khwaimaisabai Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 Says MaiLuk: In Pratunam, indian guy turban and all spotted me waiting outside a shop while the gf was trying on some nice expensive piece of clothing the poor girl has no money guess i'll help her buy it. Anyway, turban man says "excuse me, excuse me sir. You have a very lucky face, it is extraordinary. You will have amazing luck, please please i must talk with you." Hi ml, I have been aproached like this a couple of times. I just walked on. Khwai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorro Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 My first trip to Thailand was in 1979 and that very same scam was tried on me. I refused to go to the guys place but did let him buy me lunch. An oldie but obviously one that has worked on some over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loner w/a boner Posted October 7, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 Makes one consider buying one of those watches with a GPS, so you can find your way home... ================= ...sigh....here goes...I have such a bad sense of direction..."How bad is it"? (from the crowd). "It's so bad..." that after standing in public with a map in hand, and STILL not knowing which direction I'm facing, I now carry a compass around my neck. Tuck it under my shirt. Now I'm the shang standing there holding a map AND compass. All I need is the flowery tropical shirt. Oh, this has NOTHING to do with my other post about doing stupid things that later appear on the Nanaplaza board by the hand of other posters. Also, before I remembered I packed my compass, I considered buying, from street vendors, one of those knives with a small compass on it. Fortunately, the one I looked at didn't work. Within seconds I remembered my compass back home. It's a good thing too. All I need is to be standing there with a map in one hand, and knife in the other, stairing down. met a similar set-up about a year ago... ================== Actually, I bet it was your post, or a similar one, that I remembered reading. Didn't bother with a "search" here. But it inspired me to write this one. I can not believe anyone could be so stupid to follow a stranger....... ====================== "And the disciples said, "Lord, increase my faith!". Thus says the Lord of Stupidity (LOS), "Truly, truly, I say unto you..."...When I was 17, I was living with my gf and a guy roommate that I worked with. The stupidity of leaving those two alone together is another story. Anyway, it was my turn to make the beer run. I went to the liquor store where, outside, I was approached by a much older black man, and a woman. He opened up a jewelry box with a beautiful gold-colored (at the time) ring. It even had a little brochure talking about its quality. He asked for a "long-forgotten" amount, but I didn't have that much on me. DAMN! It was a good looking ring. So, without asking him to accept what I had on hand, I had them follow me home to my apartment (yep, to my safehaven), where I got the rest of the money he asked for. Talk about not listening to your inner voice! Back in those days my inner voice sounded amazingly like Tommy Chong. Anyway, the ring eventually changed color--to green. Wow, it didn't even mention that in the brochure. It must have been a mood ring, 'coz when it changed color, my mood changed too. But my hindsight is almost 20/20, and although I don't tell this story often, I did use it as a motivating factor to learn more about scams. btw, you a little whacked? ==================== Please see above. Fiery Jack, I think it would be fun to hit the town with you. With the two of us together, there's no telling what would happen. As long as I woke up with my pants on... Later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 Hi Ummm good story. No way i would go with people that way :: Nice story however and are still here to tell it :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UAL875 Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 Loner ? thank you for a good story. I enjoyed it. Actually I appreciate the recent resurgence of stories on the Board. Lots of good contributions and different writing styles ? keep ?em coming guys. I, too, had a similar experience albeit not in Bangkok (sorry Loner but I am going to piggyback onto your thread). A few years back, my ex-fiance and I were riding a train to the Moroccan city Fez. About an hour outside of Fez we pull into a local yokel town and after a short stop find Mohammed sitting next to us. To protect the innocent I will use Mohammed?s real name simply because 90% of the males I met in Morocco were named ? you guessed it ? Mohammed. Anyway I was either reading or playing Gameboy as I am apt to do when traveling but my ex (operative word: ?ex?) found it necessary to continue the small talk Mohammed was making. Well, when Mohammed found out we were from the States he absolutely needed to spend more time with us. After all, he was a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, a teacher of math, and had family that just loved to meet Americans. So my ex, in her infinite wisdom that only a female raised in suburban-mall America could possess, sets up a time later for us to meet Mohammed. I, on the other hand, was clever enough to give him a different hotel name when he inquired where we were staying. Fortunately my ex went along with that and did not correct me. So 6PM rolls along and we are supposed to meet Mohammed. And my ex is getting all antsy telling me to hurry up. I tell her that I really do not want to meet someone I just met on a train and would rather just do the tourist thing since we were in Africa and all that jazz. But you know the spoiled brat suburban girl. Tantrum city, ?you?re an asshole?, ?you know nothing?, blah blah fucking blah... So we go meet our new friend and, sure enough, in a Moroccan minute we find ourselves in a taxi going God-Knows-Where, the majority of the time Mohammed pitching a carpet for us to buy. Hmmm I even think I saw the light bulb of clarity flicker in my ex?s eyes once or twice. ?No Mohammed, we do not need a rug, we are simple tourists curious about this town. If we see something interesting we will buy it?but we are not in the market for anything specific?? like a rug. Now we are sitting in a butcher-cum-restaurant establishment and I go along and eat whatever crap is slung my way including lamb brains. All the while Mohammed is excitingly telling us how after dinner we are going to his brother?s home a couple of hours away by car. We can spend the night. He loves hosting Americans. And I even notice my ex start to nervously fidget. Dinner is over and a car pulls up in front of the shop. Mohammed?s ?brother? has arrived. I forget if this dude?s name was Mohammed as well ? but most likely it was. So I pay the bill and execute MY plan. (up to that juncture my ex had done about 75% of the talking). We walk to the curb but rather than hop into this swanky-looking car (mind you, we were in the back streets of Fez where luxury cars were a big-time premium ? shit, at least a fifth of the vehicular traffic around Fez was donkey cart!) I stepped up to the plate. Firmly shaking Mohammed?s hand I say, ?thank you Mohammed for the interesting dinner. You know, I am from New York where we are taught not to go anywhere with strangers and you, technically, are still a stranger to us. So although I think your offer is made with a lot of kindness and generosity, my ex and I are getting into this taxi and going to our hotel. It was a pleasure meeting you.? I then proceeded to grab (VERY hard, by the wrist) my ex and throw us both in a taxi before Mohammed could react. The last I remember was him yelling out to us if he could be our tour guide. I then gave my ex an earful that her daddy and mommy should have given her as a child but never did and hence the dysfunctional nature of that fucked-up family (separate story). When I was talking with some other travelers later on and explained what transpired, they replied that it was common for guys like Mohammed to hop on the train one station outside of a main city and latch onto tourists pretending to be a friend but really just trying to sell you something or be a guide or, in drastic cases, committing some sort of crime like driving victims out to a place an hour or so away and stranding them after stealing their money and credit cards? I don?t know what the moral to any of these stories is except that scams could happen to anyone and to never let your guard down. Thanks again Loner for sharing your tale. It reminded me so much of my experience. Glad we both pulled out safely. At least you got to see some nice titties! I fucking had to eat lamb organs and other repulsive shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp1 Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 UAL, thanks for sharing this story with us. I think you made the right decision. Be it Mohammed, Ali or whoever. They're all after our money. Btw - enjoy your upcoming trip to the LoS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loner w/a boner Posted October 7, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 Says torneyboy: Hi Ummm good story. No way i would go with people that way :: Nice story however and are still here to tell it :: I don't plan on repeating it. Anything could have happened. May have been a little too bored for my own good. Later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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