Have you ever felt that the people who fall for the typical scam (email scams, lottery scams etc.) are just stupid and ignorant, and deserve whatever they got for just being too trusting?
I felt exactly the same way, until my family fell for one of the most elaborate scams I've ever encountered, and it was an experience I just had to share.
My family was on holiday in Bangkok recently, and as most people know, there are scams that occur there, and are widely known if you know to research about them online before traveling there. My brother has been working in Bangkok for a good 3 months now, and even that wasn't enough to prepare us for what happened.
We were walking along the Langsuan road where our hotel was located, toward Central Worldfor shopping, when we were stopped by what we thought was a kindly man, who claimed he was a teacher at a nearby school. He suggested we visit the Lucky Buddha, which was only open once a year, and we were lucky enough to be around as it opens only for Chinese New Year. He offered to draw us a map there, but said if we would like to take a tuk tuk, he could negotiate a good rate for us, as most tuk tuks will overcharge for foreigners.
It just so happened that a tuk tuk drove past, which this man flagged down, and negotiated a 40baht return rate for us. We thought, ok what the heck, visiting a temple isn't going to cost us anything, and we ARE on holiday, what's the harm, since this kindly old man already took the trouble to negotiate a reasonable fare for us.
The tuk tuk took us to a really small, not impressive at all temple near a market, where we were met by a man with excellent English, who claimed to be a caretaker for the temple. The only thing strange we thought, was that his English had a Philipino accent. He explained all about the temple, including a brief explanation of how it was a feng shui temple, and one of the idols has a red stone on the forehead, which they call a Buddha's heart, as the highest form of feng shui is the balance of the self. My brother wanted to burn incense there, however for some strange reason he told us not to, as they were cleaning the carpet for a celebration there at night.
My dad casually mentioned, that there seemed to be very few people at the temple, for one that was open only once a year.
The supposed "caretaker" said the temple was open all year around, and it was the pagoda at the side which was only open to the public once a year. He led us there - it was very small and even less impressive. He asked us to go up the stairs, to a place of meditation.
Upon climbing the stairs, we were met by a startled man, who eventually warmed up, passed us a business card, and mentioned that he was a Singaporean here for the festival for the day, and that he was a successful businessman who won the contract to construct the infinity pool at Marina Sands Hotel, where his father won the contract for Suntec city. He mentioned that he comes here every year, as all those buildings contained the feng shui stones, and helped with his business. However, what was strange, was this "Singaporean" had a Philipino accent as well. He said we should have come earlier, as at 6am many successful Asian businessmen were here, as many as 5,000, including Lilian Too, which was his "friend". He then asked us to visit another building next to the temple, while he excused himself to answer a call. He talked loudly into the phone about flying back to Singapore that night, and about some other business deals that he would close upon reaching back home.
Upon exiting the pagoda, we were ushered into another building by the caretaker, where we were met by yet another startled man, this time dressed in a suit. This time, he was definitely Thai, based on his accent. He explained that he was there to teach the monks to pray, as commissioned by the king. He also said he was a lawyer, and was working for the department of international trade. He talked to us for about an hour, mentioning that his wife works for Thai airways, and how he had to travel often to China as they were opening the biggest shopping mall in Asia in Thailand and had to facilitate that project. He also mentioned that his mother couldn't walk, and his wife had encouraged him to buy some Buddha's Heart gems to help her. He mentioned he didn't believe in this kind of thing, however he bought it and his mother miraculously could walk again, and the doctors couldn't give an explanation on how that was possible. He said his son was always sick as well, and that after giving him a Buddha's Heart gem, he got better.
