It seems lots of things like this are going on now in Thailand,I wish now I hadn't booked for February.I only have flights booked and a deposit on a room in Ko Koh Khoah Island.Maybe Malaysia would be a good choice as I will land in BKK.

Seems like gangsters took over the country after that last coup.
Somethings wrong.

could have been fake cops. ( lots of fake =ing_ going on in bkk, even fake monks begging)

Im sympathetic to what those a***oles did to you bro. It probably shows the benefits of not carrying much cash. Maybe something to try would be to write down badge names or numbers and then take it up with their boss or the press later. God will get even with those pricks someday.

I personally know of another two people who have been the victim of this scam.
One of whom refused a search on the street and was taken for a search instead at Khao San police station; when returning to see us at the guesthouse restaurant 1,000 baht was missing from his back pocket.

Police are pulling over taxies and searching foreigners too.

someone once told me the biggest crooks are the cops (in thailand)
Sorry buddy, better luck next time, thank god your safe and well.

My advices would be to read and learn the thai way of life. This is a poor country that has many overseas people that come and take advantage of there women among other things, and disrespect there culture. That $50 US you lost is laughable, To you its not much, To them it puts food on the table for there family for a week or more ,,,,,,,, get over it

100% these were not false policemen, these were typical Thai policemen. A fake PO would be in big trouble if a true brown-shirt should see him on his beat. Unfortunately corruption is rampant throughout the public officials who are sworn to protect and serve. The longer time you spend in Thailand the more this type of thing will not surprise you. You are a temporary visitor and are seen more as an ATM than a respected guest. You will be gone in a few weeks, but your money will be well used by the locals and thier families, or the local pub. Your money gets divided up and a percentage goes to the police officer's supervisor and then his supervisor and the district commander. All benefit from your cash. Lesson: Always carry a photocopy of your passport, carry a old drivers license you do not mind getting confiscated by a PO hoping you will give him a bribe to avoid having to go to Police Stn to get back your driver's license. Keep only small cash on your person and have a well hidden ATM card for small daily withdrawals, Get used to getting charged much more for admission fees and NEVER ask a tuk-tuk driver for directions or help. If you see a westerner who knows like they know the lay of the land ask them, or find a college student who has a bit higher level of morality than those scraping at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Boo hoo! I let a thief hold my wallet and now I can't find my money!!! Whenever harassed by the cops in Thailand, you must refuse to let them search you. If you haven't done anything illegal they can't touch you (except at traffic stops apparently). Make sure they can see you know they're crooks, keep control of the situation. You have to insist on speaking to the TOURIST POLICE right then and there, firmly, knowingly, but certainly politely (this is very important - if you piss them off they can just pull drugs out of their back pockets and say it was yours). You do not need to go with them to any station. Insist that only the tourist police can search you. They won't know how to execute their scam under those circumstances, and will have to let you go.

A friend of mine in Bangkok told me never let the police search your wallet. Take out the contents yourself and show them but keep wallet and contents in your grasp. As regards the tourist police the number is 1155 but there are very mixed opinions about their usefullness.

Never let them physically search your pockets - if they insist then you take out whatevers in them -DON'T let a cops hand into the pocket -too easy for them to plant something -ie: ya ba or a bit of dope- it happens.
The cops are predominantly criminals -all the way to the top.

When a country has coruption and scamers, someting is wrong whit the system. Why visit this country?
Use your money elswere. There are other places on earth to visit.

I have been going to Thailand now for more than 22 years and have had few problems with anyone.the only scam that was perpetrated on me was by some Filipinos living there and that was about 20 years ago.I am sure that scams happen just about everywhere in the world --if you let it happen-- the people of Thailand like to be treated with some respect and although they don;t always show it to you it is the best way to get things done.personally I have never had a problem with Thai police but have heard on many occasions that they are not very honest especially with local people.Anyway the best way to go on any holiday is to be careful.As for the comment about getting over it --well yes it isn't a lot of money to most westerners and it is to thais but the point is POLICE ARE THERE TO PROTECT OTHERS AND TO BE LAW ABIDING not to fleece people.

