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Scams / Bribes / Security / Borders / → All Tags

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.

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Bribes / Travel Tips / Travel Guides / → All Tags

Bribe Right in the Developing World

It's an oldie, but the Tom Zoellner's tips on traveling in the third through fifth worlds are worth a (re)read, especially with many people thinking about their ambitious trips for 2006 right now. A good rule of thumbs is his bribe index: set your initial offer for cops and minor functionaries around 1000th of the per capita income: "Offer more and you're setting yourself up for a real shakedown."

I wish he hadn't said that my employer's guides are "pretty much worthless unless you're a graying foodie,"--but to each his own. (For the record, it's Let's Go that really turns his crank, "Lonely Planet can be tin-eared and inaccurate, [and] Time Out is good only for bars.)

Related Stories:
·   Really Lonely Planet: 16 Travel Tips for the Developing World [Black Table]
·   Resolved for 2006: Finding New Ways to Travel [NYT]
·   Edges of the world [USA Today]