All countries have con artists and scammers. Thailand has a small minority of people who prey on tourists. This page is not meant to show Thailand in a bad light. I have had so many good encounters with local Thais.

I just want to help educate first time travellers to Bangkok what to look out for. Please report all scams you witness to the English speaking Thai Tourist Police on 1155. They need help dealing with them to make Thailand safer.

This is not a scam - If the attraction you are going to visit advertises a different cheaper entrance price for locals than foreign tourist this is normal. Many countries offer free or cheaper rates for locals. They pay taxes that help pay for the attraction so get a subsidised or free rate. If you get charges a higher rate that is not advertised outside the entrance that is when you want to query the demand. That one official may be trying to make money on the side, Ask to see a printed list of ticket prices on and official document.

The Bangkok Jewellery gem scam.

If a stranger approaches you and invites you to a jewellery shop just say 'No'. Con-artists target foreigners. They hang around the main tourist attractions. It usually starts with a male stranger approaching you asking where you are going and telling you that you can't because it is closed. They will can come up with lots of different reasons why: 'Oh didn't you know it's a Buddhist holiday today', 'closed for cleaning', 'closed for repairs', 'closed because the monks are chanting now', 'it's only open on Wednesdays' etc. It is just a ruse to get you started in conversation with them. If the place really is closed go to the entrance and ask. Do not take anyone's word for it. It is very likely that four or five people will say it is closed as well. They are all in on the scam.

You new friend will then say not to worry as he knows of an equally impressive tourist site that is still open 'the famous 100m high Standing Buddha temple'. For some reason It's not mentioned in your guidebook, but he will kindly mark the location of it on your map for you. (The 100m high Standing Buddha temple is a real place but that is another story.) He may also mention that he knows nearby of a wholesale jewellery shop that is running a promotion today, but will put no pressure on you to buy any. He might mark that on your map.

He will usually offer to arrange a tuk-tuk ride for you to the new temple at a bargain price, the price that Thais pay not tourists. He will explain that tuk-tuks overcharge tourists and that he can get the price that cheap for you because he is Thai. You think the man was a genuine helpful local. He has not insisted that he comes with you. The driver of the tuk-tuk is part of the scam. The driver will take you to the temple. They will wait whilst you look around. The driver may suggest another temple nearby that would be of interest. He takes you there and again waits for you to have a look around. You are now thinking that your driver is very helpful and genuinely wants to help you enjoy your day out having been disappointed that the big tourist attraction was closed.

The driver will now suggest that he knows of a shop that not normally only sells to Thai merchants whole sale jewelry and that he can get you a good deal. He may also tell you of a special deal that involves bulk buying gems at a low price in Thailand in order to resell them for a vast profit in your home country. He will tell you that previously this has only been open to Thai students to finance their studies abroad but now tourists can do it as well. He may come up with a different cover story but generally if it is a get rich quick story that sounds too good to be true then you know it is a scam.

It may not be the Tuk-tuk driver that suggests this to you. You could get approached by a smartly dressed Thai male who speaks excellent English, and claims to be a university professor, a business man, student or tourist official, he will give you a free guide around the temple and gradually bring the conversation around to the special discount offer that is only available to day, once he has gained your confidence. He will mark the location of the gem shop on your map so you can tell the tuk-tuk driver where to go. You are confident in his advice as he does not insist on coming with you. It appears he is just giving you friendly advice.

If you are silly enough to go to the gem shop you will receive lots of personal service from the staff like being offered a drink whilst you browse followed by a high-pressure sales pitch. They want to get you to spend a lot of money with the promise that this layout will double or treble when you resell the gems back home. They tell you that you will make enough money to pay for your holiday and put money in your bank account. The will offer a receipt, money back guarantee and certificate of authenticity. Whilst you are in the shop pay no attention to the European that comes in and orders and pays for a large quantity of gems. He will probably mention that he does this all the time whilst in Thailand on business trips and makes a lot of money from it. He is part of the scam to.

The shop will offer to get the gems out of Thailand safely, with no problems from customs. They will offer to mail the gems to your home for you by insured recorded tracked postal service like FedEx or UPS. They will ask you pay in cash and will not be able to accept credit cards. If you do not have enough cash on you they may suggest you go and buy gold from a nearby shop with your card and then pay them with the gold. The reason the shop wants to mail them abroad for you is, of course, they do not want you going to another jewellers and getting a second opinion as to their value. This is to stop you coming back to their shop and demanding your money back. When you get back home and try to sell these Thai jewels you will find out you have been had and that they are worthless. If a stranger approaches you and invites you to a jewellery shop just say 'No'.

A Slight variation is if you take a Tuk Tuk or Taxi to the Grand Palace and they take you to an entrance that is closed and say, "Sorry Grand Palace closed", they are involved in a scam. They will suggest other nearby temples to take you to and then a gem shop. Say no and insist that he takes you to the main entrance that is open.

