This scam is very common in Pattaya and Kho Samui, recently some tourists were assaulted on Chaweng beach when they refused to pay the jet ski repair bill scam. Would recomend not to hire jet skis anywhere in Thailand, I also beleive it is illegal in Phuket.

A friend had this happen in Pattaya too. After arguing for about 30 minutes he lost his cool and started swearing at the Thai guys in Russian (he is westerner with Russian parents) they Thai guys looked shocked and asked "Are you Russian" he said yes and they said "You go, you go and not come back ok?"

The Russian Mafia are pretty heavy in Pattaya and abviously low life Thais were scared in case he was connected.

I was in Jomtien beach using a jetski, when I finished the jet ski owner showed me a small scratch and told me I had to pay 20 thousand baht, I asked for the police but he refused and started shouting at me, I was very scared and eventually had to pay him, I went to the police after this and they said they could do nothing.

Hello! you paid him 20,000bt, you are joking right?

Thanks for your support Jay, people like Dave should not comment on others misfortune, the whole jet ski incident let me deply upset and scared, so much so I never went to the beach there again.

It's when I read articles like this that I'm glad that I'm Thai myself as I don't get approached for scams. At the same time I feel ashamed that my birth country has people that do these things.

Dave,
Sorry for misunderstanding you. My bad.

My friend and I was in Phuket (Tri Trang Beach) in November 2007 and hired 2 jetski's for a 20 minute ride.. Accidentaly we bumped into eachother and both jetski's got minor damages.. (a torn rubber "bumper" on my friends' jetski and a small crack in the fiberglass on the side of mine..) We both new this was going to be expensive so we decided on an amount between the two of us before we went back to the shore.. Of course the owners of the 2 jetski came running and waving their hands, shaking their heads etc... And after a short consultation between the 2 owners and 4-5 other thai-locals they tried to seperate us and negotiate a price for the damages.. The first wanted THB 95000,- (total) for the "scratches"!! We refused and came with a counter-offer, a lot lower of course.. THB 10000,- (total)! This bargaining kept going for almost an hour, and the owners (plus a heird of other locals) got angrier each time we gave them a new "deal"... Anyways, we ended up paying THB 26000,- total.. Still way to much! Later, as we got back home (to Norway) we talked to others who had experienced almost the same kind of situation.. They had refused all claims and threathened to call the Tourist-police.. They said they had never seen so many Thai's flee the "scene of an accident"!!! So, my advise; NEVER give in to their claims before having brought up the police, to see how they react..

This is one of the most common "beach scams" in Thailand. Unfortunately, bringing the police into the picture will probably not help you. Thai Police officers are notoriously corrupt and will gladly support the jet-ski scammer, knowing that a hefty chuck of the extorted money will end up in his or her pocket.

I would love it if everybody on the planet knew about this scam and gave the jet-ski rental people no more business. It's incredibly difficult to teach Thais about good business practice and honesty, but if all foreigners stopped giving them business and made the reason known ("Because 99% of you are dishonest.") they might start to catch on that we're not a bunch of idiots. (Actually, I think it's Thai people's assumption that foreigners are as dense as they are that bothers me the most.)

I have just come from Thailand, both in Pattaya and Phuket, I was asked for money to repair damaged jet skis, the damaged looked about 4 years old, Phuket jet ski operator asked for 80 thousand baht, I said no and he started to get abusive, I called my hotel who sent the tourist police. Eventually I gave them nothing and walked away.

In Jomtien the operator asked me for 20 thousand baht, again I needed to get assistance from Police, but they were no help. Both the operators thought I was a stubid woman, but they got nothing from me. I am now writing to all tour companies in UK to warn their customers to avoid jet ski operators in Thailand. I have now read articles where recently in Kho Samui tourists were attacked by Jet ski operators. It is not acceptable. I hope this tale of woe helps other persons traveling to these areas.

Let me give you my advise people! Before you rent the jet ski besure to check any damage before you go out the water; let them know right away any scracht at all than make the agreement. Voila!