This trip I noticed a very noticeable increase in the number of road blocks to search passengers of taxi for drugs.

Over a one month period I was stopped and searched 4 times, but I spent most of my time in Issan so it was more like 4 times in 15 days...

Now I dont take any drug at all and have nothing to hide, but I m still concerned because in one occasion the police started to take the taxi appart, removing the back seats, searching me 4 times and looking to be VERY VERY willing to find something (and also very very rude). Being searched by 4 police guys going throught all your pockets and all rudely asking questions at the same time is not something anyone like...

What about if some police decide to simply plant some drug in your pocket?

Knowing that a large number of the taxi drivers in Bangkok take Yaba in order to be abble to do their 12 hours shift, how about if the police find the driver drug? Will he say it belong to him or try his luck and say it was hidden there by the farang...who do you think the police will prefer to catch : a "rich" farang or a pennyless taxi driver???

Last time i was searched i could hear one police guy telling to the others "Song Roi Percent farangset, mai mee Ngern" before to let me go (translation : "he is French 200% and has no money") Now if THIS does not make one nervous of those "random search" what else?


Must say I am happy to be back home and wont come back to Thailand in a hurry...

Ken, May I suggest politely that you read, and continue reading. The Police are ripping people off big time, be it at the airport, clubs, bars etc.
I think what you meant to say the Police are offering a Protection Racket!

Thailand is upside down.
Innocents getting robbed by law enforcement.

kinda reminds me of when the police guy stepped off of the curb in Bangkok to pull us over for some false reason, then sticks his hand in the car twittling his fingers meaning "give me money" so my Thai bro in law shakes his head and says something in Thai like "oh yes officer" and then we went on our way and later we get pulled over out of Chiang Rai supposedly for having the wrong type of tag on the truck and fined 1000baht, almost 30usd on the spot, but the truck in front of us was same type truck and tag and they drove away.

Thai cops can and do whatever they want to you-period. If you resist or challenge in any way your life as a free person will be finished. To all those who say stand up for your rights are unaware that foreigners in Thailand HAVE NO RIGHTS. The police and many officials are corrupt. The airport is a risk going in and out. AVOID THAILAND.

But it is okay folks. Just today, Prime Minister Abhisit said that he is going to eliminate corruption in Thailand. I wish him luck. I truly do.

I am not making this up - - -
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/149898/pm-i-ll-end-corruption

You think Thailand is bad. Just hop the border to Cambodia. I rode a motorcycle there for 2 weeks. In Phnom Phen, there are police at nearly every stop light and they would flag me to pull over at EVERY one. Each time saying I ran a red light, or turned the wrong way... when I didn't etc. I would argue and they would want $5 so I paid and drove away. After 3 stops at 3 lights in a row, I learned to just run from the police there. I must have been flagged to pull over 100 times over the next week. I'm not even exaggerating, and I just drove around them and pretended I didn't see them. They are sitting on chairs next to the road, they weren't going to chase me. If I were behind the wheel in Thailand, i would do the exact same thing.

Running from the police could be counter productive and get someone shot or chased at high speed so they have an accident, the foreigner will always be the one at fault. They ran from the police so the police had the excuse to shoot or chase the foreigner added together with a charge for running from the police when not if you are caught. The penalty will be jail rather than a small fine.

Sounds far fetched but it does happen and people do get injured and jailed or killed here for a moment of recklessness in a foreign country.

Please be careful out there.

why don't we all stop going there. They'd be truly scamed then. It's getting dangerous now.

sorry chaps.

Theft is still theft. To say they're putting food on the table for their families by stealing from tourists is laughable. They are policemen- not Robin Hood! They have jobs so they are not as poor as the poorest in Thailand. Seemingly the country's not getting as many tourists as before- I used to visit the country regularly until 2006. Since tourism is (or was) the second biggest industry there, I guess they are feeling the effect of reduced numbers of tourists but scams like this will only worsen the situation.