He also read our palms, telling us some pretty accurate things about our lives, and giving us some advice. He said he learnt palmistry and face reading from a master in China, and had decided to use his knowledge to help people. He said that my father was prone to black magic, and had bad blood, and should wear a Buddha's Heart pendant to help him. He mentioned that my brother and I were prone to spending, and should wear Buddha's Heart ring to block the money from flowing out. This prompted my brother to ask where to buy this Buddha's Heart; the man's reply? It's really rare and hard to obtain. He said the Thai people treasure it too much and the mine from which it was mined from closed down due to too many accidents. He said that if you brought the gem to China town, the vendors there would want to buy it off us. However, due to Chinese New Year, a jewelry shop that carries it, which isn't open to public as they only export their wares, was open and if we were intrested, he could write the address for us.
He did, and we went there, a place called E-centre, where the same tuk tuk driver took us. Mind you, the tuk tuk driver had waited for us for a good hour and a half, and was all smiles and asked us to take our time.
Once we reached E-center, we were met by a lady who asked how she could help. We told her we were looking for Buddha's Heart, and she mentioned that the proper name for it was orange sapphire, and she would take us to see some. Her English was excellent, and she said she had been working in this line for 40 plus years. After seeing a whole range of stones and jewelry, we actually settled for some - 1 piece for each of our family members, amounting to roughly RM9,000. The nice lady even said that due to the Chinese New Year holiday, they were having this promotion where they would let us use their van and driver to take us wherever we wanted to go for a whole day, which we accepted kindly and arranged for the next day. As most of the jewelry we wanted was either custom made, or had to be modified, we paid and left, as they would deliver it to our hotel.
The tuk tuk driver casually mentioned that if we wanted to eat, he could take us to a restaurant with good Chinese food, which I promptly objected to, as I personally had read up on seafood restaurant scams which tuk tuk drivers were in on. We requested that he take us back to where he picked us up from. Since this tuk tuk driver was really friendly and could speak good English, my brother wanted to take his phone number and call him again if he needed him. Usually tuk tuk drivers would jump at the opportunity, but this one was absolutely fearful. He was very reluctant, and said that the next two days he was taking his son on holiday outside Bangkok, but in the end he relented and gave my brother his number anyway.
Once we were back at the hotel, we decided to google Buddha's Heart, and to our horror, the only results we found were those saying that this was part of a gem scam. The modus operandi mentioned by many of the people who fell for the same scam was similar, if not identical. It was mentioned that this was all a ploy for jewelry stored to sell more of their wares, and the supposed Buddha's Heart gem was really just an orange sapphire.
Outraged, we sought to get a refund, and to all those who actually fell for this scam too, all hope is not lost, as we managed to get 100% of our money back, and I'll explain how.
My brother called the tourist police the next day, and they requested for him to make a report at their station located at the Ministry of Sports and Tourism. Once my brother reached there, the police called up E-center, and mentioned that we wanted a refund. They said that we could only get 90% of the money back, the remaining 10% they would keep for credit card charges and workmanship done. My brother refused to those terms, and the people from E-center went to the police station to pick him up back to their place for further discussions.
They put him in a meeting room and asked him to wait for their manager. After waiting for a few minutes, my brother decided to walk into their showroom and demand to see their manager. Since there were a few customers there, they were quick to respond so as not to cause a scene or attract too much attention, and the manager promptly went to see him.
They once again offered a 90% refund, of which my brother said he wanted PROOF that the credit card charges and the supposed "work done" if any, was really 10% of the cost. The manager then said he would refund 95%, to which my brother outright refused and asked for the full amount back. And with that, that was all agreed. They cancelled the charge to his card, and we left with a good lesson learnt.
Why I said this was the most elaborate scam we've fallen for, was that at no point were we actually forced to purchase the gems - it was our decision based on the information or half truths provided to us by a series of people we met that day. That in itself (the offer of information) is not criminal, and is also one of the reasons the Thai police cannot stop these syndicates or arrest them.
The only thing that can be done, is to spread the word of these scams in hopes that people wouldn't fall for them anymore, or if they unfortunately did, they would be able to get their money back if they wish to. Incidentally, 2 days later we visited the Grand Palace, and who should we meet there but the same tuk tuk driver which claimed he was on holiday with his son, picking up some me unsuspecting customers!
