Zorro visits Pattaya Police Station

[Zorro]

With all the talk of crime and violence in Thailand I had an interesting experience last night.

 

I was wandering down second road after a few games of pool in Tims Bar at about 11pm when i came across a very distraught farang.

 

This guy was screaming and carrying on.

 

As it turned out he had been approached by what he thought were two ladies( katoeys) who went to hug him and in doing so managed to seperate him and his wallet.

 

In his wallet he had 1300 USD and 300 euros plus 4 credit cards. The thieves hit the jackpot here as he also had the pin numbers written down. This guy had just gotten off some sort of ship and had only been in Pattaya a few hours.

 

Myself and my lady friend took him down to the police station where my lady friend helped him write a police report.

We also had to pay the 20 baht for the police report as he didn' t have a brass razoo.

 

What was sad was this guy swore he would never come to Thailand again and was obviously extremely bitter over the whole episode.

 

The Police themselves were very patient and polite.

They said that this was happening every day and more than once a day.

 

There is no doubt this guy was stupid.

Why would you carry so much money around?

Why wouldn't you leave everything in the hotel safe?

Most of the regulars know this but unfortunately there are lots of newbies coming everyday to Thailand who are not aware of these sort of things.

[rickfarang]

Even after having all his money stolen, they demanded 20 baht for the police report. It may be SOP to charge a fee for a police report, but this is the fist I've heard of it, and it probably made the poor victim feel like he was being victimized by the police as well as his original asailants.

 

So many stores of guys having a girl on Bangkok snuggle up close to him on a seelor or on the street, only to realize his wallet is missing.

 

BTW, thanks for the new term: "brass razoo."

[rookie]

...'There is no doubt this guy was stupid....this guy swore he would never come to Thailand again '

 

Fine by me...there's already enough foolish farangs here. Would that guy also walk around his home town, in a strange area, and carry that amount of money. I don't think so, if he had any sense! And to carry credit cards with the PIN number wrtten on them....whew...maybe he has had what will be a very expensive lesson!!

[chelseafan]

Feel sorry for the guy. Although a stupid idea, I can undertand why he wrote his PINS down. Modern life means that we have to remember internet passwords, pin numbers for several cards, work passwords, keycodes and a whole host of others, its easy to forget some of them.

[SoiledCowboy]

That was very decent of you to take this man to the local coppers...there is a plethora of gullible charlies that do not do enough, or can't be bothered at all, to do basic research into just where they are staying and what they might encounter...I'll hold myself back from saying what a goose he is...katoeys are natures way of inflicting costly damage upon those that aren't too bright!

[kamui]

Zorro,

did you ask the guy, if he ever traveled abroad before?

 

He seems to be absolutely clueless about the most basic security measures for any tourist.

 

I am mean doing this in any country (except Japan and very few other countries), especially in the big cities, would be absolutely stupid. Tourists are _everywhere_ in the world a prime target for pickpockets.

[addo]

Lads just another thought insurance. But hay you never know

[Flashermac]

Back in the late 1980s, when the yen was so high, the Japanese were the favourite target of pickpockets and other thieves. The reason was they did carry so much on them. The newspapers carried almost daily reports on Japanese being robbed.

 

I remember the report of a Japanese tourist who had her handbag snatched on Sukhumwit by a perp on a motorcycle. The victim said the handbag contained US$10,000 in cash, about 600,000 baht, plus a sizeable amount of yen as well. For that kind of money, I might become a purse snatcher too! ::

[Zorro]

kamui said:

Zorro,

did you ask the guy, if he ever traveled abroad before?

 

He seems to be absolutely clueless about the most basic security measures for any tourist.

 

I am mean doing this in any country (except Japan and very few other countries), especially in the big cities, would be absolutely stupid. Tourists are _everywhere_ in the world a prime target for pickpockets.

 

They guy had been to Pattaya 4 years previously and he was a merchant seamen so he is doing a lot of travelling.

 

He was berating himself for being so stupid and you have to say he was stupid to carry that money around and all his card and pin numbers etc.

Still you had to feel sorry for the guy he was wandering around in a complete manic state.

 

My Thai lady was very helpful doing all the translation at the station and showed that Thais can and do get involved sometimes.

 

As for insurance he didn't seem to know what i was talking about when i mentioned travel insurance.

 

He did use my phone to ring his sister to cancel his credit cards.

 

We all let our guard down from time to time.

Most of us get awaty with it but unluckily for him he had paid the price for his lack of vigilance.

[soongmak]

Lads just another thought insurance. But hay you never know

Insurance covers a lot, but stupidity is not one of them. Usually they only cover up to a few hunderd dollars/euro in cash, but certainly not 1,600 dollars. Nevermind the party they can throw using his pin numbers to max out his credit cards.