Sam, are you talking from experience? I'm afraid you don't know the Thai ways my friend, if you were to point out any scratches or damage to the jet ski beforehand this will only make the scamming toe rag even more determined to extract money from you! Why I hear you ask, because you have made these shoot themselves in the foot thiefs LOSE FACE, thats why.

Sam you are absolutely right, I stay in Thailand and there is no reason a Thai would lose face, if you like even take photos of the jet ski, if it is an honest jet ski operator he wont mind. So Dave my friend I think it is you who do not know the Thai ways.

But I would advise evryone to just not rent a jet ski.

My wife and I recently went to Ko Pha Ngan Thailand and jet skiied for 30 minutes. During the ride, my wifes jet ski nudged mine and put a small crack on the side. The owners wanted 70,000 bht. I insisted a police officer come to sort the problem out-- bad idea. This chump had no badge but carried a gun, so what the hell were we to do but pay? He lowered the sum to 60,000bht, so we ended up paying roughly $2000USD to Coral Bungalows Suratthani. How much did the damage really cost? Who knows, but I doubt it was $2K. Supposedly the cost included 2 days of lost rental, transport to Pattaya (officer claims this is the only place in Thailand that repairs jetskis) and repair of the crack and repair of the other jetski, if any damages were present. This part angered me most of all-- They assumed the other jetski was damaged and therefore came up with an arbitrary number to charge me. It was a terrible experience. Don't rent jet skis in Thailand. It's not worth it!

I dont see that checking a jet ski before u get on would make the Thai lose face.Explain please

I'm glad I came across this website... my girlfriend and I are going to Thailand at the end of March (5 nights in Bangkok and 8 nights in Phuket) I love to jet ski and was considering renting one during my vacation. After reading all your stories, I think I'll have to pass on the jet ski idea (even though I'm Russian). Thanks for the heads up.
If anyone has any suggestions on things to do in Bangkok or Phuket, something that I might not easily find in a book or on the web, please let me know.

Why did you guys bring 20,000baht - 80,000baht to the beach? I'll probably tell those people I don't have that much money on me and my money is in the hotel so if they allow, they'll accompany me back to the hotel to get the money. Then I'll ask for help through the Hotel staffs. Not those low-rank bell boys, but at least the receptionist or manager at front desk. But do remember all this while, you should keep your cool and put on a smiling face misleading them that you'll pay. The key here is always "smile"... even when you're about to ambush them back in the hotel with your Russian cousins. Thats the Thai way. :D

I was kidding about the last time. The part about the ambush. Smiling works all the time though. :)))))

This is an informative site, we are going to Phuket and Jomtien for 3 weeks. Me or my family will not be renting jet skis, although the kids will be dissapointed. Maybe Thailand should clean up its act, I am kind of nervous about going there now after reading this website.

It doesn't really matter what you rent in Thailand, you will allways be ripped of. Taxirides, housebuilding, jetski, bikes , cars, pushbikes, rooms, whatsorever. The only thing that helps is being married to a local and speek their language. I live here 20 jears and looking at the things you rent and check them and talk to the owner about already done demages and PUT IT ON THE RENTAL-COTRACT. Than, there schould't be a problem. Even if you are not married , or speak the language. Come on guys, just have fun and be SMARTER.

if you are being harrased by anyone in thailand especialy pattaya say you cant speak english, try to learn a few russian words. I come out with odi ebi which means f off in serbo-croat

Last week me and my girlfriend rented two jet skis at Kamala Beach, Phuket. We had an accident when we should talk about how long time we had left of the 30 minutes. She got caught by a wave and smashed into my jet ski. I knew that this could get expensive, so I showed the Thai-man the damage and was interested to hear a price from him. I thought it would cost 20000 baht, but he demanded 80000!!! The damage was on the rear side and was NOT big. After several talks with the corrupted tourist police we agreed on 55000 baht, just to get this out of the world. Conclusion have to be not to rent jet skiis in Thailand ever again....

Wow!! How about just avoiding Thailand all together!

