I have started this thread do that pics of thieves and descriptions of known scams can be listed.

These are some scams i have found on the internet.

"The Grand Palace is Closed Scam" - This scam happens near any tourist attraction but happens a lot outside the Grand Palace. As you approach, you wil be told the palace is closed. They will take you to another place but along the way you will stop by many shops beloning to his many friends.

Thai Gem Scam

Unless you are an expert don't buy gems many who think they are lose their shorts.

Wrong Change Scam

A common scam at retailers or convenience stores in tourist areas will give you change for a 500 bhat note as opposed to a 1000 baht note. Try to use smaller bills and say out loud the denomination and mst attendants will say it out loud too.

Jet Ski Scam

You rent out a jet ski. You bring it back and the rental company upon inspection will say how you damaged, scratched, and massacred their piece of ship jet ski and they need...20,000 baht for damages.Of course he guy before you paid it as well. If you rent anything just have everything documented.

Patpong Sex Show Scam

Don't believe the barkers who say 100 baht for sex show. You'll be charged a lot more and it can turn violent for you if you don't have the Bowler's stare of death. I try not to use the stare as the smell sucks when the guys wet their pants.

Hualamphong Scam

Their are official looking dressed people at train stations even airports who will "book things for you" they will inform you that "Tai Pei is closed due to typhoon" or "Train/plane/limos/tuk tuks are all booked but he knows of someone that can help.

Long Distance Bus Scam

You fall asleep and you wake up pick pocketed or bags stolen etc. Be like Bowler and shove all money down your pants. Fow me this is a very tight fit so it is near impossible to pickpocket me.

Airport Taxi Scam

Official dressed poeple will quote a 500 rate to go to town. Go with a meter taxi if you can find one if saving 10-20 dollars gives you a boner. Anyone that approaches you with a taxi offer is a thief.

Blackjack Scam

You will be brought into a card game where..Well you already lost you are playing against a team.

Flower kids

The kids will come up to offer flowers they stick the flowers up so you can look. One of the kids will pickpocket you.

The boy scouts

A grown man in a boyscout uniform will ask you for a donation for the thai boyscouts. I don't know if there is a thai boyscout..

Beware Tuk Tuk drivers:

One deal they have is they will offer you a tour of BKK temples and such for a ridiculously low price. At one temple a guy walks in and starts a conversation. One way or another he tells you of a great buy he just did. He bought several gems for a very low price and he tells you he will resale for a great profit back home.

Then the Tuk Tuk driver just happens to drive by a wholesale gem dealer with a HUGE sale.

Don't fall for it.

Never take a tuk-tuk in Bangkok, there is no reason to, other than if you're too fat to fit inside a car. That "only 20 baht!" bs is another scam.

Never take a taxi that is parked, with your smiling friend, the driver, just waiting for you.

I was close to falling for the blackjack scam. what enticed me to go to this house in the first place was the woman showed me photographs of her supposedly beautiful daughters, who i should meet because they was going to the UK to study, but to cut a long story short i could see what was going on and was able to get out of the house before they got any money out of me.

There's nothing wrong with taking a Tuk Tuk as long as you set the price up front, and stick to it when you get to your destination. You do need to beware of the scam where they take you the wrong place and tell you the price quote was for what they THOUGHT you said. Nice try. Tell them either take you to your destination for your price, or get out and walk and tell them if they have a problem, you're happy to call the police to resolve it. Never had anyone take me up on that. Of course, it also helps to have an idea of what the fare should be to your destination. Tuk tuks shouldn't cost anymore than Taxis; their advantage is they can sometimes get through rush hour traffic more easily and faster than the larger taxis can. Otherwise, you're right, not much reason to use one unless you're on an isolated soi and that is all you see (in which case you'll probably get gouged anyway).

sorry sojourner, i havn`t been in a Tuk Tuk for year`s and i never will. They take you to all the scams above. It is a good i dear to set the price upfront, but sometimes you forget, then they charge you a couple of hundred Baht when the fare should have been 20B.

Agreed Redbus, but that is true for some Taxi drivers who don't set meters. If you can't get him to set the meter, and he's the only taxi around, you better agree up front or pay through the nose at the end. I can tell you stories of newbies that have come to Thailand that get carted all over the place by Taxi as well, especially if you're foolish enough to ask the driver to recommend a jewelry store, or suit shop.

Bottom line in general in most developing countries, is make sure you have a clear understanding of how the price is going to be set before you step inside, and know where you're going.

Personally I never take a tuk-tuk in Bangkok and hope I never have to.
If you don't know your way around the city and speak no Thai good chance the destination will be defined by the driver. If you need a taxi, take a taxi.
Fuck 'em.

There are two knds of tuk tuks just like taxis. Always hail one down that is passing . Never take one that is parked waiting for a fare.That applies to both taxis and tuk tuks. Back in the day there were tons more tuk tuks and it was the preferred mode of travel for most people Thai and farang. Taxis back then where much rarer than now and did not even have meters let alone use them. Fares were negotiated up front for both vehicles. Tuk tuks were always cheaper then and still are if you know how to bargain and about what the fare should be.

Will the tuk tuk driver try to get the highest fare he can ? Of course and he does it for Thai passengers as well. Farang or Thai - if you counter with a reasonable fare the driver will usually take it - unless it's rush hour and you are going to a destination that will take 2 hours to go 4 km.