I would seriously reconsider going there again these days.

I have been traveling to Bangkok for 10 years and never had an issue...

I'm finished with Thailand, I began to notice the change in Thai perceptions of tourists after the economic crisis of 97 was blamed on the west by Thaksin and his cohorts, why should I spend my hard earned money in a country where I am not protected, respected or really wanted, they dont want me, just my money.A country where I worry when I see a cop and a country where I just do not feel safe any more.There are plenty of countries who want me and will treat me with the same respect that I treat visitors to my own country.

A friend of mine just had a bad experience with a policeman at Bang Na toll booth, where you have to pay on joining the Bang Na tollway from the Ram Intra section.

My friend is new in Thailand, and doesn't speak the lingo. He is not even sure wjy he was pulled over. This is what happened:

1) The cop waved him to the side of the road
2) The cop asked to see his licence
3) My friend got out his wallet and started looking through it for his licence
4) The cop grabbed his wallet and started looking through it, lowering it out of sight
5) The cop gave him back his wallet
6) 13,000 Baht was missing

My friend was naturally enraged by this, got out of his car and demanded his money back. The cop denied all knowledge of it, so my friend got out his mobile and tried to take a photo of the cop. The cop got very angry and menacing, and grabbed my friend by the arm, telling him not to take a photo. My friend eventually got 10,000 back by cooling off and asking nicely for his own money. The cop then drove off.

Unfortunately, my (rather naiive) friend didn;t get any details, like the cop's name or licence plate number. He was naturally very shaken by what could very quickly have turned into a very nasty experience.

Don't carry too much cash around if you are driving in that area, and no matter what happens, never fight with a cop.

Beware!

These guys will not be cops but they are working under there protection. The majority of Bangkok street cops do not come from Bangkok they from the North of Thailand. But this place is getting a lot worse and very fast. for those of you that think the government that got ousted in the last Coup are a thing of the past, well think again as growing support for the former ousted Prime Minister is back on the rise, if you take the whole country as a whole they want back the Former government - I don't blame you one bit for not wanting to come here - Question is will there be another coup here - probably not but will the political unrest continue - yes for sure and for years to come as the military already have a very strong foot hold in the government. The cops here by the way cannot be prosecuted for what they refer to as misdemeanour's, do not trust any of them, you say there is always a few bad apples in the tree well here the apple trees are rotten to the core it would be fair to say that 95& or more of these cops are corrupt. I have seen it all over the last 35 years here. Then they push the point that we have a foreign tourist police consisting of former ex policeman and women, well all you have to do is take one look at them speak to them for 30 seconds and then realise they are not better than the Thai cops they are also filling there nest eggs, on a personal note I refuse to believe they are ex serving police officers. Go to Vietnam absolutely superb value for money and no trouble there with the cops, yeas they are corrupt but they leave all tourists alone. Change your holiday destination. Again one last thing every single ATM purchase or cash withdrawal here now carries a US$ 5 charge bottom exchange rate, with bank charges and exchange rates you can take US$ 100 out of any ATM here and get changed any where up to 10%. The place is an absolute rip off. Over the last 2 months they have sold 500,000 3G Phones, problem is they do not have a 3G network work that out. Thanks god my retirement is only 18 months away and then its back home for me.

just got back from bangkok i saw innocent people being planted with drugs. After paying the police they still just put them into the back of a truck and drove them away. its a very dangerous place DONT GO THERE

@Daniel, thats a libelous comment, I hope you have some evidence (film on phone) to back it up?

scary comment iam meant to go next week makes me afraid!!!!

@deb, I agree with Jason, maybe daniel got dumped by his ladyboy, so now he wants to get even?
deb, you need to do some reading up on other Thai related forums/websites and not let daniel the " bitter " spoil your forthcoming holiday.