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Hi, My name really isn't "Burt" but I want to remain anonymous. I am a farang who has lived in Thailand for a number of years. This scam happened to a farang friend of mine who has lived in Thailand for about 5 years and is fluent in Thai. He is also an intelligent and decent guy. He got scammed as follows.
He got in a taxi on Suk Road about 3 months ago in the evening, near Thong Lor. He had a medium sized backpack with his computer, pda, passport, work permit, credit cards, some cash, and his mp3 player - basically all his valuable possessions that he owns. The driver seemed like a nice guy and they chatted a bit in Thai. At one point the taxi started to have mechanical problems, apparently the engine starting sputtering and soon thereafter stopped.
The driver asked to borrow my friend's cell phone to "call the company". After "calling the company" the driver said that it would take the company a long time to get out to help them, but if my friend would be willing to hop out and push the taxi perhaps it would start and they could continue on. So my friend got out the taxi, started to push. At that point the taxi started up and drove off with his backpack and all his stuff still in the taxi...leaving my friend standing there with no money, no phone and a long way from his house.
My friend filed all the reports with the police, etc., but has not gotten anything back and so far they haven't caught the taxi driver.
I share this because when I heard about it I was shocked for several reasons, but one reason I was shocked was because I could have easily fallen for this scam myself. I think I would have probably hopped out of the taxi and tried to get it going again too.
So I hope this story helps someone else from getting scammed this way.
Sincerely,
"Burt"
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