Last updated on June 3rd, 2015 at 07:22 am
Last night I watched a television show called Scam City on the Science Channel. It’s a show revealing scams perpetrated by con artists in major cities around the world. The lasts few weeks I watched episodes on Rio De Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Prague and last night the episode on Bangkok.
I was super curious and excited to watch the episode on Bangkok because sure I know about the tourists scams. I’ve never fallen for one because you hear so many stories already about getting ripped off by gem stores when they advertise a “last day 30% discount on high quality gems”. Or sex show (never been to one either. Really, I’m not lying) touts promising bottles of beer for 100THB ($3USD) but only find out when the bill arrives a bottle of beer cost 10x more. And if you don’t pay the bar will threaten you with physical harm.
Scam City’s host, Conor Woodman places himself right into the scams while capturing the whole event on hidden cameras. And he’ll have a buddy follow along with another camera filming everything with a DSLR. So it was interesting to see what actually happens in gem shops and sex shows. It’s a whole lot different than reading about it.
Like the gem scam. These scam artists mainly hang around the tourist attractions, like the Grand Palace, National Museum and Wat Pho in the old quarters. They also hang around the commercial districts of Bangkok too, like near the Four Headed Buddha in Chidlom and Silom by Lumphini Park.
The modus operandi is always the same. Thai con artists are neatly dressed. And they can speak conversational English and tell you they are professionals, like accountants, doctors, lawyers, etc. These are ways to lull tourists into a false sense of security. Then they’ll proceed to “fill you in” on special sales of precious gems with a 1 day sale that only occurs every 7 years. They’ll start piling on more BS by telling you can make good money by reselling them back home.
And tourists do fall for this. Matter of fact on the Bangkok Scam City episode, Conor had a video chat with a New Yorker who bought some gems in Bangkok following the suggestion of a con artist. When he took the gems back to the Diamond District in NYC the dealers were telling him the stones were not worth as much as he paid. Even though with all the information out there warning tourists of gem scams, people are still falling for it. Unbelievable.
Anyways, here is my 1 BIG TIP to AVOID GETTING SCAMMED IN BANGKOK. If anyone approaches you in the city, do not talk to them. This is especially true when they can speak perfect English. It’s the same what mom taught you as a kid. Don’t talk to strangers.
Yeah, I know, that advice sounds so anti-social. Isn’t one of the facets of the joy in traveling is to meet new people? Sure, I guess. But we’re not in a story book world like Eat, Pray, Love. It’s a sad fact that if you don’t want to have a scam ruin your vacation in Bangkok then don’t speak to strangers who approach you.
I’ve been approached too by by con artists hanging outside of the Grand Palace. And they’ll flat out lie and tell me it’s a Buddha holiday so the Grand Palace is closed, even when the entrance is just 30 yards away and you see dozens of tourists streaming in and out. I just ignore them. And you should too.
Okay, I don’t want to scare off anyone from visiting Bangkok. Hell, even innocent Thais get scammed, probably a lot more than tourists. Really, I’m not kidding. I hear so many elaborate schemes concocted by Thai con artists that it’s hard to believe. Check out my post on one instance where I got scammed. That happened far from any tourist centric areas.
Fly by night carnivals scam local Thais every night…
And from watching past episodes of Scam City, Bangkok is not that bad. Not that I’m making light of a bad situation. In Buenos Aires, Conor discovered that tons of counterfeit pesos are floating around. And most bogus bills were passed off to tourists from taxi drivers. Even some shop keepers were handing bogus bills and some were short changing tourists. I did some more research and found instances where ATMs in Buenos Aires had counterfeit cash too.
In Rio pickpockets are quite brazen during festivals though this type of crime happens in every tourists hot spot the Brazilians take it to a whole different level. In Prague, depending on which taxi company you choose you can be paying 5 times the normal rate. And if you don’t pay the driver might have a weapon to change your mind. Also in Prague currency exchangers charged fees but you wouldn’t know unless you can read Czech.
Serious crimes against tourists does occur in Thailand especially in the big cities, just like it does in most major cities in the world. Though not as frequently but everyone should be cautious no matter where they go. But from watching episodes of Scam City, Bangkok is quite tame. So to increase your chances to avoid getting scammed, do what your mother taught you long ago and don’t talk to strangers who approach you.