No !!! Thailand is beautifull!!! So come and bring us your money! No just kidding. Just write all demages in the contract before you rent something, and check BEFORE!!! The Thais take advantage of first-timers. But they are beautifull people!!! All in all one of the best places to live!!

I'd call my mother-in-law (Thai) - knowing her, they will end up owing me money :)
Contacts is a useful thing in Thailand - My father-in-law is ex-navy and still puts his old car pass in his windscreen, Thai police ignore him. I also know a major in the Thai police which is helpful too - a quick call, and the BIB (boys in brown - cops) suddenly switch sides!

The best thing is to use your hotel. As someone said, tell them you have all your money and ATM/Credit cards back at the hote and when in the foyer get the manager to help - at least to call the Tourist Police. The Tourist Police are usually quite good and ainti-scammers, unlike seems to be evidnt from the usual BIBs. Always check what you are hiring (bike/ski/car/whatever). Make notes and show them to the vendor. Get him to sign your notes, if he won't, go next door. Don't trust a Thai to transalte it for you unlss you know and trust them (and not for the last 2 hours!). You can roughly sketch it and fill in the prese nt damage. They will assume you are not a newbie, and leave the scam for the next green visitor.

Hi I'm in Karon beach phuket right now and same happen to me , the crack was old and was obiously.
They ask me for 20k bath for repairs , i refuse they got agresive 3 of them aproached me and my gf , one done same as commented above and hold my gf by her arm , didn't doubt it for a second sorry but noone put the hand on my gf , i'm not violent but he got what he was looking for , he got KO thge other 2 run for theyr lives.

Police arrive i stated self defense and told will call embassy if they arrest me , Didn't pay anything and got the jet ski guy arrested for assault , i press chargues.


Don't feel intimidated by this jerks or police you have rights if you have a embassy on that country.

Never accept anything they say , iff police don't help you call your embassy straight away and make sure tourist near the incident give you theyr details in case you need them later in court

you are right these people don't have any shame and i don't understand what they are proud of ?

Hey,
I own a jet ski and it never suprises me how stupid people are with others property. To the people who did not damage them and a scam was attempted I empathize. To the idiots who "bump", "nick", etc..the two jets ski...In an ocean full of open areas you end up banging into eachother?? Your dumbasses and should have been flogged. For every scammer there is a deadbeat tourist with ZERO common sense who damages expensive watersport equipment by his/her own shear stupidity then is angry at the repair prices. Go pound sand you stupid tourists....

Chris you are an absolute goat, you are obviously not experienced or veresed with what this site is about. We are trying to warn people about the scams. So please keep your opinions to yourself and go play on your perfect jet ski.

goat ! nob end more like. Chris, i bet your The sort of person to but in on someone else''s conversation without knowing what the hell there talking about. 80000 baht for a scratch. ! you think thats fare do ya and all tourists are stupid and resent paying outrageous damage charges for damage in most cases that wasnt damaged by them atall and like being intimidated and fear for there life at times ! .i for one found this website useful and was thinking of renting a jetski in kho samui. now i think i want to go punch one of the thai gits on the beach a few times and run. i bet they only do the scam to the vunrable looking and not 300lb men ! cowards.

I travel to Thailand regulary and own a vehicle there. It got damaged in a wind storm and I had to get repaired 2 dents in the bonnet, 4 in the mudguard, 2 in the door and 2 in the c pillar. The repairer also had to paint all the bonnet, guard and door. Total cost 10,000 baht. The repairer told me that work on 2000 baht per area of repair. Any small scratch in a jet ski should cost 2000 baht to repair not 20,000. If you have an accident remember that.

It's unfortunate that many tourists on their first time to Thailand are caught up in these pathetic low life scams. I have lived here for years and one thing I do is ALWAYS stay away from the heavy populated tourists places. There are tons of beaches and other places in Thailand where you will never run into these types of scams.

The internet is full of research and there are nice beaches, resorts, and holiday fun far away from these hotbeds of scammer activity. I can never understand how so many tourists end up in these spots notorious for crime and scams and have they vacations totally ruined. These scams and crime are well reported in news city and websites all over the internet.

