Thread: Phuket Scam Rips Off Tourists Straight After Airport Arrival

The best advice is to

avoid phuket, and samui altogether because they are run and controlled by thieving toerags whose only aim is to deceive, extort and steal from tourists.

Originally Posted by taxexile

The best advice is to

avoid phuket, and samui altogether because they are run and controlled by thieving toerags whose only aim is to deceive, extort and steal from tourists.

This all might be true.
Yet, the stories, rumours, realities, and caveates don't make a dent.
These locales and destinations are even more popular than ever before.

The nature of criminal activity will always exist.

sorry, this is pretty normal...

tourist booth at the airport, assigning you the most expensive thing (and probably the best provision for them) you tell them to afford...
thats in many countries...

and taxi drivers, that dont know the way... and then you get off where they drop you?
oh my... how stupid must one be?

if he doesnt know then you tell him to go back... as you have told him right away where to go, havent you?
they all can ask colleagues and make phone calls...

idiot travellers...

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Controlling the behavior of mini-vans and taxis at Phuket International Airport is the responsibility of the managers, Airports of Thailand.

No chance of anything changing in the near future then.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

The lesson for arriving tourists on Phuket is clear: be prepared to be ripped off from the moment you land on Phuket.

You cant make clearer than that.

Comes around, perhaps.

I'm in favour of returning the likes of Phuket, Samui, etc to what they might have been 100 years ago.

Vacant of tourist, touts, criminals, flim-flams, etc.
Fcuk 'em all.
They deserve each other.

the only people complaining about such things are those, pseudolus wants to have hear solely.. get picked up by their wives at the airport and dont have to hassle with anything on their own... but wait, its them that do know the place...

As soon as you clear customs and walk out into the arrival concourse in any international airport on this planet you run the risk of being scammed.

Best you plan your accommodation, do some homework about where you need to go to pick up legit on-going transportation, and do not talk to any fvcker about alternatives as you leave the airport.

only newbies go that hell hole of chiseling batsards ,they should torch the entire place to cleanse the stinking dump of shite

I`ve only ever taken a mini-bus from the airport,once!
Airport to Karon beach took 4 hours,I was the last one dropped off,the evening I arrived.
Never took a minibus again!

Originally Posted by taxexile

The best advice is to

avoid phuket, and samui altogether because they are run and controlled by thieving toerags whose only aim is to deceive, extort and steal from tourists.

The best advice is to

Use common sense.

these are the 'official' taxi service providers at the airport, with booth set up. I make sure when I go to them for a ride that they agree to NO stops on the way to the hotel. I have the name of the hotel and soi it is on, and make sure they will take me right there.

the one or two times they have tried this with me, I have refused to get out of the car at the stop (usually the driver jumps out quick) and told them to just bring me where I asked them to. never a problem once they realize you arent some gullible idiot....

Phuket has introduced a taxi complaint line 1584. When you call it you get a giggling moron who hasn't a clue about speaking English in a manner that is comprehensible. When you get transferred to someone who does speak English, slightly better he has no idea what you mean when you ask for a complaint number to follow up with
Just more Thai lies., never met such liars. No concept of honesty or integrity.

Just more Thai lies., never met such liars. No concept of honesty or integrity.

A friend wanted to include Ethics in his university course but there is no word in Thai for ethics!

Q.E.D.

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

As soon as you clear customs and walk out into the arrival concourse in any international airport on this planet you run the risk of being scammed.

.

Never found this to be true in Singapore, Hong kong, or even London. I don't buy the 'this sort of thing can happen anywhere' to excuse Thai scams, thefts and murders.

Not much of a scam this.
Sounds more like shitty sales approach to me!

Took the wife to Samui a few years back had a great time.

If you got something booked and surely paid for for me anyway its a done deal.Who stands their listening to some prick trying to sell you something better!.

Must be people who think yes the grass is greener over their,lets put me hand back in the wallet.

the guys in the taxi (almost all, after arrival) tell you they know a good place etc etc... they will say you can have a look, all free, if you dont like .... and so on... the place is usually half the price you are expected to pay at the destination you want to go to...

the tourists in the article certainly could have been brought to their hotels that night... if they had insisted... they could have also checked out the next morning and moved on...

they didnt.... so, the place was acceptable and much cheaper... and they might have well considered with this the deposit they might loose...

thats life - for guesthouse owners...
i think its unavoidable, that taxi drivers get bribed for bringing in guests... its everywhere so in the world...

what happens is all up to the tourist...

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

As soon as you clear customs and walk out into the arrival concourse in any international airport on this planet you run the risk of being scammed.

Best you plan your accommodation, do some homework about where you need to go to pick up legit on-going transportation, and do not talk to any fvcker about alternatives as you leave the airport.

