April 6th, 2012 PHUKET: An Australian tourist visiting Phuket was punched in the face by a tuk-tuk driver in a dispute over a high fare last night, Patong police said today.
The man and his Australian companions wanted to go back to the Merlin Beach
Resort from the Jungceylon shopping mall, said Lieutenant Tanakrit Keawyai of
Kathu Police Station, which oversees Patong.
''The tuk-tuk driver wanted 500 baht for the trip,'' Lieutenant Tanakrit said.
''The Australian offered 250 baht.
''They tried to negotiated the price down for a while, but the tuk-tuk driver became frustrated and punched the tourist in the face.''
After punching the tourist, the tuk-tuk driver drove off, Lieutenant Tanakrit said.
''The tourist's eye glasses were broken but the injury to his face was small,'' the lieutenant said.
Coming soon all the phuket scam stories from jet ski scams, to tuk tuk scams, timeshare scams and many more phuket scams. Of course these will include land ownership scams, condo scams, as well as nightclub and tout scams.
Jet ski scams are coming to the attention of the new head of police in Phuket. He has made it public that he wants to crack down on these scams that everyone is well aware of. However due to the nature of the police getting a back hander from the jet ski scammers, don't expect much to happen besides one or two token busts/arrests. In a related story, the head of the marine 5 unit which is supposed to control all types of vessels, they admit that most jet skis and jet ski operators are operating illegally, but don't have the manpower to enforce the laws they're supposed to enforce.
Here's a nice jet ski scam story compliments of phuketwan. We're sure this story is true.
PHUKET: Two Danish tourists established at the weekend that attempts at jet-ski scams continue on Phuket despite claims that an insurance scheme has brought all problems to an end.
Danish honorary consul Kennerth Karlsson, called in to help negotiate on Sunday,
said that the two Danes had their passports confiscated and faced a demand from
the jet-ski operators for an initial 150,000 baht in damages.
Eventual settlement of the claim for a total of 32,000 baht after a mediation
session at Patong's Kathu Police Station was ''good but not perfect,'' he said.
The deal replicated another recent dispute at Karon - except that in the Patong dispute at the weekend, police seized the passports of the two Danes to make sure they did not flee before a settlement was reached.
After Mr Karlsson became involved on Sunday, he produced a letter from former Phuket Police Commander Major General Pekad Tantipong. The letter acknowleged that police only have the right to confiscate passports from visitors in cases where violence or a crime involving drugs is alleged.
Police in Patong on Sunday acknowledged the letter and returned the passports immediately. Mediating the settlement over the jet-ski damage took a little longer.
Mr Karlsson said that one of the people involved - the jet-ski owner and two operators were present - kept up a barrage of abuse and threats of violence of a kind that had begun on the beach when the damage was done.
''He was very, very angry,'' Mr Karlsson said. ''The Danes acknowledged that only one jet-ski was damaged but in the end paid 32,000 baht for damage to two to settle the matter.''
The total sum was to cover the cost of having two jet-skis out of action for possibly as many as five days at 3000 baht a day, with another 1000 baht for each jet-ski for paperwork.
The actual damage to the one jet-ski was ''minimal'' and well under the 50,000 baht covered by the universal insurance scheme for all Phuket jet-skis, Mr Karlsson said.
Tourists visiting Phuket are advised to note that even a small amount of damage to a jet-ski can trigger an incident in which threats and intimidation are liberally applied.
Tuk tuk scams happen quite often especially late at night where they will give a quote, only upon dropping off their passengers they insist that the quote was per person, not for the ride. There are a lot more tuk tuk scams out there. Phuket tuk tuks has more examples.
Of course every punter should also be made aware of scams at bars by padding the bill, adding drinks that were never ordered, and miscalculations. Best advice when at a bar would be to pay as you go so there are no surprises.
PHUKET: Four Swedish friends thoroughly enjoyed their diving holiday on PhDo not take black plate taxis. They are illegal, not licensed, and pay the local authorities bribes every month to be allowed to carry on with their illegal practice. A black plate taxi is a regular passenger car that has black license plates instead of the LEGAL GREEN LICENSE PLATES.uket before catching an illegal Phuket taxi north to die in a collision with a runaway truck.
Photographs of the vehicle's numberplate show that it is not a registered Phuket taxi, just one of thousands of private vehicles used as illegal cabs.
The latest land scams are being done by local "influential" people where they are paying money for illegally issued land titles in national park land so they can then resell this land at a HUGE profit. One piece of beachfront land near Patong Beach, called Freedom Beach, involves 65 rai ( 29 acres) of land worth an estimated 4 billion baht (130 million dollars). There are a few names mentioned and each guilty party has an excuse and points to the other guy. Thailand, LAND OF SCAMS.