The Bangkok cheap designer suit and shirt bespoke Tailor Scam

A variation on the Jewellery scam as shown above is the offer to take you to a good tailor that makes fine bespoke suits at cheap prices. Whilst you are looking around the temple the tuk-tuk drive may apologise and say he has to go to the toilet. When he does a middle man may strike up a conversation with you. He could be European or American. He will ask where you are going and warn you about the dangers of scams run by tuk-tuk drivers. He then suggest that you go to the tailors he uses to make all his suits. He says he is an investment banker, lawyer or UN employee and has to wear a suit everyday. He will give you the name and address and tells you to instruct your driver to take you there instead. You feel great for having been warned about the scam and been given a genuine address. They are so clever.

Variations on this scam is that the middle man could be a local sitting in a car. Whilst the tuk-tuk driver is in the rest room he will introduced himself and say that he was a lawyer in Phuket. He will then mention that he always travels to Bangkok for business. He willthen inform you that he is there waiting for his pregnant wife and that she is inside the temple praying to God for a baby boy since they already have 2 children, but both of them are girls.

You will get told that this is the last day of a gem exhibition 'You are lucky, today is the last day of the exhibition. It will be close in two hours.' You are then told that the government of Thailand used to give scholarship for students to study abroad. However, after the economic crisis in Asia (started in 1997), the government is no longer able to support these students. To ease the situation, the government then encourages these students to buy sapphires and sell them in the destination country of studies. You will be persuaded to go and buy these sapphire at 0% tax. You will be told of how his student relative, studying engineering in America sold his sapphires to a Tiffany store in the US at a 200% profit.

You will then be told that his wife's necklace bought 4 years ago for $1000 is now valued at $6000. If you go to the store he suggests the jewels will not be genuine and you will lose a lot of money. These 'distinguished' gentleman that make you believe they are telling you a wonderful way to make money. You will be given a receipt valuation for insurance purposes and a guarantee. All very believable. After the sale you walk off very pleased with your self believing you have a money making gem in your hand. The Golden Argosy Factory Export Center is a favorite place tourists are taken to. Another one is called the Oscar.

Look out for the middle man who is a respectable looking well dressed older Thai gentleman with good English, praying at the Temple, He will start a conversation with you once establishing you speak English saying that he likes to have the opportunity to speak English with tourists. He will tell you all about his life including that he is working with the Thai finance ministry as an accountant. Then he will tell you about the gem offer or good tailors

The Patpong bar 2nd floor sex show Scams

You will get scammed if you go to these joints. If you ask for the price of the drinks the final bill will be much larger. They will add a large fee for the floor show just because you walked in the door. They will then add a big service charge. If you do not pay they will call over the heavies. Do not follow any touts who approach you on the street offering cheap drinks. You will be told by the tout that it is a free show and free entrance you just have to pay slightly more for you.

The drinks menu you will be shown in the cafe will not have prices on. Always say you are going to call the tourist police. Phone them on 1155. The bars object is not getting money by providing good shows, but getting money through overpricing and intimidation. Do not go to the second floor bars. Try to frequent somewhere more open and not so enclosed, so that you are able to "escape" or shout for help. Patpong is dirty and smelly. If you want to see the bar scene go to Nana or Soi Cowboy, its much better and less hassle. Never go to an upstairs bar never follow a tout.

Bangkok and Patpong lady boys and bar girls

Most Thailand Bangkok and Patpong lady boys are working to raise money for their sex change operation. They may look like very attractive buxom females but they still have their tackle. Some are nice pleasant people but be careful.

They regularly drug male customers by putting things in drinks. They then steal there money, credit cards passports and watches. You are viewed as a cash machine and nothing else. Your are contemptible in their eyes. If they find you on your own on the beach at night and ask if you want to go back to the hotel with them and you refuse they may attack you with weapons and rob you. They may look like pretty girls but you have to remember they have the strength of a man.

Some tourists do not realise that when they pay for a drink and sit with a lady boy or a female bar girl in a bar and just talk or have a dance that you have to pay for their time even though it did not involve anything 'extra'. This is a classic misunderstanding of how business is conducted in Thailand. They will create a violent scene if you do not pay them. You may get locked in the bar until you pay.

Spiked drinks and robbery

It is very common for tourists acoholic drinks to be spiked with rehipnal, the rape drug. It will incapasitate you. You will not remember what has happened. In the morning if you are luck you will wake up in a hospital. If not some where strange. Everything you own will have been taken from you. If you are female you may also have been sexually assaulted or raped. Beaches of Thailand dangerous at night if you are on your own.

Bangkok Animal cruelty

The street vendors drug animals, like monkeys, possums, snakes and giant lizards so they are calm and do not bite you. They put them on your shoulder take a Polaroid photo and demand money. What they do is illegal and if seen by police will be dealt with. This nasty cruel trade only thrives on demand.

