Airport Scam

[keith1867]

Hi

The fact that the police did not find the wallet on them should have meant that they have no evidence so therefore they should have let them go on their way. I not sure about the law in Thailand but people should be regarded as innocent until proven guilty. So after searching them and not finding the stolen goods they should have let them go. The whole thing with this Tony guy is a scam so makes you think they were setup. This may not be the case but other people have had similar things happen to them.

The safest thing to do is not bother to buy anything or send a Thai friend to do it for you therefore you are at no risk. Perhaps K. Power should employ personal shoppers for tourists therefore removing the risk of mistakes or scams. The only problem is finding people that tourists can trust so maybe Expats should be used. Any thoughts on how K. Power can rebuild the trust of tourists.

I am glad to see that the company has woken up to the risk to their business and hope that they tell staff to do the right thing and maybe they could employ undercover shoppers to keep an eye on the customers.

[obroadie]

The fact that the police did not find the wallet on them should have meant that they have no evidence so therefore they should have let them go on their way. I not sure about the law in Thailand but people should be regarded as innocent until proven guilty. So after searching them and not finding the stolen goods they should have let them go. .

I nearly agree with you can't quite, I'm sorry. You are forgetting the CCTV footage. Blatantly obvious to any fair minded person (like a judge) also the eyewitness accounts of the shop staff " It was there and then it wasn't". and then the circumstantial evidence of the separate tables and the change of clothing and the restroom and the bin. Come on. Any sane person or a 12 man jury could not fail to find them guilty.

Yes, you are correct. They were not found guilty but that's because the process had not even got started and they paid up so that it wouldn't. I'm not a judge and jury but I'm not stupid either. GUILTY! Deserved the "fine" they received. Lesson learned I hope. I'm sure I speak for all the other honest folks out there.

[Isaannative]

by keith1867 on Mon Jul 20, 2009 3:41 p07 [195.188.220.xx]
I was shocked to read that this sort of thing was happening in the Airport and the Keeng Power Company may have shot themselves in the foot. I for one will not be buying anything from the Duty Free owned by them next time or any other time I come to the wonderful country that is Thailand.

Dear Keith,
I'm not clear what you are referring to?
Is it this?


Now 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.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/w ... 154497.stm

Well the link the footage show very clearly that she put something into her handbag and the letter of explantion by the management of K Power also stated very clearly how the man disposed the stolen wallet when police approached the lady. Yet they are peolpe who still cannot accept the fact that this is theft.

It is just the same like the Aussie woman who stole bar matt in Phuket 1 or 2 months. Before was the Aussie, now is the Brit. All trained & taught by The British Empire.

[keith1867]

Hi Issannative

I love the fact you think that all Brits & Aussies are crooks and we all steal things as we belonged to an empire. There are crooks in every country of the world and the evidence in the case of the british pair is now becoming more clear. Their behaviour in changing clothes etc does lead to the thought that there is more to this than they are telling the BBC. TheTony thing was a scam but maybe the police could not have proved it in court. In buying their way out of the charge we will never know the truth. In Scotland they have an extra verdict in their court system and that is that the case can be "not proven" in which they think they are guilty but can't prove it. Maybe this is what this case is.

As for the Aussie Woman she got her just desserts in that she was refused entry to the USA as she was branded a thief. So my advice to anyone thinking of helping themselves to others property in Thailand or anywhere else is don't do as it can damage your life.

[Isaannative]

Hi

The fact that the police did not find the wallet on them should have meant that they have no evidence so therefore they should have let them go on their way. I not sure about the law in Thailand but people should be regarded as innocent until proven guilty. So after searching them and not finding the stolen goods they should have let them go. The whole thing with this Tony guy is a scam so makes you think they were setup. This may not be the case but other people have had similar things happen to them.

The safest thing to do is not bother to buy anything or send a Thai friend to do it for you therefore you are at no risk. Perhaps K. Power should employ personal shoppers for tourists therefore removing the risk of mistakes or scams. The only problem is finding people that tourists can trust so maybe Expats should be used. Any thoughts on how K. Power can rebuild the trust of tourists.

I am glad to see that the company has woken up to the risk to their business and hope that they tell staff to do the right thing and maybe they could employ undercover shoppers to keep an eye on the customers.

Hi Keith,
You mentioned that the fact that the police did not find the wallet on them should have meant that they have no evidence so therefore they should have let them go on their way. And people should be regarded as innocent until proven guilty.

So what is the CCTV for all over the world? For instance, if a terrorist carried a bag of highly explosives bombs and was caught on CCTV while boarding a bus with full load of commuters, 2 stops away he alighted without the bag and minutes later the bag of bombs went off killing all 30 people onboard. Then if the terrorist is caught by police, can he tell the police show me the bombs and prove that I am guilty. Or the police say too bad the bombs had already exploded. I can’t show you anything but you are guilty based on the CCTV footage.

[obroadie]

So what is the CCTV for all over the world? For instance, if a terrorist carried a bag of highly explosives bombs and was caught on CCTV while boarding a bus with full load of commuters, 2 stops away he alighted without the bag and minutes later the bag of bombs went off killing all 30 people onboard. Then if the terrorist is caught by police, can he tell the police show me the bombs and prove that I am guilty. Or the police say too bad the bombs had already exploded. I can’t show you anything but you are guilty based on the CCTV footage

.

