New SCAM at "yellow bank" ATM in Jomtien last night

[Marc K]

For the past umpteen years I have used the "yellow bank" ATM on Thappraya Road in Jomtien. I always got a near-current exchange rate (a 1% currency conversion fee) and it allows a daily withdrawal of 30k baht. The service fee (200B) has always been refunded by my bank back home, so I was always happy.

Last night, for the first time, a new screen appeared just at the very end of the ATM withdrawal process which asks if you want THEM to do the conversion to US dollars? I foolishly push "ACCEPT" which was a BIG mistake -- the receipt slip informs me that they took an additional 5% currency conversion fee for the privilege of doing the conversion!! This means I lost more than $40 on that transaction! I am really pissed!

I knew the moment I pushed ACCEPT that I had made a mistake, but there is NO WAY to cancel or reverse your choice once you push that button (which is way bigger than the other buttons). I was in a hurry and it cost me dearly.

So please, any Americans out there, please be careful with this raunchy (at best!) business practice. I was going to go back to the Yellow Bank to complain this morning but I realized it would do me no good. SO please be careful! (I don't know if this scam, and yes it is a scam, is also being done for pounds and euros, I hope not.)

[mr giggles]

And just this week, a skimming device was found on an ATM in Walking Street. Beware!

[francois]

The optional conversion fee has been a feature on many ATMs for years.We all fall for it at least once before we learn otherwise. At least you got the conversion fee (200 Baht) refunded to you by your home bank?

[maump]

and of course at a hotel, never let them bill you in your home currency....

[christianpfc]

The currency conversion is old news. The wording can be treacherous.

What once happened to me was that an ATM did not show fee or DCC, and yet the rate was much worse than usual, or the fee higher than usual. That was at an ATM in a hotel lobby in Brazil. "How convenient, an ATM right in my hotel", I thought. Convenient my ass! Lesson learned: avoid ATMs at airports and hotel lobbies; I do all my ATM business in ATMs in shopping centers or banks.

In Vietnam I get 5mVND without fee at TPBank and in Cambodia I get 1,000 USD with 4 USD fee at BRED.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_currency_conversion
Dynamic currency conversion (DCC) or cardholder preferred currency (CPC) is a process whereby the amount of a credit card transaction is converted at the point of sale, ATM or internet to the currency of the card's country of issue.

[latintopxxx]

marcK, not sure you can call it a scam if they ask your permission first....bit like saying the restaurant scammed you because they charged you $30 for a bottle of winme you can buy for $9,99 at the supermarket......but I understand your frustration at the exorbitant charges