Sorry but these places are not the best beaches or resorts Thailand has to offer, not even close. If I had a travel agent that suggested these places, I would never use them again.

As an ex-pat living here, I hate to see other foreigner ripped off this way. It makes me sick.

Check out http://www.visualthailand.com this is a non-commercialized website where you can get real up to date photos and information to make your Thai holiday the absolute best.

We just got back from Thailand and had a great time. We hired a motor bike for a couple of days and all I can say is that we were very well looked after by our security guard at Tri Trang Beach Resort. He checked the bike with us before we paid to make sure it had no damage and then checked it each night when he came on duty to make sure all was well. When the guys came to pick the bike up he again checked it with us to make sure all was well. He asked us for 20baht per day to check the bike which we were happy to pay. If at all possible always have someone check with you before hiring anything and also pay infront of them as well. Never hire a bike off the street, get them to follow you to your resort as we did. Also some hotels can organise a jet ski for you and if at the beach near your resort take the security guard or other hotel worker with you to check. They may ask for a small fee but its worth it. This sort of thing happens in Fiji as well so always have your witts about you no matter where you are or what you are doing that way you can enjoy your holiday and not feel the bitter taste of being ripped off. Hope this helps,

Excellent advice Colleeen, Many thanks.

Maybe Chris is one of the scammers.....

Saw a family rent a jetski, was going to say something but they had their fun and paid without problems. They apparently rented from an outfit with a lot of jetskis which looked legit (numbers on the jetski).

Later, I noticed two young guys rent a couple of jet skis from two rough looking guys. When they returned the jetskis, the vendors went right to the "broken" parts (rubber moulding that they lifted up). I did not think the big Thai who operated the beach chair rental operation was involved, but the vendors called this guy over to "judge" the damage! He was part of the scam! You could see them going back and forth with negotiations with the two guys!

Hit them where it hurts! This rental chair operation and jet ski scam is opposite "Spices" Indian restaurant on Beach Road, Pattaya. The operator is an older Thai or Chinese, with a big head.

Juan,
"hey got agresive 3 of them aproached me and my gf , one done same as commented above and hold my gf by her arm , didn't doubt it for a second sorry but noone put the hand on my gf , i'm not violent but he got what he was looking for , he got KO thge other 2 run for theyr lives."

Lol this is the best post ive seen on here,absolute gold!

Sir,i salute you!

well, i do not knnow u guys but how much would u pay for a repair about 20 cm wide??

wow..
the police agreed that 25,000 is a fair price.. do u guys think that its worth that money??

Me and a mate hired waverunners about 5 years in Patong Beach and didn't get scammed....the guys were cool.

I am a little late to this post, but I am frankly amazed at all of these people's naivete. Thais like to bark, but at the end they cannot do a thing to you. The police cannot force you to pay anything. The owners have to take you to court for that. The best thing any of you can do is call the police. Then do not pay a dime. Tell the owners right there that they can tale you to court. That will make them come to an agreement. In front of the police they will not touch you, or they will get immediately arrested. I have lived in Thailand for a while and have seen Thais try to rip me off. It will not work. My piece of advise in Thailand or anywhere else is "know your rights"

