Khlong scams in Thailand

Bangkok Buddha Day boat ride scam

A man in Bangkok tried to convince us to go on a boat ride. He said he was a teacher waiting for his doctor wife, and that today was a special religious holiday and boat rides were cheaper etc. If i wasn’t so scam-aware i would have definitely fallen for it, he was so convincing.

We met the scammer in a park close to the Flower Market. The Buddha Day scam was particularly convincing because at that time, there was a schoolchildren parade rehearsal going on in that park, and the scammer said he was their teacher and they were getting for Buddha Day. Yeah, right.

After telling us about Buddha Day and about his doctor wife, he suggested that we go to a particular dock where we can catch a special Buddha Day boat ride and for a special price. He offered to take us there. I said no because I already knew he was a scammer.

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Scam at Hua Lamphong

Out of MRT station Hua Lamphong I tried to take a Tuk Tuk to the Grand Palace, one person in the street going to his job gently started to explain us that traffic is terrible at that hour and that we should take a boat and that it will only cost us 150 baht to the Grand palace.

He told us to get a Tuk Tuk and go to pier number 2 Wat Muang Kae. Tuk Tuk driver was two meters away and tolds us the exact fare (30 baht) the man already mentioned us (which was the first alarm, because Tuk Tuk drivers see you as foreign and try to charge 100baht as minimum for short rides).

When we arrived at the pier it wasn’t N2, it was a private pier, and they told us it will cost 1200 baht per person to get to the Grand palace. We try to walk direct to the pier to get a public boat and they got aggressive saying it was a pier with only private tours. We didn’t pay and we left. The real pier N2 was a block away.

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PLEASE BE AWARE: of the Vallet employees at hotels

Went to thailand and stayed at a Hansar hotel (a good brand name hotel). I ask the vallet employees where the best way to get to the floating market. He states he knows a travel agency that can arrange a shuttle to the floating fish market for a cheap price flat (1200 baht)- not sure if this is cheap but the travel time was about 1-1.5 hours from bangkok so seemed reasonable and it will also include a stop at the train market. Once agreed with “Jacky” the next day – the “shuttle” shows up which is pretty much a taxi….. An hour and a bit – into the trip we get to the “main floating market stop” this is the first stop the driver brought us to and we thought it was the only one. The prices to enter the market on a little private boat was over 4000 baht (approximately 150USD) – this includes a trip to see a sugar cane factory (just big pot with sugar cane) and the big and small market). At first i thought it was ridiculously expensive but you will see other tourist family who are being scammed to also pay the crazy fees – so you end up agreeing and thinking its reasonable. YOU ALSO DON’T KNOW THIS IS THE ONLY DOCK SO YOU THINK TRAVELING FOR 1.5 HRS you must pay the fee as you worked so hard to get there already.

BEAWARE: IF YOU DONT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY THEY WILL TELL YOU THERE IS AN ATM IN THE FLOATING MARKET SO THEY WILL TAKE YOU THERE TO GET MORE MONEY IF YOU DONT HAVE ENOUGH. At the end of the day due to MY bad planning – I realized there was a offical dock stop for entering the market at prices of 30-50 Baht at the most – which you can ask the driver to speicically go to…..Please do not fall into this trap as many of the taxi drivers/vallet employees are all into the SAME scam to make you pay the most expensive fees to get to tourist attractions such as the floating market.

….I soon realized that day after the TAXI driver was a security guard of another hotel down the road – WHOM MOST LIKELY WAS PALS WITH THE VALLET EMPLOYEES AT MY HOTEL.

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Super expensive prices

Don’t take the floating market tour they make you pay to shop at super expensive prices

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