My goodness I wish I could have put it so clearly myself. Well done IsanNative.

Regarding the comment about everyone is trained that way in the British Empire. What's up with you? 70+ million in the UK alone and we're just talking about one British couple here. And an \\\ ///// mother from Australia that got drunk and stole a bar mat. ( I have a home in Australia too so I'm not biased).

I've spent a lot of time today posting on this forum because I feel strongly about it. I feel strongly about thieves who deny they are thieves and I ask you this. How much does one get paid these days for a story like that. I think it's fair to say that this thieving couple probably got paid 50k STG for their story. That just adds to fuel to my fire and I'll keep labouring the point to anyone who says anything in their defence.

[keith1867]

Hi Keith,
You mentioned that the fact that the police did not find the wallet on them should have meant that they have no evidence so therefore they should have let them go on their way. And people should be regarded as innocent until proven guilty.

So what is the CCTV for all over the world? For instance, if a terrorist carried a bag of highly explosives bombs and was caught on CCTV while boarding a bus with full load of commuters, 2 stops away he alighted without the bag and minutes later the bag of bombs went off killing all 30 people onboard. Then if the terrorist is caught by police, can he tell the police show me the bombs and prove that I am guilty. Or the police say too bad the bombs had already exploded. I can’t show you anything but you are guilty based on the CCTV footage.[/quote]

Hi Issannative (My favourite part of Thailand and where my wife is from)

I see your point about the terrorist but if they had handled explosives there would be traces on him. The evidence of CCTV is good and maybe if the operator of the CCTV had told the staff of the K. Power that someone was stealing and when they left the shop they stopped them and they would have been caught in the act and therefore could be found guilty.
I am now thinking that these two were guilty but as they did not have the goods on them it could not be proved easily.

I not sure how the CCTV works in the airport but in UK stores the suspected thief is followed by CCTV or security and then the staff or security staff stop them leaving and find the stolen goods on them. The police are called at that point. Once the person knows there is CCTV and has been caught they know they are in trouble and as all stores charge thieves they will go to court.


I am concerned that in your mind innocent people will also be locked up as well as the guilty ones and that they have to prove their innocence rather than the court system needs to find them guilty. If there is not enough evidence to charge someone they have to be released in the UK. Thanks for your thoughts on this is has made me think about this in a different light.

[stilljustbrowsing]

Strange that someone posting from the USA and using Thaispeak should denounce all for the behaviour of a few, nevermind.
What I have to ask is this.
Why would a couple carying so much cash bother to steal a wallet? (unless the money was in a plastic bag and seemed inaproprate?)

[obroadie]

some people of europa coming to bangkok thailand and doing some bad things against to thai law and request by authorities tolerate what they did.

rgds cemkoh"

I completely agree except for the racist / anti farang ranting. Also the "penalty' money should go into the system to make things better. Not the pockets of the thai police.

What do you think about that cemkoh? regarding where the money went in these cases. Do you think it should have gone to the pockets of nice Thai policemen and their families (who go to nice schools I know. My kids go to the same school and it's expensive and full of kids from Thai police). There are a lot of reasons to criticize Thai people and their corrupt ways. Sure but please....let's not bring racism into it. It's just people doing what they feel like and some lots are good people and some are bad. Just like any society. Lets Criticize the BAD and leave the GOOD alone.

As a racist you are already in my opinion in the category of BAD...if not Klux Klan with your attitude.

I'm a westerner and I love the majority of Thai's and all Asians that I know. Where does that put me in your point of view. Automatically a bad person. I think so. You should go back to school and learn something about the world instead of whatever religion they taught you for 80% of your school years that gave you such a closed mind.

And what's with that large green text?

Moderator: racist lines deleted in quote.

[timjackelton]

"The minister said the British couple's claim will also be investigated and legal action will be taken against those found to have been involved in the scam." Minister, this problem will not go away until you do something decisive, no white washing the issue.

The correct thing to do is give all the money back to that British couple tomorrow plus double via the British Embassy in Bangkok, then start the investigation.

1.Suggest replace all police involved who work at the Airport who in my view broke International law by not allowing the respective Embassy to be contacted, simply put, the British couple were technically in transit as they had passed immigration, Embassy access is mandatory as stipulated by International law.

2. Find Tony and plaster his picture all over the media so we know who he is.

3. AoT staff involved should also be moved to another Airport until this matter is clearly resolved.

4.Half of ////// Power Duty free shops should be closed and other competition take the free space. The video means nothing and does not prove a thing!

Only then will tourist start to believe in Thailand again.

With due respect, the Minister and Prime Minister are equally the blame as they were way too slow to react. Apparently this scam has been going on for months and I am sure many people in authority knew of it!

The world is watching now, (whether the BBC story is believed or not by the Thai people) the damage is done, so sad for Thailand which is really a beautiful country to visit for a holiday.

The "mai pen rai" attitude is slowly strangling this country.