I was in Phuket with my 2 brothers, one is 17 and the other 30. They always rent jet skis on the beach and thought they would do the same in Phuket. They had a 30 min ride, cost 3,000 baht but 10 minute into their ride my 17 year old brother's jets ski just went stopped., assuming either the battey died or no fuel. there was no collision wahtsoever. Older brother came to the beach with jet ski and told the jet ski guy (JTG) that jet ski died and so JTG went to get younger brother stuck in the middle of the water while we waited on the beach. We they returned to the beach my little brother came running visibly shaken saying that the JTG threated to throw him in the water and let him drown right there in the middle of the huge currents. The JTG came yelling and screaming at us saying we 'broke' his jet ski. He held up a hammer and gestured as though he was going to hit my brother. he did the same to both my brothers and one point gestured as though he was going to punch me. He was trying to anatagonize so my brother would KO him but at the same time JTG really looked crazy so pretty sure that the JSG would possibly hit. At this point I said that I am going to call the police which angered the JTG. The police came and he was useless. We said that the JSG threatened with a weapon- which is considered as assault in the States. Police said and I quote: ' no contact no problem, if hit then problem...now u have to pay for the jet ski' We were all floored!!!! police even came up with the amount of 5,000 baht!!!! He said that we should pay if we want to go home. We said that if anything the JSG should pay us b/c we used up only 10 mins instead of 30 mins and he gave us a broken jet ski. In the middle of all this the JSG came and whispered to us that he has a gun and knew which hotel we were staying at and our room number b/c of the papers we signed when we got the jet ski. Told police and threat with gun again, he couldn't care less. Police said that if we refused to pay then we need to go to the station. We said that before we go anywhere, we will call the embassy and speak to them. Brother called friend and said in a very audible voice said that he wanted the number for the United States Embassy. The police then said something to the JSG and got into his car and just left. He didn't say goodbye nothing, he jumped into car and left. Then the JSG came over to my brother and said he wanted to apologize for the whole thing. Ruined our whole stay in Phuket and wasted 4 hours on the beach with corrupt police. BEWARE OF JET SKI RENTAL and always say u want to speak to your embassy

Thanks for posts. I'm taking my gf there next week and will surely make some use of these advices, being a mean-looking Russian-speaker.

I cannot believe this scam is still on going as i fell for it well over 15 years ago.

The guy demanded i pay around £600 for a repair and i told him no chance, things got heated and i said to resolve it call the police. He then said well we may be able to reapir the damage and said he would have to go and fetch a repair kit but i should go with him.
Off we went for about half an hours ride on the back of a moped scooter to an old farm where he picked up the repair kit and took me back to the beach. I ended up paying about £15, looking back i must have been crazy to have left the beach with him as he took me past some really out of the place areas.

Anyway i lived to tell the tale, maybe i should learn to speak russian lol

If you rent a jet ski and bash it ( i.e. you know you have damaged it) the best thing to do is to ride it to the next beach or to the very far end of the beach and leave it there especialy if you have all your stuff in the compartment and then just get a taxi or a tuk tuk to the hotel just up the road from your real one, and walk the last bit when the tuk tuk driver leaves, always pack your stuff in your backpack or bag and put it under the jetski seat, take it with you say you dont trust to leave it , maybe just leave your towels and t shirt, and never go back to that beach again, its worth loosing a towel or a t shirt just not to have to deal with their crap.

By the time they realise you have dumped their jetski you are long gone, just do yourself a favour dont do it if you have towels borrowed from the hotel with a logo ot a lable on it, if they do come to your hotel just deny all knowledge of even renting from them, they do not take any id from you, beat them at their own game.

If you get back to the beach and they start their crap, just call your hotel and ask for their assitance, or call the tourist police but ask for police from a different area like Kathu or Karon, dont let the local fuzz deal with it, and get a representative from the hotel to assist you.

cheers

Mark

Best plan, don't bother to rent a jetski.

most of the area ( water) is filled with persons that ride with no regard for others safety.

When I worked from patong area, every day there seemed to be incidents of kids getting run into with jetskis.

very little of what happens ends up in the news, just talk among the locals.

Better idea. Stay away from ripoff countries like Thailand.

I have lived in Pattaya 10yrs and this isnt a new scam, its pretty hopeless calling the cops because they only negotiate a price and half it with the jetski operators. Your best chance of not getting ripped off if you must rent one from these crooks , is thoroughly inspect it before going onit and ask them to show you any marks and let them know you know thier tricks. Better stay clear off them though.

