Sooty
January 3rd, 2014, 15:52
As many of us are well aware, Thailand is better described as the Land of Scams than the Land of Smiles. I thought I'd tell my story of a somewhat elaborate scam someone has tried out on me while I've been here
On one of the gay chat sites a very attractive and seductively posed schoolboy approached me and said that he had to pay his school fees and could I "lend" him the money. "Oh", I replied,"surely the school year is almost over?' (It ends in March). The story then changed. He was in arrears and the school would not let him resume in January if he hadn't paid the arrears. Always prepared to see how far these things will go I asked if he had a copy of the invoice that I could see for myself. His original request for "3,000 maybe 5,000" baht so an invoice would at least provide some precision. Yes he did so have. I then suggested I accompany him to the school's office and I would pay the invoice to them direct myself. Ah. Slight problem. The school office was closed until New Year and he needed the money before then in order to be allowed to start classes again.
Since he'd already volunteered that the school in question was Bangkok Christian College I knew that to be a lie since I walked past it several times (including that day) and there were school employees around. Perhaps I could deposit straight into their bank account?? He happily provided me with a bank account number. One of the advantages of the instant transfer facility that the Thai banks offer is that when you enter the account number they'll display the account name. Needless to say the account number didn't belong to Bangkok Christian College. When challenged on that point I was told that it belonged to "the head of the accounting department [of the school]". A schoolboy knows that terminology? The English throughout had been of a very high standard - even better than a447's, just to pluck out a member's name at random - another give away. I said I needed further confirmation (without ever accusing him that it was a scam). "OK, how about 1,000 baht, I'm desperate."
I thought I'd leave it at that point but on the balance of probabilities (what I base things on these days) it's a scam. Quite a good one, and of course boys desperate for learning but unable to pay are always juicy bait for Westerners who know the value of education themselves. The seductive pose also helped. The over-confident use of English was a red flag.
On one of the gay chat sites a very attractive and seductively posed schoolboy approached me and said that he had to pay his school fees and could I "lend" him the money. "Oh", I replied,"surely the school year is almost over?' (It ends in March). The story then changed. He was in arrears and the school would not let him resume in January if he hadn't paid the arrears. Always prepared to see how far these things will go I asked if he had a copy of the invoice that I could see for myself. His original request for "3,000 maybe 5,000" baht so an invoice would at least provide some precision. Yes he did so have. I then suggested I accompany him to the school's office and I would pay the invoice to them direct myself. Ah. Slight problem. The school office was closed until New Year and he needed the money before then in order to be allowed to start classes again.
Since he'd already volunteered that the school in question was Bangkok Christian College I knew that to be a lie since I walked past it several times (including that day) and there were school employees around. Perhaps I could deposit straight into their bank account?? He happily provided me with a bank account number. One of the advantages of the instant transfer facility that the Thai banks offer is that when you enter the account number they'll display the account name. Needless to say the account number didn't belong to Bangkok Christian College. When challenged on that point I was told that it belonged to "the head of the accounting department [of the school]". A schoolboy knows that terminology? The English throughout had been of a very high standard - even better than a447's, just to pluck out a member's name at random - another give away. I said I needed further confirmation (without ever accusing him that it was a scam). "OK, how about 1,000 baht, I'm desperate."
I thought I'd leave it at that point but on the balance of probabilities (what I base things on these days) it's a scam. Quite a good one, and of course boys desperate for learning but unable to pay are always juicy bait for Westerners who know the value of education themselves. The seductive pose also helped. The over-confident use of English was a red flag.