The tuk tuks that are cruising around will almost always just take you where you are going without trying to sell a tour. If he mentions any destination other than your's just tell him no thanks I don't have the time and he will just bring you where you are going.


Actually it's quite an adrenaline rush taking a tuk tuk at 4-5 AM when your are drunk. At that time these guys know all kind of shortcuts - over sidewalks - wrong way down one way streets and down some pretty scary small side streets at some prety hairy speeds. They always got me where I was going and usually sobered up from the adrenaline release !! All part of the intrigue of Bangkok IMO. If you have not tried it you have not experienced all that BKK has to offer !!

Below is the "BANGKOK AIRPORT SCAM"

Travelers to Thailand have braved a variety of hazards in recent years but foreign governments are now warning about a new and different one: duty-free shopping at the airport.

Several European tourists say they were falsely accused of shoplifting at the Thai capital's main airport and some recount being taken to seedy motels where they were shaken down for thousands of dollars by a shady middleman.

A British couple paid the equivalent of $11,000 to secure their release five days after being accused of stealing a Givenchy wallet that was never found, say police, who along with airport authorities deny any wrongdoing.

The Thai government has vowed a crackdown at Bangkok's scandal-plagued Suvarnabhumi Airport, which has barely recovered from last year's public relations disaster when anti-government protesters shut it for a week and stranded 300,000 visitors.

The airport opened in 2006 and has been dogged by corruption allegations, taxi touts with "broken meters" and baggage thefts — prompting a recent order for luggage handlers to wear uniforms without pockets.

But the allegations of extortion take things to another level.

"We are quite concerned about this," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Vimon Kidchob said Thursday. "The government of Thailand is doing everything we can to ensure the safety of tourists."

It's hardly the image the self-proclaimed "Land of Smiles" wants to project, particularly as Thailand's vital tourism industry faces its worst crisis in years after political instability, the global financial crisis and swine flu scares.

The scandal has spawned lengthy chatter on travel blogs about other scams to watch for in Thailand and a string of overseas travel advisories on the perils of duty-free shopping in Bangkok.

Ireland is warning its nationals to "be extremely careful" when browsing at Suvarnabhumi (pronounced "sue-WANNA-poom").

"We have received reports that innocent shoppers have been the subject of allegations of suspected theft and threatened that their cases will not be heard for several months unless they plead guilty and pay substantial fines," says an Irish government travel advisory. It tells shoppers to keep receipts to avoid "great distress."

The advice was posted after a 41-year-old Irish scientist, who was visiting for an international genetics symposium, was accused of stealing Bobbi Brown eyeliner June 25. The embassy declined to discuss details of her case.

Britain and Denmark have updated their online travel advice to warn that Suvarnabhumi's sprawling duty-free zone has hard-to-detect demarcation lines between shops and patrons should not carry unpaid merchandise between them.

British couple Stephen Ingram, 49, and Xi Lin, 45, technology experts from Cambridge, took the alleged scam public in late June. Their ordeal was pieced together based on accounts from police, airport and embassy officials and an interview the couple gave to British media.

The couple was approached by airport security before boarding a flight to London on April 25 and told that security cameras showed they had taken a Givenchy wallet.

King Power, the company that owns the duty-free store, has posted CCTV footage on its Web site that appears to show Lin putting her hand in her bag while browsing a wallet display. The security guards found nothing, but turned the couple over to police, said Sombat Dechapanichkul, managing director of King Power Duty Free Co.

"We are not aware of what happened next. It was then the job of the police to proceed with the case," said Sombat.

Ingram told The Sunday Times of London that they were questioned at an airport police office and then transferred to a nearby police station where their passports were confiscated and they spent the night in jail. The next morning they were introduced to a translator — a Sri Lankan named Tony — who said he could arrange bail and get their case dropped, warning it could otherwise drag on for months.

Tony took them to a nearby motel, called the Valentine Resort, Ingram said. The couple managed a visit to the British Embassy on April 27 but then returned to the hotel fearing Tony, who had warned they would be watched, Ingram said. They didn't leave Bangkok until May 1.

An investigation found that the couple transferred into Tony's bank account 400,000 baht ($11,800) — half for bail and the other half for Tony's "fees," said police Col. Teeradej Panurak, who oversaw the case.

"Tony came in to translate for us. We can't control what the accused agree to with a translator," said Teeradej. He said the couple was released because there was not enough evidence to press charges.

A visiting British government official recently raised the case with Thai authorities, and the British Embassy was consulting other embassies about the alleged scam, said embassy spokesman Daniel Painter.

Tony resurfaced in June, when a Danish woman was arrested.

Danish Embassy Consul Tove Wihlbrot-Andersen says the woman was accused of stealing an item worth about 1,500 baht ($45) after she unknowingly crossed from one shop to another. Her allegations mirror those made by the British couple: She was taken to a police station, contacted by Tony the translator, released on bail and then "taken to a bad hotel in the vicinity for almost a week," until she reportedly paid Tony 250,000 baht ($7,400) — for an offense that normally results in a 3,000 baht ($90) fine, the consul said.

Newspapers have published a steady stream of outraged letters-to-the-editor that note the Thai police force's reputation for taking bribes and to call for arrests in the airport scam.

One recent letter in The Nation newspaper came from Mike Gilman in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, who lamented the scandal's potential damage: "More nails in the coffin of an already devastated Thai tourism industry."

Counterfeit one thousand bahts money seized in Bangkok that are made in China, all have the same serial number.