Just got back from 10 days Koh Samui (Chaweng Beach) My 18yr old daughter and friend had a collison in on the jet skis. Little bit of damage. Guys on the beach got the big boss down to assess and he said the damage would cost 89,000bht. After lots of heated discussion we all went over the the Bohput Tourist Police Station and was met by an Australian Volunteer who is supposed to help negotiate. After four hours an amount of 55,000bht $A2,300.00 for a small ding was agreed to. The Australian volunteer said it was not a fair amount but that we didnt have much choice as ultimately it all came down to the girls' safety and as it was the 1st of their 8 day stay and apparently the jetski owner was known to turn up at resorts in the night banging on doors with knifes, we were left with no other option. We were told that the jet ski would be off the beach for 5 days (loss of income) and it would have to go to Pattaya to be repaired. We saw it back on the beach the next day all fixed. I cannot stress more "dont hire jetskis in Thailand" these people are evil and corrput including the Tourist Police and the Australian Volunteer. They are all out for their cut. The following day the owner of the jetski started hanging around the carpark of the resort the girls were staying at. Hire a jetski in Australia pay the extra it is not worth the risk of what happened to these girls. I notice that some people suggest just walking away but when you are concerned about a group of 18 year old girls holidaying on their own and you are advised by an Australian Tourist Police Volunteer you feel that you have exhausted all your options. We know we paid way too much so just wanted to get it out there don't hire jet skis in Thailand - all the locals know and try to tell tourists.

55,000 for a small ding?
Geez, sounds like you bought a new one for the punks that run the beaches in Thailand.

55,000 for a small ding thats been reported 100 times and been there for 18months.

Find something other to do than jet ski in Phuket, just too risky for something that should be fun.

I think this is absolutely disgusting behaviour by these crooks!!! Ripping off and terrorising the people that bring food onto many Thai plates!! And to think that the Police are all part of this says everything about this beautiful country, shame the people are not as beautiful. I think the tourists should take a stand and not visit this corrupt Country anymore until they clean up their act and get rid of the low-lifes that are spoiling it for all the honest and decent people(tourists and Thais). I for one will be taken this up with my Member of Parliament and Newspapers(News Of The World) to alert all the scams and cons to the British public so they do not get caught out by not visting this corrupt Country!!!!!! Lets see how these low-lifes survive without any tourists to rip-off??!!

Trouble is with the pound and euro parity situatuion and the high rate of the baht against most currencies, is there anywhere else that comes close for a reasonably priced holiday destination?

The goods far outweigh the bads here although I agree more publicity is a good idea so people can hurt these scammers in their pockets and force them out of business, having said that would they then turn to street crime and muggings like other holiday destinations such as those in south america, the carribean and in europe?

People have to eat one way or another and if you cut someones income off they still have to make money, they were dishonest before and theyll do it again.

Making sure tourists are informed of what can go wrong before they travel here would do far more good than the rose coloured spectacles influenced brochures and adverts pushed by the travel agents trying to sell £500 a night and above spa breaks to high rollers and **** the ordinary holiday maker.

Jet sky users deserve to get scammed. Noise, polution and it is dangerous for swimmers. Popular in Thai National Parks ha ha. Another source of income for the poor parkrangers.

To Theo,
Would you really like to restrict tourist's fun and enjoyment whilst they are on holiday to just visitng National Parks and the like, after all we all have different ideas what constitutes in being fun or do you think that the Thai's could be more responsible by allocating designated areas for Jetskiing and have responsible Hirers that give tuition to prospective Jetski users like they do here in the UK!!!!

To pigholet,
It's easy to make excuses for these low-lifes that just want to make an easy buck out of the people that put food on their table, There are plenty of people in the world that struggle to make ends meet but we don't see them turning to crime and dishonesty. I haven't always been able to afford the things I want but I wouldn't turn to making other people unhappy and miserable, just a matter of scruples and principles and caring about your fellow human being which obviously these low-lifes DO NOT, THEY COULDN'T CARE LESS WHO THEY RIP OFF!!!!! Take away the Tourist and see how they survive ripping their own kind off!!! They wouldn't, they would be locked up if they were in any other civilised country that didn't have a corrupt Police Force! I suppose you would make excuses for the Somalian pirates aswell, terrorising innocent people into handing over millions of dollars instead of trying to earn an honest wage?

There is nobody, NOBODY, that will look after a foreign visitor. The Police are the last people you want to call when troubles rise.

If you call the police, remember to go to an ATM first to avoid later embarrassment!

