Scammer Scammed!
I witnessed an unusual sight recently on Soi 8 when I saw a fat shirtless man in trunks, walking up the road from the beach, pursued by a Thai man shouting at him.
It was clear this was some beach-related incident and jet skis were being mentioned in English by the Thai, and the Russian speaker was having none of it.
I thought it unusual for a scam victim to have been able to leave the beach unharmed, or even pursued only by one Thai, as they usually hunt in packs, and the bigger the scam the bigger the crowd, so I followed them, thinking the Russian might be going back to his hotel to get money for the scammer, to pay an astronomical sum for some ridiculous alleged damage, as his friends were held hostage on the beach.
In fact, “Street Stroller’s Law”, as I will call it, namely, the more jet ski scammers around, the more money they are extorting, proved to be correct in this instance, as only one Thai pursued this portly middle-aged Russian, and the sum in dispute was…..?
A measly TWO HUNDRED BAHT!
Not two hundred thousand baht, or two thousand baht, but two hundred baht.
I know this because I, er, followed them down the street and into the Russian’s hotel (I’m sure writing for this site is turning me into a stalker), where I then nonchalantly sat in the lobby, minding my own business, eavesdropping, as both parties bitterly complained to the manager, who, unlike the admirable manager of the Hilton Hotel a while ago -) see http://inpattayanow.com/2011/10/02/opinion/jet-ski-scammers-arrested-but-probably-not-for-long/ ) wanted nothing to do with it.
The jet ski owner alleged the Russian had gone 20 minutes over on his jet ski hire, and now refused to pay a 200 baht additional fee for this extra time.
The Russian hotly disputed this, calling the jet ski guy a crook, and simply refused to pay, even this small amount, which I’m sure most readers would have paid, just to be rid of the problem, thinking “it could have been a lot worse than this”.
At one point I thought it was going to come to blows as the Thai guy got very angry and squared up to the smaller Russian, who really didn’t seem to be bothered or intimidated at all.
In the end the Thai, after uttering dire threats, angrily walked off, shouting that Russians are dishonourable cheapskates, if I can politely paraphrase his industrial English.
It was another example of Thais getting no change out of Russians, as has been well-documented on this site on a number of occasions, and of Russians (a) disputing extremely small amounts of money and (b) walking away unscathed from confrontations in Pattaya where other nationalities would be beaten up.
That said, I doubt there will be many tears shed for the loser of this latest incident of scam brinkmanship.
gwats
Ten trips to Pattaya and avoid Scooter rentals and Jet Skis.... are you kidding me? Hoping to see some Thai Scammer get arrested the next time I'm on the Beach.
budgie
russian done a runner for 200 bt.gives a new meaning to cheap charlie.lucky this time, hope theres a next.