From Clean Internet Charity

This is a confidence trick where one is falsely accused of shoplifting, and then held by police or those claiming to be authorities until they pay a large ‘bail’ for the alleged theft. At times those fleeced are shown fake closed-circuit television footage. In multiple specific cases in Thailand, this confidence trick has occurred at the airport, and thus is called a Thailand airport scam or Thai zig zag scam or Duty-Free Theft Scam.

Jonathan Head, BBC News, Bangkok, in his 2009 article “Tourists warned of Thailand airport scam”, had reported, “[…] new allegations have been made that a number of passengers are being detained every month in the duty free area on suspicion of shoplifting, and then held by the police until they pay large sums of money to buy their freedom. That is what happened to Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin, two IT experts from Cambridge, as they were about to board their flight to London on the night of 25 April this year. […] They were told a wallet had gone missing, and that Ms Lin had been seen on a security camera taking it out of the shop. The company that owns the duty free shop, King Power, has since put the CCTV video on its website, which does appear to show her putting something in her bag. However the security guards found no wallet on either of them.[…] The next morning the two were given an interpreter, a Sri Lankan national called Tony, who works part-time for the police. They were taken by Tony to meet the local police commander – but, says Mr Ingram, for three hours all they discussed was how much money they would have to pay to get out.[…] Mr Ingram says they wanted £8,000 ( about $13,000) – for that the police would try to get him back to the UK in time for his mother’s funeral on 28 April. […] Tony told the BBC that so far this year he has “helped” about 150 foreigners in trouble with the police. He says sometimes he does it for no charge. The British Embassy has also warned passengers at Bangkok Airport to take care not to move items around in the duty free shopping area before paying for them, as this could result in arrest and imprisonment.”

The Royal Thai Embassy, Singapore responded with an official announcement “Facts about the alleged Thailand airport scam” stating, “On Monday 20 July 2009, the BBC published a news report by Mr. Jonathan Head, entitled “Tourists Warned of Thailand Airport Scam”, referring to the allegation made by Mr. Stephen Ingram and Ms. Xi Lin, a couple from Cambridge, England who were detained on suspicion of shoplifting.[…] Following the news report, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand has checked with King Power Duty Free Co. Ltd and agencies concerned and found that all the legal procedings taken against Mr. Stephen Ingram and Ms. Xi Lin have been conducted in accordance with the law.[…] 4. With regards to this particular case, the Thai Prime Minister has given clear instructions for all Thai governmental, particularly law enforcement, agencies to work in accordance with the rule of law, in an above-board manner. The couple, and indeed any tourists who feel they have further evidence showing anything untoward, are more than welcome to lodge their complaints to the Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, 443 Sri Ayudhya Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand or email: [email protected]”

The Sunday Times article, “Lankan Tony kingpin in Thai airport scam” reported “[…] Playing a pivotal role in the goings on is a Sri Lankan who has been identified only as Tony. Though he is widely known to frequent the Sri Lanka Embassy premises in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit area, officials there denied any knowledge of his activities. They said they were not sure about his whereabouts and whether he was now a permanent Thai resident.[…] The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) exhorts the world to visit “amazing Thailand.” However, to imbibe in those amazing things, visitors will have to be lucky enough to escape the not so amazing traps by crooked policemen, duty free operators and middlemen.”

Scam artists are known to trade in ‘sucker lists‘ amongst themselves and devise novel ways to part you with your money. They employ various scams like the Spanish prisoner scam, badger game scam, black money scam, pigeon drop scam, Jamaican switch scam, poetry scam, mystery shopping scam, Father’s Day shopping scam, internet clearinghouse scam, computer finance scam, romance scam and various other scams. Avoid the scams by recognizing them. If you have been scammed or think so, report it to your local police station or the FBI, or FTC, or IC3. If you are in a foreign country report it to your embassy.

REFERENCES:

1. Jonathan Head, 20 July 2009, “Tourists warned of Thailand airport scam“, BBC News, Bangkok, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8154497.stm

2. Official announcement of the Royal Thai Embassy, “Facts about the alleged Thailand airport scam“. http://www.thaiembassy.sg/announcements/facts-about-the-alleged-thailand-airport-scam

3. “Lankan Tony kingpin in Thai airport scam“, The Sunday Times, Sunday August 23, 2009. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/090823/News/nws_06.html

For more on this story go to: http://cleaninternetcharity.com/2013/07/12/thailand-airport-scam/

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