Thanks for all the info re jet skis I am now going to open a couple of jet ski outlets with mugs like you lot on the planet I will be a millionaire in no time. I also do a nice line in gems if your interested.

To those resident in asia, the philippine islands also have repeated instances of piracy and as mentioned andaman / burmese pirates down on the pan handle of thailands south.

Seldom but sometimes reported in the news, this is an unpleasant side effect of criminality that hits victims when they are out in the middle of the sea rendering them helpless.

Forget any romanticism of jonny depp and the movies, these asian pirates wont hold out for a ransom like the somalian pirates holding a multi million dollar cargo ship, theyll smash your head in, dump you in the sea and take your boat and personal possessions, whilst you will probably drown.

Have a think before drifting off alone in a boat as the freedom and independance you are seeking could come to an abrupt end.

i wish i had come across this site before my fiancee left for thailand.
he has just recently rang to let me know that all our wedding savings have been used up due to this incident with the jet skis.
he and his other 4 mates had to pay up between $1500-3000AUD EACH!!! for the 'damages caused to each jet ski' they had hired in phuket...

is there really nothing we can do now that the money has been paid??
im shocked that warnings havent been circulated more publicly yet!

Just typed "jet ski corruption Thailand" into Google and noticed this site.
My partner and me gave up everything back in the UK to fund our 'Asian Adventure' and visited Patong Beach Phuket in our 3rd week there and got conned by the jek-ski 'creatures' (Thai humans).
We had to come back to the UK as were waiting for cleared funds, and all that we had at the time we had to give to them.
We had just booked into our cheap guesthouse and decided to go straight to the beach. I had jet-skied twice before in my life (both in the Canary Islands) and had always talked to my partner about how great the experiences were, so when we were approached by the jet-ski 'creatures' to hire a ski we were more than a little excited and tempted.
I managed to negotiate a lower rate for us both for 30 mins, and signed a contract - saying that the ski didn't have any insurance - I know that I took the risk before any smart arse points out the blinking obvious. However, this doesn't give those creatures a licence to con you and ruin/end your holiday (it ended ours).
We were not given any instructions on how to get on if we fell off, and the creatures seemed intent on getting us into the water sooner rather than later.
We were out for 5 mins when owing to us having to stop to give way to a boat that was providing a para-gliding experience, and owing to a big wave, we both fell off of the jet ski. We attempted to get back on and couldn't (waves and lack of co-ordination), so we decided to wait in the water until we were rescued.
It took the 'creature' ages to notice us and come out on their jet-ski. During this time the ski was going further out to sea, and more water was getting into the jet-ski, as we were hanging onto it at times waiting to be rescued.
My partner was getting really worried and thought that he was going to drown (even though he had a life jacket on!).
When the 'creatures' finally came out on their ski's to rescue us, well one guy did (which we were later told by a helper on the beach, that they had to off-load from their trailer - so lapse and negligent) they took us one by one (partner first!) to the beach.
We were then left on the beach not knowing what was going on. I wanted them to stop messing about and retrieve the ski so that we could go back out on it, or I was going to ask for our money back. Afterall it was them that took forever to collect us from the sea, and it was them that took so long to collect their ski, and it was them that hadn't even showed us how to get back on to the ski.
We had our life jackets taken off of us and we told to go and see the 'boss-man'.
The creatures made up some rubbish about the jet-ski being broken and that we now had to pay to repair it. We surrounded by about 10 creatures at first and were in truth a little over-whelmed. We were then joined by an Australian Immigration Volunteer man who never identified himself until later on, and was extremely keen to get involved in negotiating a repair price. We were also joined by an Australian tourist who said to get to the Thai police before the creatures did, because they are truly bent. We were also joined by another helper, another Australian tourist and his son, who said that he had owned jet-skis and that the ski that we had hired could easily be repaired there and then, or at worse could be repaired for approx £50.00.
The creatures weren't willing to listen to that of course, and just fobbed us off, of course they would we realise now - they wanted to con us.
The Australian Immigration Volunteer negotiated a rate - from 50,000 Baht (£900) to 25,000 Baht (£450). We didn't have the cleared funds so had to phone a realative in the UK to transfer money. We were held captive on the beach until we could make payment. That's a full day on the beach - our first day on the beach. Nightmare.
The funds were transferred from the UK but we couldn't withdraw their ransom all at once, so we had no option but to surrender my passport to them overnight until we could withdraw more money the next day.
During our imprisonment on the beach, I was allowed to leave whilst my partner stayed, and I walked a mile to the Tourist Police Unit. It was closed, so borrowed a mobile to ring a number on the window of the Tourist Police Unit.
I spoke with a Thai Officer and he said that the amount asked was way over the top and that 7-10,000 Baht (£140-£200) was all that was necessary. He said that I could go to the police station and ask that the amount be reduced, but that I had to be careful about getting a kicking or worse when leaving the police station.
We had initially asked for two ladies (Australian, mum and daughter - daughter a JP in Queensland, and mother moved from Australia to Thailand) to look after our bags whilst on the ski's. They were very helpful through-out the day and lent us their mobiles and bought us drinks etc. When I put this option to them (pay in full, or pay less and go to the police station and risk a beating), they advised strongly to pay in full. The mum said that we would at best get a kicking or at worse be stabbed or even shot.
This is backed up by a friend on the island that has confirmed that people have been shot for money owed - recently in Thailand.
We believe that the Thai police were in on the scam, and that even the Australian Immigration Volunteer was much more likely than not to be involved on it.
So over the two days we had to pay them what they were owed, and then return to the UK - months earlier than expected.
Thailand should be ashamed of itself - it should imprison these con-men and its bent police officers.
We have learnt lessons of course but we should not have been conned and we should have had police protection - fact.
I know that it was my risk without insurance but I was only agreeing to pay for my damage caused and not be conned.
It sounds childish - but they are mean people.
May bad luch, very bad luck, come their way!

