Bangkok Airport Police Target Westerners In Frightening 'Zig-Zag' Scams
Don't touch that duty-free bottle of scotch just yet; you better intend to buy it lest airport security at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport catch you browsing and nab you for shoplifting. This is what happend to two UK travelers, who, shopping at the airport before their flight back to London, were hauled in by airport police and held in the jail until they withdrew and handed over ฃ7,500 (approx $12,250) to clear their charges of stealing a wallet.
The details of their ordeal are the stuff of travel nightmares, as the couple, speaking to the BBC, said they were kept in "a hot, humid, smelly cell with graffiti and blood on the walls" with their passports taken away from them. After they withdrew all they could on one day for "bail," handed over to sketch interpreter working with the police, the couple was allowed to sleep in a motel while the police threatened to imprison them in the "infamous Bangkok Hilton prison" should they get any ideas.
Well, the couple managed to escape to an embassy, where they were told that they had been caught up in a typical scam at the Bangkok Airport: the "Zig-Zag," involving falsely charging Western tourists with crimes in order to bleed them of money. Still, their choices were now to either finish paying the money or stay and fight the charge, with possible jail time hanging over their heads. Of course they chose to pay, and returned to Britain later, missing a family funeral.
To fully understand the madness of this scam, we recommend reading the whole BBC story and definitely, definitely keeping your hands to yourself if you really must ever travel through BKK.
Related Stories:
· Tourists warned of Thailand airport scam [BBC]
· 'Zig-zag' scam ensnared western fliers at Bangkok airport [Today In The Sky]
· Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport Shut Down By Protesters [Jaunted]
· Airport Hell Coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: mckaysavage]
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