Jet Ski Scam Pattaya When Will It Stop

[londoedan]

I have hated reading about all the incidents. Just too negative all the way around and I don't like the people that have been doing it. However, since Pattaya's waters are so dirty and in general unhealthy, I just can't fathom why somebody would even go in the water. It is terrible that Pattaya beach is basically un swimmable. I hate that, but that is a fairly well known fact, or at least a strong matter of opinion. I feel sorry for the tourists that don't seem to access to that information or are unwilling to listen to that information. But I know many people don't internet browse as much as others and often book junkets and planned holiday tours and just go with the flow.

I rented Jet skis once out on Koh Larn a few years ago. I did not have any trouble. But I did have my Thai girlfriend with me. I wonder if any foreigner that has alleged a Jet Ski Scam had a Thai with them at the time? I don't think any of the incidents that made it to print had a Thai on the jet ski. Funny coincidence I guess.

I also hate the fact that these incidents are still on-going; as one previous poster put it: it really is sad and pathetic .

A couple of points though: as somone who spends maybe 4 or 5 days of every week on the beach, I doubt that there is a deck-chair mafia out there. Plus I also don't believe the Pattaya waters are un-swimmable. I tend to swim out quite a distance 3 or 4 times a day and in many visits over the last few years and a full year and a half living here, I have yet to experience a problem e.g. ear / eye / skin / stomach infections. The water might not be as pristine as some areas in SE Asia (the sea around Bali for example is a lot cleaner) but, IMHO, swimming in the sea is fine, good exercise and a nice way to cool off during the summer months.

Simon

[kevkev1888]

I have been down the beach 4 times this last week.

Around 2 -3pm NOT peak time for scams but even so have seen at least 2 or 3 scams in progress every day.

I have only spent about a hour on the beach each time and only between Central Festival and Walking street.

They must be pulling this at least 30 times a day down there.

I would estimate they are taking up to HALF A MILLION BAHT A DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited October 3, 2011 by Rimmer
Advocating violence

[marinediscoking]

I did have some hope after seeing the arrests by the tourist police last week, so when I saw a scam happening last Saturday opposite soi12 this is what i did:

• Called 1155 (tourist police) no answer, called several times.
• Called 1337 pattaya city help number, they told me to call 038410044
• Called that number, I had to ask if this was the tourist police, she said yes and asked her to send a tourist police to help. She said I need to call Mr. ____(his name i cannot remember) on his mobile number.
• Called his number, who I guess was a tourist police (all people were thai that i have spoken too so far) he said he was in bangkok and could not help. I asked if there was "someone else he could send", he said go to the police station on soi 9.

On Sunday seeing another scam across for Mike's I called 038410044 to come help, and I was told he was the only tourist police working, and he could not leave the phone unattended.

[Rimmer]

One post suggesting a meet up has been removed, if you remember this very same suggestion got the last jet ski thread closed, so be warned Do not Lobby members for any reason whatsover.

[lovetotravel]

I did have some hope after seeing the arrests by the tourist police last week, so when I saw a scam happening last Saturday opposite soi12 this is what i did:

• Called 1155 (tourist police) no answer, called several times.
• Called 1337 pattaya city help number, they told me to call 038410044
• Called that number, I had to ask if this was the tourist police, she said yes and asked her to send a tourist police to help. She said I need to call Mr. ____(his name i cannot remember) on his mobile number.
• Called his number, who I guess was a tourist police (all people were thai that i have spoken too so far) he said he was in bangkok and could not help. I asked if there was "someone else he could send", he said go to the police station on soi 9.

On Sunday seeing another scam across for Mike's I called 038410044 to come help, and I was told he was the only tourist police working, and he could not leave the phone unattended.

Congrats for trying!!! Great stuff. Even though it's like beating your head against a brick wall!!!!

[Chivas]

Jet Ski Scam Pattaya When Will It Stop

Maybe when people stop renting them.

best post on this thread.

Dear God please dont encourage him any further..

