Chicanery in Bangkok: Tourists Falsely Accused of Shoplifting at Duty Free Stores
Most travelers accept that low-level graft, bribery, and off-the-books transactions are an unavoidable part of visiting certain foreign countries. Sure, the security guard in Zambia might suggest you give him a few kwacha to "buy a beer" if you want to gain access to a government ministry, or the border agent in Latvia may hint that a ten-euro note folded into your passport might help you make your ferry in Tallinn on time, but rarely does this chicanery rise to the level encountered by a number of tourists in Thailand recently. As the AP points out, the governments of several European countries have put out warnings to their nationals to be wary of a scam in Thailand's Suvarnabhumi Airport in which tourists browsing in the duty-free shop are falsely accused of shoplifting, and then shaken down by seedy intermediaries for sums of up to $10,000 or more to win their freedom.
One British couple, for example, was detained when store security said they had stolen a Givenchy wallet. No wallet was ever recovered, but they spent a night in jail and another five nights in seedy motel with an intermediary named "Tony" who said he could arrange bail and get their case dropped, but only if they forked over $11,800. Otherwise, he said, the case could drag on for months and months. Fearing for their lives and liberty, they paid up, but after making it back to Cambridge, they spoke up about the scam.
Officials at the scandal-plagued airport are promising swift action, but in the meantime, I'd advise you not to go anywhere near the duty-free shop in Suvarnabhumi. That bottle of Johnny Walker and the carton of Davidoffs are simply not worth the risk.
[Photo: AP]
Related Stories:
· Warnings Issued about Alleged Bangkok Airport Scam [AP via Yahoo! News]
· Scams [Jaunted]
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