Scams
Again, this is not common but there is word at times that hotels will over charge you on your last day, as you will need to catch a flight many people would not wish to bother over a few hundred pounds and end up paying it.
If the police are called, they will usually agree with the hotel and they will side with them forcing you to pay.
This is best avoided by paying a day or 2 in advanced, if you run into any kind of trouble we advise to call the tourist police first as they will mediate between the MIB (Thai Police) and the hotel, often saving any major issues.