Car and bike hire in Thailand

Do not drive at night as many on the road are drunk. There is not much enforcement, but if you have an accident you will be breathalysed. If you are over the limit you will possible spend two to three days in jail before you go to court. They will take your passport away. In the day it is still dangerous as they do not obey the rules of the road. They drive fast. Many drivers have not had any lessons. They do not have a driving licence

Thai beach Jetski hire scams

There are scam artist looking for tourists to con. They will hire you a jet ski and when you return it they will find some damage and insist you pay for the repair. There is always ‘something wrong’ with the jet skis. If the damage is old the colour of the fibreglass body is black or brown as it stains. New damage will be white. The bill will be in the thousands. They will have a gang of co-workers to use violence against you to force the payment of the repair costs. Call the English speaking Thai Tourist police on 1155.

Taking, importing, exporting or selling drugs in Thailand

Are you mad? Do you want to spend time in a filthy stinking overcrowded violent Thai prison. You can get the DEATH sentence or long prison terms with huge fines. We are talking about 10 to 30 year sentences for some thing in Europe that you would get a caution for the first offence. If you get caught in possession of cannabis you can get a jail sentence.

To make bail you may need to bribe the police and then supply 65,000 bhat. Even if money is sent from home you can only take 10,000 out of an ATM cash machine a day. If they find you in possession of stronger drugs and decide to charge you they can keep you in prison for months whilst you await a trial date. Don't be stupid. The police actively target tourists in undercover stings on the beaches and along the bars. You are easy to catch. That pretty Thai girl could be an undercover cop.

Do not try to make a fraudulent travel insurance claim - You will go to a Thai Prison

Mistakenly many tourists believe the Thai Police are uneducated and corrupt. They decide to make some money from their travel insurance company by fraudulently reporting the theft of their expensive belongings. They normally do this at the end of their holiday and blame either the taxi driver or hotel staff. This is so common that the local Thai people are sick of these serious unfounded accusations that endanger their job, their ability to feed their family and freedom if they are jailed because of your false accusations.

The Thai police will now investigate allegations of theft to see if the tourist is making a false allegation and trying to commit insurance fraud. This is why when you report a theft you can end up at the Thai Police station for five hours or more. You will have to sign a form that you know it is a crime to make a false allegation. They will then make you complete lots of forms and take statements. Sometimes they send officers to search your hotel room and all your belongings for the missing items.

Thai police are professionals and can normally sniff out people not being honest. They are used to reading body language. Most police officers can tell if you are lying. Thai prisons are full of tourists who had tried to get their holiday paid for by their insurance company paying out for supposedly stolen digital SLR cameras, laptops, jewellery and iPhones. Fraud is an offence punishable by prison. Do you want to spend time in a filthy stinking overcrowded violent Thai prison. Do not make this mistake.

Free the Birds Scam

At a number of the smaller temples you may come across locals with wild birds in small cages. The sign will say 'Release the birds in the cage for 100 baht'. Please do not pay money to release birds. Do not encourage this cruel practice. You are supposed to be gaining merit by releasing the birds. This is not a Buddhist practice. Many abbots of temples have banned these people from their grounds. But they still come back. If you pay the money to release the birds this will encourage the stall holder to traumatise and capture more wild birds

The bogus security guard stopping you taking photos

When you are exploring some of the smaller temples watch out for the Security Guard Scam. He will see you taking photographs and approach you. His English will be reasonable which is normally a good giveaway that he is a scam artist. Thai people do not usually approach complete strangers in the street which is another clue. He will say that he is the security guard and that as you are not Buddhists you are not allowed to take photographs inside the Temple. Do not believe him. Take his photo. You are allowed to take photographs in all Bangkok's temples. The only exception is inside the temple of the Emerald Buddha in the Grand Palace.

If you want some fun confront him. Ask where his security uniform is. Ask to see his photo identification. Ask to see the 'take no photographs sign' in English which is the second official language in Thailand. He will point to a sign in Thai which logically will say take no photographs because he has just said that local Buddhist can take photos. Demand to speak with the abbot to confirm his identity and the rules. He may try and be helpful and suggest a fantastic temple with a huge standing Buddha called Wat Inthawawihan where you can take photos. He will offer to flag down a tuk-tuk and arrange a very cheap price for the trip. You now know this helpful man is part of the overpriced gem or tailor scam. Call the Tourist police and report him.

Feed the birds scam

As you walk along the pavement on the outside of the Grand Palace look out for locals that try to thrust half empty bags of bird food into your hands. If they succeed they will gesture for you to feed the birds. I thought this was rather strange behaviour when it happened to me. Was it a Thai custom of welcome to foreigners to the Grand Palace? I scattered a few seeds on the floor to keep them happy. 'More, more,' He encouraged us. So I threw the contents to the birds on the ground. I then gave the bags back and started to walk towards the Palace. 'Twenty baht. You give me Twenty baht!' That was the scam. You are supposed to be gaining merit by feeding the birds.

The Water Bus scam

If you are looking to take the Express Boat look out for scammers that try to divert you to the pier belonging to the more expensive tourist boat or water bus company. They will spot you and say 'You looking for the river bus? You come this way for the pier.' They will appear very friendly and helpful. They will steer you to the rival water bus company's

Nice Thai Locals

There are a lot of genuine nice Thai people. We encountered many on our trip but when you meet scammers all the time near the tourist sights it can give a real bad impression.

Travel books