Lets hope this scam is removed asap-got to say that in all the times Ive rented have never ever had a problem.

Am sure the operators target easy looking people.

[Awohalitsiktoli]

Dear God please dont encourage him any further..

Lets hope this scam is removed asap-got to say that in all the times Ive rented have never ever had a problem.

Am sure the operators target easy looking people.

No doubt they do target "suckers" but they also targeted members of the British Marine forces (think that happened in Phuket). They truly believe they are "above the law." What irritates me the most is that smirk on their faces. One day, I am sure, it will be removed. When? Your guess is as good as mine. The scam problem is a reflection of what has happened in this country: corruption, corruption, corruption...............

Edited October 3, 2011 by Awohalitsiktoli

[saintofsilence]

I did have some hope after seeing the arrests by the tourist police last week, so when I saw a scam happening last Saturday opposite soi12 this is what i did:

• Called 1155 (tourist police) no answer, called several times.
• Called 1337 pattaya city help number, they told me to call 038410044
• Called that number, I had to ask if this was the tourist police, she said yes and asked her to send a tourist police to help. She said I need to call Mr. ____(his name i cannot remember) on his mobile number.
• Called his number, who I guess was a tourist police (all people were thai that i have spoken too so far) he said he was in bangkok and could not help. I asked if there was "someone else he could send", he said go to the police station on soi 9.

On Sunday seeing another scam across for Mike's I called 038410044 to come help, and I was told he was the only tourist police working, and he could not leave the phone unattended.

There are comments about this on the Pattaya Future facebook page http://www.facebook.com/PattayaFuture

Edited October 3, 2011 by saintofsilence

[wans]

saw them doing it at soi 12 today, seemed to have a demented looking shaved headed farang helping them, they ended up at the police station, as mentioned in a previous post it was the damage at the front. these are just low life yabad out bullying thieves who will steal from their thai neighbors as much as from a tourist, anyone can see that and its sad that certain police and higher up people are supporting them and the thais are too polite to stop them. anyway, thats another 4 tourists and their friends who wont be returning to pattaya again

[marinediscoking]

saw them doing it at soi 12 today, seemed to have a demented looking shaved headed farang helping them, they ended up at the police station, as mentioned in a previous post it was the damage at the front. these are just low life yabad out bullying thieves who will steal from their thai neighbors as much as from a tourist, anyone can see that and its sad that certain police and higher up people are supporting them and the thais are too polite to stop them. anyway, thats another 4 tourists and their friends who wont be returning to pattaya again

The person who you are talking about is half thai looking from his appearance. He has been helping the jet ski operators opposite mike's and speaks thai like a thai. He is very aggressive and does a lot of screeming at the tourist. On sunday while he was handling two scams at the same time, he was forcefully keepping the lone indian from speaking to the other group being scammed at the same place.

Today he was once again the lead extorter while trying to convince the renters to give in before they went to the police station.

From what I can tell he shows up on his motorbike only after false damage is caused. Seems the jetski operators want someone who is not involved in the renting to handle the intimidation and extortion.

I called one of the local papers to inform them that today's group had just entered the police station after the heated exchange on the beach, just in-case they wanted to send a reporter.

[striderman]

The person who you are talking about is half thai looking from his appearance. He has been helping the jet ski operators opposite mike's and speaks thai like a thai. He is very aggressive and does a lot of screeming at the tourist. On sunday while he was handling two scams at the same time, he was forcefully keepping the lone indian from speaking to the other group being scammed at the same place.

Today he was once again the lead extorter while trying to convince the renters to give in before they went to the police station.

From what I can tell he shows up on his motorbike only after false damage is caused. Seems the jetski operators want someone who is not involved in the renting to handle the intimidation and extortion.

I called one of the local papers to inform them that today's group had just entered the police station after the heated exchange on the beach, just in-case they wanted to send a reporter.

I had to leave the mob near Mikes alone after being scoped taking pics back in january, as a safety measure.

