Neo

Heh, that reminds me of a similar scam. You go to one of those nice pick out your own live seafood in the tanks restaurants, then head to your table while they cook them up. That's when they throw your selections back in the tanks and substitute them with some lower grade dead stuff or skim your quantity. Som nom na?

Maybe this will be enlightening to some to see the bangkok post and this journalist apparently do not feel pressured to not write about this. Sort of debunks some of the theories about who is involved in the scam and the life threatening consequences of acting against them.

Stan, glad to have your input since I was thinking it was just me. We'll see how smug they are when they are the fool everyone is laughing at. Throw in the expats who gloat, cheer and ridicule those whose visa strategy just got axed (happens on another message board).

You guys swapping war stories about farangs getting killed by mafia wouldn't actually happen to have any news story links to support them would you? Right, thought not. Fact is the guy has won decisively. His pictures continue to stay on the net for the world to see and the scammers, every single one of them, is fully aware of it. Despite knowing exactly who he is, what he is doing, and having the perfect opportunity confronting him, nothing happened. They were not able to punish him one bit. No smashed camera, no kicking, nothing. The police even got a good laugh as they didn't do anything to him and no crime was committed. Chalk one up for the farang.

I read stick's column and it seems clubsiam now has the mafia guys by the balls. Unwittingly, his recognition by them has now swung the balance in his favor. He can press his advantage if he wants to; his move now. Unrelated tangent, I was apalled the same article stated: "Cowboy seems to attract those who are more budget conscious" WTF? Name one gogo bar outside of Cowboy that charges 140 baht for a drink. Name one gogo outside Cowboy that charges 700 for a barfine. Is there any? Patpong is easily the best gogo area for the budget minded. And Nana less than Cowboy. Cowboy led the charge in 2007 price hikes, even though it was already the most expensive. I have no clue what planet the person who wrote that statement is from. In patpong, THE BEST gogo's charge 100 for a drink. In Cowboy, if you stick to the WORST gogo's you will have trouble finding that price.

Just because something is out in the open doesn't necessarily mean it is part of a larger conspiracy to fleece tourists. My farang beggar example should be ample evidence of this. I am waiting for someone to say he is a plant and on the TAT payroll so I can get a good laugh.

You could say they are not doing enough, but I don't think that necessarily implicates TAT or the tourist police. Take for instance the farang begger who is at it day after day, year after year by the sky train making a killing scamming well intentioned tourists and even Thai's thinking they are helping him get a plane ticket home. Surely no one is going to make a conspiracy theory that TAT & the tourist police are behind that. That's just one example. As someone mentioned, allowing the gang of Thai's to tell everyone the palace is closed so they can get them on their tuk tuk is one of the most apalling of them all. It ruins a lot of people's day, and should they later learn it is a scam, casts a negative impression on the country that such a sacred place is allowed to be disrespected like that.

It is completely unrealistic to expect all 15 million tourists every single year to read ahead of time whatever scrap of paper you wish to flash in front of us. Plus, any of us could add scams that are not on that list that people would have no idea about. There is just no doubt that scams start the minute you walk off the plane with the "official" limo people. The scams obviously work effectively or they wouldn't be there. Ultimately this is bad for Thailand as victims return home and tell people how Thailand is the land of ripoffs which will hurt tourism. They themsleves and others will be less likely to go. Those that do go will be more guarded and spend less than they might because they fear genuine offers might be scams. And everyone has less fun having to deal with and guard against con artists, pick pocketers, and the like lurking at every place you go to enjoy your stay.

Exactly. Has the agent returned the money to the tenants? Gee let's take a wild guess, no? So if the owner wouldn't take the money where did it go? If anything, the tenants should direct their anger at the agent who pocketed all their money for the last 3 months. The owner communicated crystal clear to the tenants that it was over by not renewing the lease, refusing their rent money, and erecting the sign. Let's face it, if someone parked a food cart on your front lawn and you told them repeatedly to get off for 3 months and they didn't, eventually the cart might end up getting tipped over on the street one night. This is just a bigger lawn we are talking about.

The article says the leases had expired and the tenants were given 3 months notice. I agree, see below. The razing was designed so no one got hurt and no one did. It was the right choice to get rid of all the stuff that was illegally on the owners land at 4am when no one was there.

From what I know of these situations, I side with the razings that go on. The tenants act like they are the land owners. When they are told to leave, they refuse. It's not their land, yet they act like it is and then act like it's a big shock when they get evicted and that it is so unfair. I don't have any sympathy and I applaud the owners for giving ample warning, then handling these issue in a quick, non-violent way.