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Home » News from Thailand » German TV program warns of scams in Thailand
German TV program warns of scams in Thailand
Anutr Yossundara / Shutterstock.com
In the German television program 'Achtung Abzocke' by Peter Giesel, Thailand does not get off very well: taxi drivers who scam you, products and services that are too much in demand, gangs that sell fake train tickets and driver's licenses and scammers who say they are from the tourist police .
The program pays extensive attention to the scam that tourists have to deal with. This negative publicity is a thorn in the side of the Ministry of the Interior. As a result of the broadcast, the Thai government has instructed officials and the police to step up security for tourists.
Yesterday, various parties, including the Tourist Police and the Immigration Police, met at the office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand in Pattaya to discuss measures.
Source: Bangkok Post
In Belgium there was a similar program on TV last year. undercover I believe.
Do you mean “Axel scammed”, which was broadcasted on VTM? They also made a report about Thailand…
There will always be (naïve) tourists who are prey for scammers. Not limited to Thailand, of course. Kees van der Spek's Scammers Abroad program shows with the hidden camera that scam gangs are particularly active in major cities around the world. This also applies to some taxi drivers in Amsterdam and at Schiphol, there are still illegal taxi drivers who want to screw the traveler over. I was recently in Prague and taxis are the order of the day. In Thailand, Kees van der Spek revealed the sale of fake gold by monks on Phuket. Specific scams were (and possibly still are) the jet ski scam in Pattaya and Phuket, while the Tuk Tuk mafia on Phuket have also been swindling tourists for years. But the fact that tourists in Thailand are cheated with fake driver's licenses cannot be classified as fraud. Which 'normal' tourist purchases a driver's license during his holiday? Unless, of course, he himself, or the police, wants to bottle things up by purchasing a fake Thai motorcycle license. Unfortunately, you also have scammers posing as agents all over the world, and in the Netherlands you have robbers dressed as parcel deliverers. Anyway, a warned tourist counts for two!
leo th,
I don't qualify as a naive tourist if I say so myself and of course this happens everywhere on earth, but it just feels very annoying when it happens to you. I had never had a negative experience in Thailand, so the feeling is not pleasant. That the unreliable feeling also starts there. That was my point. I think it's a shame.
Unfortunately, I have experienced it too. Once with a taxi driver who wanted to take us to his taxi a long way away. It took too long and it didn't feel good. So not done. With the rental of two scooters, take photos in advance because that is what people want. You have taken great care of your scooter because you take good care of it and don't want any scratches or dents. Then you hand in the scooters and they say that you have caused damage somewhere and that is exactly in a place that is not in the photo. 4000 bath was demanded. That's not fair because it certainly hasn't been driven or caused any damage. They keep nagging that it is true and won't give your passport back. I insisted that I was not going to pay. Many colleagues walked away because I think they were already ashamed of her and her behavior and ultimately, at my husband's request, I paid the 200 baht that it ended up being after many discussions because my husband wanted to leave and was no longer interested in those discussions. We had to take the ferry as a transit to our plane. Such a shame that people do this. Indeed, confidence does not improve.
So with that taxi you don't know at all whether something was wrong, so a strange example.
Fake driver's licenses?
I can assume that even a tourist knows that you don't buy real driver's licenses in a shop stall?
Or am I missing something?
Apart from the fact that things are happening everywhere outside Thailand that cannot directly be called tourist-friendly, the Thai government could lead the way with a good example.
The double pricing system for national parks etc., which is the most normal thing by the same indignant Thai government, is suddenly disapproved of by this same government when it comes to private business.
Is it strange that a Farang pays more in some matters and also for a taxi, when a government leads the way with this same bad example.??
yes JOHN
Can't imagine that the government still has that double pricing system
allows This is pure theft
I'm not going to visit those places anymore If every farang had to do that now !!!
Exactly agree. I don't do that anymore either. My wife 40 baht and me 400? Then they get nothing.
You can make such a broadcast in any country in the world, as a tourist you are very recognizable and easy prey for scammers.
Exactly the same thing happens in Amsterdam,Paris,Berlin and every other place where tourists come.
If every tourist would first read up about the holiday country, the chance that you will be scammed would be a lot smaller.
I have watched the program, but it is really an ordinary sensational program. But in the easy chair without further world experience it is of course delicious.
Is there another link to watch this broadcast of Achtung Abzocke
https://www.kabeleins.de/tv/achtung-abzocke/videos/51-abzocke-paradies-thailand-peter-giesel-deckt-auf-ganze-folge
Oh cucumber time and then such programs are commonplace. Never happened to me in 30 years of TH.
Preparation is also part of the holiday (fun)
The program really isn't far from the truth. Sad, but true. And what the comparisons with other cities are about escapes me.
The Thai Ministry of the Interior will take measures and issue instructions. Then the problem is solved, right? 555
These forms of 'scams' are of course easy to prevent. Choose a metered taxi. You do that at home, don't you? The meter reading in the Netherlands is often more expensive than the entire journey in Thailand.
This Mr Griesel's previous broadcast was also a flop. He bought gold jewelry in Bangkok, then went to other stores for 'information' and he allegedly bought it too expensively. When he went back to the seller, he simply got his money back.
On a beach he then went to rent a water scooter 2x. Everything went smoothly. Of course he had hoped to be scammed. When he saw 2 soldiers walking, that was of course the reason why people refused to scam him and Thailand suddenly turned into a terrible junta.
This man cannot be taken seriously. At an elephant camp in Chang Mai where the elephants can paint, among other things, I have been there myself, he thought this was exploitation of the animals, also because the sometimes nice drawings were offered for sale. And a short walk with two people on the elephant's back he found abuse. As if an elephant would notice that. Those elephants are simply well cared for.
I'm already looking forward to the next nun broadcast from this 'documentary maker'.
'Whether an elephant notices'… I'm shocked that there are still people who believe that elephants don't suffer in Thailand. How do you think an elephant is tamed? With bananas? Those animals are beaten down before they are tame and manageable. Baby elephants are forcibly removed from their mother. Such proud animals are exploited. Fortunately, there is a Dutchman near Hua Hin who is committed to these animals and is trying to tackle the rides on / abuse of elephants. Slowly the travel world realizes that elephant rides are not so animal-friendly after all and they are being removed from the packages. Just as wrong are the 'tame' tigers with which the stupid tourist wants to be photographed. Those animals are abused and drugged, has nothing to do with animal love only with exploitation. There are still some examples to mention.
Even the hospitals are increasing their rates for the farang. The government therefore legitimizes discrimination not only in amusement parks and museums, but even in something like health care for tourists, pensioners and expats…
Just hook up; I was charged 2 Baht for 10.000 wound treatments at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital in Pattaya. For example, for a cold sore 5 tubes of virogan for 880 baht, in the store 100 baht per tube of the same content/brand. And why 5 you save human lives.
Once rented a scooter on kho lan with a girlfriend, without handing over our passport or ID because we didn't have it with us, just drove 500m and had a flat tire, we had to pay for the repair ourselves with a scooter mask (150 baht incl new tire) upon return, the lessor was already busy with other customers, so put the scooter down and left. Fortunately, it was not about thousands of baht, then we would have just parked the scooter somewhere and taken the car on our feet.