planetaub
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Gem Scam All very clever if you ask me, very well organised. 1 - We decide to walk to the railway station to book our tickets to Koh Samui, it's only about 4km so wouldn't have been too much of a walk and we thought we might see some sights on the way. 2 - We were stopped just after crossing a busy roundabout and were checking the map in the Lonely Planet (LP) to make sure we were still going the right way. Some bloke who was walking in the other direction stops to see if we're ok, he's very chatty, quite helpful, we show him the route we are taking and he says it's OK but why don't we take a Tuk-Tuk (the little three wheeled motorbike taxis) as the government are doing a special day and you only have to pay 10bhat all day as the drivers can claim they're fuel back. Why this didn't ring lots of alarm bells at this point I have no idea, I've even read this bit in the LP, I blame the jet lag! 3 - We carry on walking, 5 mins later a Tuk-Tuk comes along, the driver waves and asks if we want a ride, they do this all the time so it didn't seem that unusual, we decide to go for it because our brains aren't working and it's getting really hot and my feet ache etc etc.... 4 - We tell driver to go to the station, he asks us lots of questions on the way, where are we going, for how long, where afterwards, are we working etc, all very friendly. He tells us he'll take us too the TAT (tourist information) office next to the station, this again all seems ok. We go in and it's a travel agent basically but they are nice and actually book what we ask for without any trouble. We also book accommodation on Koh Samui, we probably paid too much but even the LP says that it is difficult at this time of year, the train tickets have worked out fine so I hope the beach hut is ok too! 5 - We leave and the driver offers to take us to see some temples and the Royal Palace, we got a map of Bangkok from the travel agent so that looks OK, we have the whole day left so we go for it. First stop is to see a temple and the lucky black Buddha (remember him, I like him he is very lucky!). All very nice, you can see the pictures in the gallery. As we go to leave the driver points us to a side we haven't seen, there are graves there, not that interesting. As we are walking along the wall looking at the pictures of the people a young bloke walks behind us, he goes on then turns round and asks us if we understand what we're looking at. He starts to explain about the cremations and tells us he's here to pay his respects to his old girlfriend who died in a car crash, he shows us the grave. He keeps talking, goes on about how they met at uni, he says he is still a student, then he starts to tell us about this government trade show that is going on. He says it happens every year for one week only and this is the last day. The deal is basically if your a student or a tourist you go to the export centre, buy some gems or some jewellery (you're only allowed one set though) and for this one week you can take them abroad and you wont get charged the 195% export duty. You can then sell the things when you get where ever and make double your money back. This is the short version of his conversation which included a discussion on car import duty and his trip to Munich funded by said gem sale. He also says that the export centre will give you an address of someone to sell the stuff too. 6 - We didn't take much notice of him to be honest, the driver takes us to a gem shop, it's small and the tropical fish tank in the middle is more interesting than the jewellery so we leave. 7 - The driver takes us to another temple, the one with the statues and big gold pointy thing. While we were trying to find the door to get in a bloke approached us, he showed us the door then asked if we had brought any gems yet, he told us the same story about the trade fair, he said he worked for the Thai embassy in New Zealand, that he had brought some and we would be stupid not to do the same, then he left. So now we have two complete strangers telling us about a deal. 8 - After walking round the temple we find a french bloke who asks us if it is open. We have a quick chat, he says this is his 6th visit to Bangkok. I asked him about the gem thing, obviously because I was thinking about what the other guy had said. He said yes and showed us a receipt from a shop that said he had brought $4000 worth, this is why he comes to Thailand every year. At this point another Thai guy joins in on the conversation, don't know where he came from but he too has a receipt from the same shop as the french guy, he says he works for the Thai embassy in New York which was where he was going to sell his. OK so at this point my subconscious was screaming with all the alarms going off in my head, but as my conscious was out having a picnic it got ignored. 9 - We go back to the hotel to collect passports because the driver says we need to show them at this trade fair to get him his petrol ticket. I asked the hotel receptionist about the gem deal but he doesn't speak enough English to understand, I popped into a travel agent in the hotel on the pretence of asking about visas but again the guy doesn't speak enough English to be of any help. We get back in the Tuk-Tuk and end up in another gem shop, bigger this time. Some how I end up agreeing to buy a small set of sapphire's for 99000 bhat (just over £1600, brain was definitely out to lunch). I say I have to pay by credit card, this means we have to go to their other shop where the credit card machine is, but they will give us a lift. While we are in the car on the way there (it was a long trip because of all the traffic) my subconscious threatens suicide unless I sort my head out. Bits of the LP start to get remembered and there is a frantic few minutes as I try to read the book & find what it's talking about. This is just as we arrive at the shop so the job goes to Shirley as I'm off having credit card swiped and photo copies of passports done. Shirley finds the bit in LP and suddenly I wake up to find myself about to be horribly ripped off! 10 - I don't have to sign the credit card slip until we get back to the gem shop so it's all back in the car into more traffic jams, this is good because it gives me time to think, and I am thinking lots by this point. The final plan comes to me like this, the LP lists phone numbers in Bangkok for the Asian Gem Institute, the UK embassy and the TAT tourist police, I'll ring one of these before I sign anything and find out for sure if I'm being ripped off. When we get back to the shop I say I have to use a phone to find out if there is someone in London or Melbourne who can sell the gems for me, they are quite happy for me to do this, all my paperwork is ready they just need to know where to send the things, they give me a mobile. I phone the tourist police short code 1699 but that doesn't work on a mobile and I end up talking to someone else, while I am explaining to them that I want to talk to TAT I am obviously being overheard and the sales people start to panic. The sales guy comes over and is a bit flustered, I ask him how to phone a Bangkok number from a mobile and he looses it, he's says I look nervous (I am) and I can pull out if I want. So at this point I get out, picking up the credit card receipt and passport copy on the way, we leave with the sales guy throwing us insults, but I haven't spent a penny, phew! 11 - Bit shaken but feel better for not spending the money. Bursting for the loo by this point so tell the Tuk-Tuk driver to take us back to the hotel, he says we have to go to another shop so he can get his petrol ticket and I can use the loo there. When we get there there is no loo, only more gems so we leave, we beat the driver out of the shop we were that fast. We now say we really want to go back, now he is getting stressed because it turns out he can't get his ticket unless we actually buy something. He wants to take us to another factory shop, we have a brief argument then he stops and tells us we have to get out and pay him for the day and make our own way home, we have no idea where we are at this point, miles from the hotel that's for sure. I offered him 20 bhat, which is double what he quoted but obviously not what he was after so we start arguing again. Now the luck from Mr Buddha comes in, while he was pulling in to throw us off he was looking at me not the broken down car he pulled in behind. As I get out of the Tuk-Tuk I can see there are two policemen under the bonnet helping the broken driver, I offer the driver the choice of going and discussing his problems with them. As soon as he sees them he gives up and drives off, still shouting about not being paid for 6 hours of driving us around, ha ha ha! We on the other hand walk 200 meters up the road and hail a cab which costs 55bhat (90p) to get to the hotel. 12 - Still shaken by my own stupidity, and not completely convinced it was a scam but happy. Then next morning we passed a tourist police booth near our hotel and they had a notice in the window about gem scams. It confirms I was right, there is no government support for the Tuk-Tuk's, no free petrol scheme, no export tax for gems etc, phewwwww! Now much happier, though still concerned about being so thick! |