Scam or not?

[Zorro]

I was wondering down Soi 3 Pattaya last night about 6 after a nice oily massage when I bumped into this guy who asked me if i spoke English.

 

I replied that i was Australian but that i would do my best.

 

He was a Yank, mid forties, reasonably attired, well groomed.

 

He proceeded to tell me that late the previous evening he had his shoulder bag stolen with all his valuables and that he had just rang the states and was getting some money wired but that the money wouldn't arrive til Monday as it was the weekend etc.

He said he had reported the matter to the police but there was no US consulate in Pattaya to help him etc

He was quite convincing I must say but still i had nagging doubts about his story........

 

Before he could reach the part where inevitably he was going to ask for some money I told him that he would be whistling dixie if he expected any stranger in Pattaya to lend him any money.

At this point i had a brainstorm and told him that Western Union was the way to go as the transfer is instantaneous.

He sort of thanked me and went on his way.

 

It seems like it was a well rehearsed scam to me.

 

What do you think?

 

And finally how desperate would you have to be to try to pull this sort of rubbish?

[Nervous_Dog]

Scam

[Stickman]

He could have had the money sent by Western Union which comes through virtually right away. In such dire circumstances only an imbecile would send a bank transfer which only comes on a week day. So with this in mind, I?d say it was a scam.

 

Stick

[Redbaron]

Agree with Stick, similar thing happened to me in Bangkok and Pattaya last year.. in both cases it was the same guy!

[buffalo_bill]

Zorro,

 

I am the proud owner of a master degree in the fine art of wiring cash into the Kingdom . A transfer with Western Union or Amex Moneygram takes about 1 second processing by computer and can be immediately be withdrawn from a thousand places all over the Kingdom including Saturdays from Robinson's Department Store outlets. This story is shite.

 

BuBi

[Guest]

"similar thing happened to me in Bangkok and Pattaya last year.. in both cases it was the same guy! "

 

Funny stuff... had to give a lift a few years back to a fat midle aged south african(?) lady in BKK who said she had everything stolen... At least a year later bumped into her again and she tried to pull exactly the same scam again, not rememberibg me of course... such an exciting life she must have in BKK!

[Torneyboy]

Sounds like a scam to me ....wonder how much (if any) he gets this way

[Coss]

I have this or a variant of this scam from a Frenchman on Sukhumvit, an American in Soi Cowboy, and a German junkie with dilated pupils in Phnom Penh.

 

In each case I gave them a little something, not because they convinced me of their scam but because they had a need and I'm a soft touch.

 

Cheers

 

Coss

[Lord Toad]

 

I always find the problem with those situations is you think scam but have that nagging doubt with a "there but the grace of God go I on my first trip," thought.

Maybe he did not know about Wetern Union and/or had nobody to send it. Contact bank back home and ask for urgent funds they ain't going to WU.

[Daniele]

Same happend to me in Sukhumvit in front of Robinson. She was a french women with a child. She said her housband was in prison because, bla bla bla. She just wanted some money to pay the police in order to let him free. She maybe didn't exèct me to speak french. I told her that she had to go to the french consulate. Her answer was: "they won't do anything". Never seen her again, but I'm still looking in case ...