There was a big Russian or at least Eastern european helping out the scammers by the royal garden then.

tended to wear black trousers and shirt so he looked official even claimed to the 2 uk guys i spoke to who got done for 20,000 bht to be a "UN police official in Thailand to clamp down on scams and corruption"

nice touch!!

I have clocked him a few times earlier in the year waving his hands and shouting right in their faces at the Thai ski renters...............not possible to do without being on the receiving end of a bottle from behind. Just part of the panto where paying 20,000 bht for doing nothing is better than 50,000 bht. Its just a game to them and the arm waving is part of the show

[wans]

The person who you are talking about is half thai looking from his appearance. He has been helping the jet ski operators opposite mike's and speaks thai like a thai. He is very aggressive and does a lot of screeming at the tourist. On sunday while he was handling two scams at the same time, he was forcefully keepping the lone indian from speaking to the other group being scammed at the same place.

Today he was once again the lead extorter while trying to convince the renters to give in before they went to the police station.

From what I can tell he shows up on his motorbike only after false damage is caused. Seems the jetski operators want someone who is not involved in the renting to handle the intimidation and extortion.

I called one of the local papers to inform them that today's group had just entered the police station after the heated exchange on the beach, just in-case they wanted to send a reporter.

yes thats him, a schoolyard bully Edited October 3, 2011 by wans

[saintofsilence]

The person who you are talking about is half thai looking from his appearance. He has been helping the jet ski operators opposite mike's and speaks thai like a thai. He is very aggressive and does a lot of screeming at the tourist. On sunday while he was handling two scams at the same time, he was forcefully keepping the lone indian from speaking to the other group being scammed at the same place.

Today he was once again the lead extorter while trying to convince the renters to give in before they went to the police station.

From what I can tell he shows up on his motorbike only after false damage is caused. Seems the jetski operators want someone who is not involved in the renting to handle the intimidation and extortion.

I called one of the local papers to inform them that today's group had just entered the police station after the heated exchange on the beach, just in-case they wanted to send a reporter.

yes thats him, a schoolyard bully

There are three that I have seen a big man looks russian , the sikh guy and the half thai that you mention but I think he may be full indian very thin saw him riding an orange motor bike he shows some type of id card and has walkie talkie he goes to the soi 11 area often.

They use foreigners to befriend the victims and try and convince them to pay up straight away.

Edited October 4, 2011 by saintofsilence

[Lovedog100]

I did have some hope after seeing the arrests by the tourist police last week, so when I saw a scam happening last Saturday opposite soi12 this is what i did:

• Called 1155 (tourist police) no answer, called several times.
• Called 1337 pattaya city help number, they told me to call 038410044
• Called that number, I had to ask if this was the tourist police, she said yes and asked her to send a tourist police to help. She said I need to call Mr. ____(his name i cannot remember) on his mobile number.
• Called his number, who I guess was a tourist police (all people were thai that i have spoken too so far) he said he was in bangkok and could not help. I asked if there was "someone else he could send", he said go to the police station on soi 9.

On Sunday seeing another scam across for Mike's I called 038410044 to come help, and I was told he was the only tourist police working, and he could not leave the phone unattended.

There are comments about this on the Pattaya Future facebook page http://www.facebook.com/PattayaFuture

If you go there, you can see that it's the Mayors facebook page. There is one person (Mac Oxley) trying to keep the jet ski scam in the Mayors attention. There is another (J-city Pattaya) posting one picture at a time, trying to run the jet ski post off the page, by posting so many pictures that any reference to Jetski's are not shown on the page. If you were to add a comment, or click like, it will keep the jet ski problem in the forefront.

[Lovedog100]

matter of interest, how many people here actually rents jet ski's ??

i have never done so but have rented plenty of bikes and my experience with them is, return with no damage, no problem... return damaged and expect to get shafted with an massive repair bill plus loss of rental.