I have been thru Singapore , Aust and NZ many hundreds of times, never been scammed one time, maybe I'm just lucky.

its normal in asia and middle eastern countries...

in sgp, aus, ngz not many backpackers arrive without bookings etc...
as there are just not that many cheap guesthouses...
its because the places are different in their "infrastructure"...
if they were the same, then it would also happen in nz, aus, sgp...

and i know, that there are arrangements with taxi drivers and hotels (not the big ones) in european countries as well...

why do you think, when on an european bus travel tour, the bus driver stops at certain shops, or rest places?
they in general get meals for free, and some gifts...
if they regularly do the tour, they might have arrangements with shop owners etc as well...

its particularly american tourists that pay off very well...

I discussed this with my wife and in particular the recent prograam, "scammed in thailand" she refuses to believe it. She says its a some whitey plot to make Thai's look bad.
But then even for a Thai, she's fairly stupid.

I may well strike a discordant here but I don't quite understand what the problem is.

If one pre - books accommodation and with a modicum of research on the internet locates the geography of the place then surely it's a simple matter of arriving and taking a taxi. If the driver claims not to know where it is then find one who does - if a premium fare is demanded to refresh the memory then so be it, it's not going to break the bank, is it? Presumably, the accommodation has a telephone and if confusion arises then make the call and pass to the driver.

When I go to unfamiliar places and wish to stay in more economical hotels but will arrive rather late in the day I always book my first 2 nights in a 5 star gaff during which time I can get a proper feel of the place and then book into a hotel which meets all my requirements. With a bit of forethought one can also arrange to be met by the hotel transport.

The problem lies I suppose in tourists not being prepared for the quite disgraceful antics of the lower end Thai monkeys. Still, experience is the best tutor although it can be expensive in the short term and may leave a sour taste. Of course, as we all know the lower end here in Phuket and most other resorts elsewhere in Thailand have no interest in the well being of their long term economies and are only interested in how much can be gouged while they are protected by the local mafia.

Nevertheless, with the internet as it is these days there is no excuse for anyone to be ignorant of what may lie in store when they arrive here in the Land of Deceit.

Originally Posted by peterpan

I have been thru Singapore , Aust and NZ many hundreds of times, never been scammed one time, maybe I'm just lucky.

Not lucky at all mate moreover pretty familiar with the surroundings as well as directions to services are in English.

Airports around the world represent opportunities for shady people due to the fact many people are disorientated, confused and tired upon arrival and my message only was to do some homework before you visit somewhere planning especially your first day.

Airports around the world represent opportunities for shady people due to the fact many people are disorientated, confused and tired upon arrival

.... which is why countries that really value their visitors, and wish to offer them a genuine welcome, will do as much as possible to ensure that the first impressions a visitor receives and the first interactions he engages in on foreign soil will be devoid of scams, cheats and liars. this is done by enforcing laws, and strictly controlling airports etc. thats why it rarely happens in singapore, hong kong and most western countries, yet happens a lot in african and the asian fleapits.

the authorities could end it all in a heartbeat if they wanted to, but the fact is they dont give a shit. tourism here is not about visitor satisfaction, its purely about visitor numbers and the gross take, mix in vested interests, criminal territoriality and a corrupt police force and it can be a hard and expensive lesson for tourists who have been suckered into coming here by the saccharine and superficial promotion of this country by businesses and government.

only when their scams are exposed abroad do they take any notice, and thats only a show for public consumption and its soon back to normal.

Originally Posted by peterpan

I discussed this with my wife and in particular the recent prograam, "scammed in thailand" she refuses to believe it. She says its a some whitey plot to make Thai's look bad.
But then even for a Thai, she's fairly stupid.

Has your wife been out of Thailand for any appreciable length of time? Generally, when they're given a decent airing in a civilised country, or even to a neighboring state, the scales fall away fairly quickly and they realise just what a fucked up, shambolic piece of real estate Thailand truly is.

My wife had been to Europe before I met her but she had not actually visited another Asian country. I took her to Hong Kong and her surprise upon seeing how a proper Asian state was run was almost palpable. The novelty that really tickled her were the pedestrian crossings which were governed not only by lights but by a bell which I explained was for the benefit of the blind. That all traffic, including cyclists motor driven or otherwise, obeyed the injunction to stop was one thing but the fact that they were Asians acting in a disciplined manner was what truly shocked her. The Thai indocrination that passes for national consciousness had not prepared her for the realisation that Thailand was actually quite crap. This theme was further reinforced when we travelled by buses that were clean, modern, double deckers which were driven at a speed and competence suggesting the driver was not a drug addled simpleton in the last throes of sleep deprivation as most Thai bus drivers seem to be. Pavements constructed alongside all carriageways were also a novelty as indeed was the fact that they were invariably level and continuous, a feat of engineering so far eluding the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority.

But the real kicker was that after 4 days she enjoyed a trip in which there had been no dual pricing, no scams, no rude taxi drivers, no litter strewn and rat infested streets and where the police patrolled their patch on foot in pairs and engaged the local community as equals.

Of course, I explained that the place was a former British colony founded on sound civilised principles. Subsequent visits to Malaysia and Singapore have reinforced her education to the point that she shares my belief that if Thailand had been colonised it would be a far, far better place than it is now.

Really, it comes down to education and in the case of the Thai, travel certainly broadens the mind.