Continuing our series, today I will be touching on scams to avoid when backpacking Thailand. For the most part Thais are known for colluding against you more than they are for scamming you, but we’ll touch on that later.
#1 – The gem scam in Bangkok
Given this blog is written for backpackers, I am not going to spend much time on this one. I don’t know any backpackers who are interested in rare gems nor have the money for them. With that said, the scam goes like this: someone offers you “rare” gems for an unbelievably low price, saying they got them from a relative or God knows where. They then tell you you can take them back home and sell them for a big profit. Well, in most cases, when you get home they turn out to be fake, meaning your profit is now a loss. Long story short: avoid rocks (in all senses of the word, unless there’s a cute guy offering you diamonds, in which case you should take them).
#2 – The Bangkok tuk-tuk scam
This one isn’t so much a scam as it is a time-waster. A lot of vendors in Bangkok offer tuk-tuk drivers gas (petrol) vouchers if they bring people into their store. In some cases, the tuk-tuk driver will offer you a super discounted rate but tell you that you have to make a stop somewhere. In one case, we had a guy show us a laminated card that said “I get free petrol vouchers when you look in this man’s store. Just pretend you are interested for 5-10 minutes, but you don’t have to buy anything.” Unless you have 20-30 minutes to spare for the sake of saving $2-3, don’t waste your time. Then again, if you want an authentic Thai experience, $2-3 buys you like 2 beers.
#3 – Super nice people on the streets that “know” travel agents
I fell for this my first few hours in Bangkok. Met a guy on the street, let him chat me up, he asked about my onward travel plans and proceeded to tell me he was a travel agent and that we could go to his office to look at prices. I went along with it emphasizing that I wasn’t going to buy anything. When we got there, he simply stood outside while I went into a full-blown travel office. Luckily they couldn’t help me with what I was looking for, which meant the guy didn’t get any commission. He was nice enough to take me back to where he picked me up though, so no big loss.
#4 – Mission Medical Center on Koh San Road
Reading this guy’s story made me hurt. The place is located right on Koh San Road, which means at any given moment there are more backpackers in one place than all of Europe combined. Anyways, being on KSR also means it’s extremely convenient when unassuming foreigners need medical attention. Don’t fall for it. They will overcharge you for your check-up and any prescriptions they give you, by as much as 1800%. Yes you read that right, this guy paid 2,800 bhat for a prescription that costs 150 bhat across the street at the pharmacy. He should have known NOTHING costs 2800 bhat in Thailand, but that’s his fault. And his fail is your gain.
#5 – Taxi drivers on Koh San Road
This isn’t so much a scam as it is a complete rip-off. Long story short, when you spend time on KSR, you immediately identify yourself as a stupid tourist. When you walk out of a club drunk at night (or in the morning), you become a drunk stupid tourist. Taxi drivers try to take advantage of this. I had multiple guys tell me they wanted 200 bhat to go 8km to my hostel. So I walked 50 meters off Koh San Road, hired a driver who was driving, versus standing outside his car, had him use the meter, and paid 70 plus a 10 bhat tip since I had just avoided getting scammed. NEVER use the taxi guys standing around on KSR, they are predators, vulture-like predators, to be avoided at all costs (unless someone in your group is so drunk they can’t walk 50m to a cheap taxi, then they’re your only option).
Make sure to check out Part II as we touch on some of the more specific, expensive and potentially dangerous scams that occur in South Thailand.
And if you’ll be backpacking Thailand soon, make sure to check out our Southeast Asia Savings eBook. It could save you over $300, and we offer a 100% money back guarantee!
Good advice. Especially the one about not getting a taxi from KSR. If a taxi is parked by KSR at night, he will rip you off. Walk 50 meters, hail taxi that is driving by, and get him to use the meter. Save a lot of money!
Amen!
Nice tips & I couldn’t agree more with you.
I was in Bangkok a couple of months ago and totally forgot how unpleasant the tuk-tuk (&taxi) drivers can be…
Wish I had read this before, but it was fun taking on SOME of these on my own. Others seem painful and terrible. I heard about the gem scam as well, but never saw it in action. The tuk tuk scan is legendary though. We wanted to ride a tuk tuk, but we knew the scam was inevitable. So we just waited for a day when we had no place to be. We were blunt with the driver, so he was blunt with us. He just said, “Alright guys can you just spend like 5 minutes in this tailor shop and act interested.” I ruined those 5 minutes by making a mockery of the situation. He brought my boyfriend, a friend (girl) and I to a tailor shop en route to our guest house. My boyfriend walked in first and they bombarded him. “You want suit, we have nice suits.” That left my friend and I to look around. One man spotted us and started asking us to buy things for our boyfriends. I was said, “My boyfriend is right there so he can buy what he wants.” Then he looked at my friend and said, “What about you? A tie, for your boyfriend at home.” I said, “My boyfriend is her boyfriend as well. We share!” I’m not sure why this bothered them so much but instantly we were all being kicked out of the store. Good trick.