TBH, I expect it is the same with jetskis but it has been so dramatized with thick stupid tourists who have smashed up a jetski and think a couple a quid will sort it out or even thicker tourists who don't check/mark damage before taking jetski out...really don't see why all the TV keyboard warriors are getting all worked up when there are more serious issues in Pattaya like the beach-chair, baht-bus, taxi-bike, mafia scams ongoing

Do you really not understand what is happening here? You ask "how many people really rent Jetski's?" Why? does it mean that if there is a small number that are being extorted and robbed that it is OK? There are about 800 jatski's for rent in Pattaya, there must be a lot of people renting them, or they would not be there. Not that the number matters at all. Intimidating and threatning a tourist into paying 60,000 baht for damages that they didn't do, is not only bad for other tourists, but bad for the city as well. That tourist will never come back to Pattaya, and will tell their friends and family not to come as well.

I don't understand what your experience with a motorbike has to do with a jetski. You do that they are two different things, and different people renting them, right? "it has been so dramatized with thick stupid tourists who have smashed up a jetski" You do understand that this thread is about tourists that have NOT done damage to jetski's, however are being threatened into paying for damage that they haven't done. You do see the difference, right? "don't see why all the TV keyboard warriors are getting all worked up when there are more serious issues in Pattaya" Yes, there are many issues in Pattaya, does that mean that this one should be ignored?

[Rimmer]

One post has been removed

[Tokay]

One post has been removed

Rimmer, do you ever sleep?

[Rimmer]

One post has been removed

Rimmer, do you ever sleep?

555555

[saintofsilence]

A month later, jet ski registration falls short

Nearly a month after demanding that jet ski vendors register at city hall or face criminal action, city officials are still mulling how best to end the seemingly unending string of embarrassing scams against tourists.

http://www.pattayamail.com/localnews/a-month-later-jet-ski-registration-falls-short-6710?ref=pmci

[saintofsilence]

Mayor insists Pattaya CCTV cameras ‘real’

Despite the broken cables and dark lights spotted on many of the city’s closed-circuit television cameras, Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome insists the city isn’t putting up fake cameras and is actively investing in the security system.

Several hundred million baht has been spent since 2006 to install 350 real-time cameras around the Pattaya area to

Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome says CCTV cameras, like this one overlooking the beach, are real, not fake like some in Bangkok. traffic and crime.

http://www.pattayamail.com/localnews/mayor-insists-pattaya-cctv-cameras-real-6708?ref=pmci

Edited October 7, 2011 by saintofsilence

[saintofsilence]

A month later, jet ski registration falls short

Nearly a month after demanding that jet ski vendors register at city hall or face criminal action, city officials are still mulling how best to end the seemingly unending string of embarrassing scams against tourists.

http://www.pattayamail.com/localnews/a-month-later-jet-ski-registration-falls-short-6710?ref=pmci

Quote from Pattaya mail -

'Before any new regulation can be drafted, the city still must find a way to determine exactly how many jet skis and boats are working beaches on the mainland and near islands, outline parking and business zones and figure out how to force vendors to register."

Why should that have any effect on regulations ? looks like just another stalling tactic for scammers and corrupt officials to get more money.

Edited October 7, 2011 by saintofsilence

[balo]

Friends of mine will visit Pattaya soon and they love jet skis , is there any vendor we can trust is not a scam near the Pattaya Beach Road?

I have already warned them but they ask for advice where to rent .

Edited October 7, 2011 by balo

[londoedan]

Several hundred million baht has been spent since 2006 to install 350 real-time cameras around the Pattaya area to

Several hundred million baht !!

Lets hope its been wisely spent eh ?

Simon

[Tokay]

A month later, jet ski registration falls short

Nearly a month after demanding that jet ski vendors register at city hall or face criminal action, city officials are still mulling how best to end the seemingly unending string of embarrassing scams against tourists.

http://www.pattayamail.com/localnews/a-month-later-jet-ski-registration-falls-short-6710?ref=pmci

Translated: They were called by The Boss and were told to back off.

Mayor insists Pattaya CCTV cameras ‘real’

Despite the broken cables and dark lights spotted on many of the city’s closed-circuit television cameras, Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome insists the city isn’t putting up fake cameras and is actively investing in the security system.

