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beware the butt scam


PeeMarc
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i have a person dislike for many tourist areas in Bangkok and i avoid them whenever i can,.. especially Nana and lower Sukhumvit rd. But this morning i had to go to the British Embassy in Thanon Wittayu, and needed passport pics. I went to soi 5 area, got my pics then crossed to road to get a motorbike to the Embassy. Within 30seconds of standing on corner of Nana, a policeman came up and started harrassing me about smoking (i wasnt at that time and i knew he was bullshitting). I remained calm, smiled and spoke politely. He demanded my passport and then seized it and demanded i follow him. Despite my polite protests i had no choice - he had my passport. He took me to a booth nearby where he and his slimy crony police mate tried to extort TB15,OOO from me while holding up a cigarette butt (not mine) hed picked up from 1000s on the ground. It took me an hour, and all the patience and polite Thai i could muster to get away with paying TB1000 for something i did not do. I have notice a huge increase in police numbers on the streets lately, mostly scamming cash fines from drivers. If you are a tourist, dont speak Thai and have no experience in how to deal with Thai police, i suggest you be careful in tourist areas. It could be an expensive day!

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I once left MBK, and had a smoke whilst walking from there, to the BTS on the skywalk. Got to the BTS, no ashtrays AT ALL.

I put my butt down the drain, started to walk into the station, and felt a hand on my elbow.

It's normally best to forget all Thai in these circumstances, so I did.

"Where you come from"

"England"

:You put cigarette on froor, come with me"

I was marched to the other end ot eh sky walk where there were two other police Guys sitting down. I was told to sit with them. They totally ignored me for a few mins, talking about their gigs, how much whiskey they drank the night before, I couldn't believe it. But as I don't speak a word of Thai, I didn't understand a word of it:)

Finally, they turned their attention to me.

"You put cigarette on froor, normarry you pay 2,000 baht, today you pay 500 baht"

I said to them, in English, "OK, no problem, will you be giving me a receipt"?

Smile smile smile

"Oh hooooooooo - no, cannot give you a receipt, sapeshun plice fo you today na"

I then said to them, in Thai, "OK, if you don't give me a receipt, I will pay you 100 baht. If that's not enough, give me a receipt, and I will pay the full 2000"

That confused the **** out of them.

After some deliberation, they finally said, "Ok, Neung roy baht gaw dai"

:D

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f*cking hell, I love the 15,000b figure where do they get it from, thousands of crimes are committed in that 500m sq of nana every day, and they have to make up one to get a pay out.
they shoved a very badly typed (with spelling mistakes) dodgy piece of laminated paper in my face. It claimed, as from Jan 17, 2008 no smoking in the streets - fine = TB2000 - 15000. These guys were NOT nice boys to deal with and that situation could have easily gone very bad
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f*cking hell, I love the 15,000b figure where do they get it from, thousands of crimes are committed in that 500m sq of nana every day, and they have to make up one to get a pay out.
they shoved a very badly typed (with spelling mistakes) dodgy piece of laminated paper in my face. It claimed, as from Jan 17, 2008 no smoking in the streets - fine = TB2000 - 15000. These guys were NOT nice boys to deal with and that situation could have easily gone very bad

That is exactly why I always carry my fake miami vice badge and pack heat... you know what Um sayin'?

8)

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is it getting worse in Bangkok (and Thailand in general) with scams, particularly from the police, or has it remained the same, but just more publicly talked about?

I've been out of Thailand quite a lot recently - so slightly out of touch with scams.

BTW, on a different subject - say 6 friends went out to RCA for a night out - how much would the bill be of you drank, say, 2 bottles of JW Black with mixers? Cheers.

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Ask them for their names and last names and which station they belong to before you settle the price, that sometimes helps with freaking them out.

If i know that i'm definitely not in the wrong, i wouldn't even give them my id or follow them anywhere. I'd just ignore and walk away. What happens if you've never touched a cigarette in your life and tell them that?

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  • 11 months later...

Thanks for the heads up on this scam...I guess that it's going to be a fun time considering that some police are also doing the scams. Especially that while I'm there I won't be able to charge my cell phone because of the different current used in Thailand than the US.

Does anyone know if you use a cell phone from the US if you have to dial anything other than 1155 to get the Tourist police?

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:shock: 1000 THB.. that money = 1-2 meals at MK, Fuji, Sizzler, BBQ plaza, Taling Pling, Scoozi, Hachiban Ramen, Daidomon, Black Canyon, S & P, 13 Coins, Yum Saap, Oishi, Zen...... P'Marc!!!! :(

Know what you mean... pay to get away... hopefully, this history wont repeat itself.

It happens quite often...this is probably the 6th or 7th time I've heard of this scam happening in Bangkok.

:cry:

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Thanks for the heads up on this scam...I guess that it's going to be a fun time considering that some police are also doing the scams. Especially that while I'm there I won't be able to charge my cell phone because of the different current used in Thailand than the US.

Does anyone know if you use a cell phone from the US if you have to dial anything other than 1155 to get the Tourist police?

if only someone would invent some sort of travel charger...

They would make mirrions!

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Thanks for the heads up on this scam...I guess that it's going to be a fun time considering that some police are also doing the scams. Especially that while I'm there I won't be able to charge my cell phone because of the different current used in Thailand than the US.

Does anyone know if you use a cell phone from the US if you have to dial anything other than 1155 to get the Tourist police?

if only someone would invent some sort of travel charger...

what a great idea...

anyone have the number for applying to Dragons' Den??

:lol:

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Something similar happened to me once a couple of years ago. I was walking up the steps of the Ploenchit Center on the corner of Sukhumvit Soi 2 when a policeman tapped me on the shoulder and said, "You dropped your cigarette". I then told him in Thai that I don't smoke. He then sheepishly turned around and walked away.

It's one thing to pay a fine for something you DID, even when they don't provide a place to put litter. But to fine you for something you didn't do is absolutely unacceptable. If it happens to me again, I'll just walk away again. What are they going to do? Shoot me in the back - for NOT littering?

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As a Thai, I love to piss off the Police.. How disguting they are!!! Yuck!!! But as a non-Thai, it's a bit complicated...

When I first joined my company, I didn't know why the police came to my office again and again... First time I saw them, one even told me he came to collect the bribe... wtf!?!? No shame at all?

I asked my boss why do we have to give them money twice a month... He said, just so they won't mess with us, we have a factory located in a green area not industry area... and they will never mess with our company cars too etc... while if we giving them nothing, they will come up with something..

I was like ....... :? ....

So at the end in this country, most of us do or at least support the corruption one way or another....

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