As I stepped out of the Bank of Thailand Museum, a man approached me. His name is Chae. A brief greeting evolved into a casual conversation. This was one of my first encounters with the locals in Bangkok. What I thought was an outgoing man turned out to be a mastermind behind an intricately designed scam.
At some point, visitors to Thailand will be asked to visit some sort of gem or silk store in return for a discounted taxi or tuk-tuk ride. Of course, once you're at the store, you'll endure high-pressure sales tactics. As far as that goes, $10 US and half-an-hour of your time make up the upper limit of your loss.
So of course, clever men like Chae devised cleverer schemes.
Thailand is known as the "land of smiles". People are very friendly, or appear to be very friendly. Chae introduced me to 5 "touristy" spots. He even hired a tuk-tuk to take me to those places, all for 20 baht (60 cents US) because there was a "government promotion". At each of these spots, his men were waiting for me. They were coordinated to initiate casual conversations. And in each of these conversations, would be something in common: something about a duty-free purchase on jewelries. At some point, there would be a man - like a designated hitter in baseball - poised to hit a home-run.
At one of the temples waiting for me was a banker claiming he works in New York. I guess this is the perfect way to grab my attention - after all, Chae did see me walking out of the Bank of Thailand Museum.
Unfortunately, my interest in banking dictated most of the conversation, and this "Thai banker" named Tanin Boonma very soon blew his identity (or lack thereof). Nevertheless, he fulfilled his duty by telling me about the duty-free jewelry purchase. Without paying 195% in luxury tax, one could purchase, say, a $5,000 jewelry set then sell it in the US or Canada or triple the amount. Of course, the jewelry set would come with some certificate and insurance. Mr. Boonma explained in details how in the past 15 years he shipped the jewelries to US, and how he sold them to Tiffany & Co. for triple of what he paid for. At last, he pulled out a receipt dated yesterday.
Home run.
Curious of the scheme, I played along, returning him a little inconvenience.
At the jewelry store, everything the sales manager told me corresponded with what I learned earlier from various people, making the scheme more believable. There was the usual sales pressure tactics, and other "customers" who are more interested in talking to me than looking at jewelries. When I felt I understood the scam, I looked for a way out. I asked to take a picture of a pair of earrings. The manager flat out rejected my request, and I used that to reject her offer and walked out.
Impressive. Con-artists like Chae found a way to turn our greed into the upper limit of our loss.
The next day, I went back to the corner where I met Chae. And there he was again, busy on his cell phone, co-ordinating his men. The same tuk-tuk driver hang around, disappointed at yesterday's loss.
At some point, visitors to Thailand will be asked to visit some sort of gem or silk store in return for a discounted taxi or tuk-tuk ride. Of course, once you're at the store, you'll endure high-pressure sales tactics. As far as that goes, $10 US and half-an-hour of your time make up the upper limit of your loss.
So of course, clever men like Chae devised cleverer schemes.
Thailand is known as the "land of smiles". People are very friendly, or appear to be very friendly. Chae introduced me to 5 "touristy" spots. He even hired a tuk-tuk to take me to those places, all for 20 baht (60 cents US) because there was a "government promotion". At each of these spots, his men were waiting for me. They were coordinated to initiate casual conversations. And in each of these conversations, would be something in common: something about a duty-free purchase on jewelries. At some point, there would be a man - like a designated hitter in baseball - poised to hit a home-run.
At one of the temples waiting for me was a banker claiming he works in New York. I guess this is the perfect way to grab my attention - after all, Chae did see me walking out of the Bank of Thailand Museum.
Unfortunately, my interest in banking dictated most of the conversation, and this "Thai banker" named Tanin Boonma very soon blew his identity (or lack thereof). Nevertheless, he fulfilled his duty by telling me about the duty-free jewelry purchase. Without paying 195% in luxury tax, one could purchase, say, a $5,000 jewelry set then sell it in the US or Canada or triple the amount. Of course, the jewelry set would come with some certificate and insurance. Mr. Boonma explained in details how in the past 15 years he shipped the jewelries to US, and how he sold them to Tiffany & Co. for triple of what he paid for. At last, he pulled out a receipt dated yesterday.
Home run.
Curious of the scheme, I played along, returning him a little inconvenience.
At the jewelry store, everything the sales manager told me corresponded with what I learned earlier from various people, making the scheme more believable. There was the usual sales pressure tactics, and other "customers" who are more interested in talking to me than looking at jewelries. When I felt I understood the scam, I looked for a way out. I asked to take a picture of a pair of earrings. The manager flat out rejected my request, and I used that to reject her offer and walked out.
Impressive. Con-artists like Chae found a way to turn our greed into the upper limit of our loss.
The next day, I went back to the corner where I met Chae. And there he was again, busy on his cell phone, co-ordinating his men. The same tuk-tuk driver hang around, disappointed at yesterday's loss.
 |
| Andrew and I negotiating with tuk-tuk drivers |
No comments:
Post a Comment