Beware of currency exchange scam near police Station

[blue05]

Last Friday a friend went through a nightmare caused by the girlin the exchange booth.

He gave 6 brand new 50 pound notes to his missus to exchange at the yellow exchange booth near the police station, all the notes were still in the envelope that they came in from RBS in UK, he checked them and they were all the same.

Notes handed over , girl takes them down and checks them under the counter and comes back up with one and says this one no good, copy.

On inspection the note was a slightly different colour and would have been obvious in amongst all the notes he had. The note was certainly a copy but also certainly not his.

To make matters a whole load worse rather than give his missus the note back and get another the exchange girl screams mary hell and calls the cops.

Off to cop shop where they announce they want 100,000bt as a payoff.

lawyers called hours of negotiation later and cops announce mates missus is being kept in for the night

More negotiations next day with lawyers , 100,000bt paid but this is now bail, as they have formally charged mates missus and they will be in court within the next 10 days. Potential 5 years imprisonment!

New lawyers hired from Bangkok for court case, cancelled flights back to UK for him and his missus, work contacted to say will be here for at least another 10 days

All in all a bloody nightmare and almost certainly a set up

Lesson learned take travellers checks in the future

be careful out there

[dtaai-maai]

Assuming it was a set-up, I wonder if the girl would have pulled it on the farang rather than the girlfriend? And although I'm not doubting the account in any way, surely the scam should be demanding a bribe not to press charges?

Hope it works out ok for your mate and his lady, blue.

[AllanH]

I must admit to not really understanding the scam. If they had swapped out a 50 they would have left it there and been happy to be 50 up, so why then involve the police to make it messy (unless they were part of the scam in which case they would want money not to press charges and want to see the back of her). Once charges brought and money recorded as bail i don't see what anyone gets out of it as if charges later dropped then bail money would have to be returned as it is so visible. Sounds a very odd story and would say stick to ATM if I was not reading about all the skimmers in play. Guess go in and withdraw from the bank counter seems the only safe way to get your own money, sad but true1

[Big Boy]

Even if it was a genuine mistake, the punishment doesn't seem to fit the crime. We've read on this forum in recent days that the truck driver who killed those 2 cyclists is likely to get a 20,000 Baht fine. Now we read 5 years imprisonment for one dodgy bank note

[kendo]

Changing up £50.00 notes take a quick picture of the serial numbers just lay the notes on top of each other and snap one quick picture simple.
Is it the money changing kiosk opposite the Kodak shop Kisikorn i think.

Kendo.

[blue05]

the police originally asked for the 100k as a bribe, give us that and you can go. it only changed to charges the next day along with it converted to bail after a Thai lady friend intervened (a pretty powerful lady in the province) and they changes were made to save face i guess

[usual suspect]

I don't like the sound of the girl checking the notes out of sight..UNDER the counter..mmm??
I got ripped-off last year by the girl in the Kasikorn kiost that sits at the entrance to the supermarket opp Sirin hotel..amazingly as soon as I realised she'd made a 'mistake' & I turned at the bottom of the steps to return to the window (literally 10 seconds later)..her booth was closed, she'd gone, & when asked, the staff in the supermarket had seen nothing of her all morning..COW!
I DO like Kendo's idea of lining-up your cash, then taking a pic of each notes serial No.s previous..laying them out in your room, doing this takes a coupla mins..you should have no real need to do such a thing, but it may well be your salvation.. T.I.T.
Any other ideas to make transactions safer..?? Please give us your thoughts/suggestions..??

[Bristolian]

I don't like the sound of the girl checking the notes out of sight..UNDER the counter..mmm??

Usually this is because they have a UV light to check notes and the UV-Light unit sits, in the darkened area under, the counter, so that they can see the security features, of the note, more easily.

[Frank Hovis]

Out of interest, were these RBS 50's or BOE 50's?
I doubt very much anyone attempting a scam would keep a counterfeit RBS 50 (just in case), BOE obviously a different matter.

[Name Taken]

Even if it was a genuine mistake, the punishment doesn't seem to fit the crime. We've read on this forum in recent days that the truck driver who killed those 2 cyclists is likely to get a 20,000 Baht fine. Now we read 5 years imprisonment for one dodgy bank note

Thailand just does not seem to really care about consistency and fairness, and that's why there is a lot of instability and chaos in Thailand.

[bonnielass]

I am so disappointed to read about this nasty incident.
Am coming to Hua Hin in April with 4 girlfriends, most of them first timers to Thailand.
I never for one moment thought I'd have to worry about this type of thing in HH.
Bangkok, I am always on my guard for scammers. Had a mobile phone stolen there last year.
Naively perhaps, I have always thought of Hua Hin as a much safer place.

Silly me.

[Name Taken]

I also think Thailand needs to have a Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) similar to the U.S. where people can go online and file a complaint against a business.
(The website would of course need to be in both Thai and English)

[Dannie Boy]

I am so disappointed to read about this nasty incident.
Am coming to Hua Hin in April with 4 girlfriends, most of them first timers to Thailand.
I never for one moment thought I'd have to worry about this type of thing in HH.
Bangkok, I am always on my guard for scammers. Had a mobile phone stolen there last year.
Naively perhaps, I have always thought of Hua Hin as a much safer place.

Silly me.

I think I can say with certainty that Hua Hin is a lot safer than Bangkok, although as we have seen here, there are still a number of people on the lookout to take advantage of farangs (tourist or residents), so a timely reminder to all of us not to be complacent. It really is no different (other than probably not as bad) than a lot of Western countries where the criminal fraternity are always on the lookout for easy prey.

[pharvey]

Do feel for your friend and his wife blue, and hope all can be resolved..... however

This type of thing and questions related to card fraud etc. has come up time and time again on the forum...

The simple answer is pre-paid cards - to be perfectly honest, I'm amazed people are still using cash exchanges and Traveler's Cheques... really opens things up for the con merchant.

Pre-paid Credit Card (Visa/MasterCard etc.) accepted at hotels, ATM's... and if someone half inches it or your PIN, all they get is what's on the card... nothing more, no access to your main bank account etc. You top up the card as and when cash is required. I use a "Caxton" card, and don't really see a big difference in commission etc. from using my UK Debit or Credit Card - safety however is increased.

[caller]

Bonnielass, a way to avoid this scam is don't use the booths, go to a bank to exchange cash.
I have a pre-paid card but I wouldn't keep all my eggs in one basket.