Several hundred million baht has been spent since 2006 to install 350 real-time cameras around the Pattaya area to

Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome says CCTV cameras, like this one overlooking the beach, are real, not fake like some in Bangkok. traffic and crime.

http://www.pattayamail.com/localnews/mayor-insists-pattaya-cctv-cameras-real-6708?ref=pmci

They have well over 200 CCTV cameras, yet when a crime is committed, the police REFUSE to reference them for evidence. Every square inch of the beach is covered, supposedly, and every scam, robbery, and drug dealing can be caught on video. Instead, the only thing that happens is the police chase the girls down every night to collect 100b from the ones they can run down, and do so while drug dealers sit on the beach and offer weed & coke to everyone who walks by.

IMHO, a few of the cams work and the rest are guts. Someone put a lot of money in their pocket over the cam scam. Same with the life guard chairs, traffic lights, the cheap concrete used on the roads, and so on.

[Tokay]

Several hundred million baht has been spent since 2006 to install 350 real-time cameras around the Pattaya area to

Several hundred million baht !!

Lets hope its been wisely spent eh ?

Simon

The Mayor is asking for 38 million MORE baht to repair them.

[saintofsilence]

Friends of mine will visit Pattaya soon and they love jet skis , is there any vendor we can trust is not a scam near the Pattaya Beach Road?

I have already warned them but they ask for advice where to rent .

I have seen scams form all along the beach but if they were scammed by these guys a threat of a lawyer may help you are better off telling them to have an extra 200 thousand baht in the pocket just in case.

[striderman]

Friends of mine will visit Pattaya soon and they love jet skis , is there any vendor we can trust is not a scam near the Pattaya Beach Road?

I have already warned them but they ask for advice where to rent .

when i first noticed the scam and started taking pics in 2010 i thought that it was mainly confined to the area between soi 10 and mikes shopping mall.

but back in jan 2011 i realised that it was a beach wide problem and i would say nowhere is safe.

i accept that sometimes tourists do have minor bumps and i have seen it happen but when it does occur the sums demanded are out of all proportion to the actual damage on the ski

[poanoi]

Insist on going to the police station to make a formal report, that report will be saved and after a while it begs the question why that jet ski owner had so many 'accidents'.

At the police station you can also access a lawyer that will hopefully question just how much paint cost.

If the jet ski owner physically attack/prevent you from going to police station you can knife him and claim self defense, which will further bring spotlight on him.

Edited October 7, 2011 by poanoi

[Awohalitsiktoli]

Insist on going to the police station to make a formal report, that report will be saved and after a while it begs the question why that jet ski owner had so many 'accidents'.

At the police station you can also access a lawyer that will hopefully question just how much paint cost.

If the jet ski owner physically attack/prevent you from going to police station you can knife him and claim self defense, which will further bring spotlight on him.

As much as many of us really do want to "mess them up," suggesting that the victim take out a knife and use it on them is not, IMHO, a good idea for two reasons: 1) it may backfire after ten more angry monkeys start to attack, and 2) it may backfire after the police conclude (because the farang is always wrong) that it was not self-defence. Try to remain calm and avoid conflict. Ignore the threats, screaming and waving arms (all part of the show). Wait for the police to show up. Having said that, if they actually were to attack me, I am not sure what I would do, as opposed to being sure what I could do to them (or at least several of them). Rest assured that one day these monkey idiots will attack/scam the wrong person. That person will have influence/power. And he will use that influence/power to retaliate in some way. It is a shame the police will not stop this before it happens. I am guessing they will mess with a Russian with mob connections. Just a guess At this point I wish the city would ban all jet ski operations in both Pattaya and Jomtien. We do not need them. The city wants to go "Green." Jet skis are not environmentally friendly machines, so ban them! Oh, I almost forgot: How many minutes in one hour?

[IAMSOBAD]

Stay Away From Jet Ski Mafia!!!!!

They have knives...guns and mobs.