Thanks so much for this site, im heading to phuket next monday and was going to ride a jet ski, after seeing this site i think i will be laying on the beach and staying clear of these scam. Beer please:-)

good idea not to get on or near jet skis in thailand,'

besides the scams, if you are injured you will not get the care you would get at home.
( and most likely your insurence will not cover you on your "adventure"

and lots of drunk lunitics riding the jet skis to increase the odds of an accident.

stay clear of the jet skis, both for rental and in the water, lots of incidents of persons injured by inebreated riders also.

Hi everyone,
I was in Pattaya last Jan 09, this is soo true, the moment you return back the Jet Ski, they start pointing out the worn and damaged areas of the Jet Ski and demand for a big amount. They demanded 40000 THB from me and my friends for something we never did. Anyway, we did not agree but ask them to call the police. We sat there for an hour, waiting for the police but they never called anyone. Finally, we called the police and the first thing the cops said is "this happens everyday, never rent a jet ski." The police was in our favour and we settled down with 5000 THB.

IF YOU EVER TRAVEL TO THAILAND, NEVER RENT ANYTHING SPECIALLY LIKE BIKES AND JET SKI OTHERWISE YOU WILL EITHER END UP PAYING HUGE MONEY AND/OR WASTE A LOT OF TIME. ADDITIONALLY, CAN ALSO BE HARASSED BY BUNCH OF THAIS

you still setteled on 5000thb are you serious so you gave in the police got his noodle money and the scammer got another sucker liek he said Happends Everyday another sucker is scammed !!!

to james thomas..............if your story is true. i have sympathy for you but you novices have no business playing on jetskis without the confidence and experience, that would have avoided your troubles.. this is why i never go to the tourist beeches to bloody dangerous..........

me and my partner vitited patong in May 09 for my 21st. we hired the jetskis (1 each) and werent even on them for 2 minutes when i got called back in to the shore. they tried telling me i had crashed it and i had 2 pay for he damage. as my partner was still out on his and wasnt aware of what was happening a couple of other australian tourist came and defended me explaining 2 the thais that i had not crashed the jetski. by the time my partner had relised i was back on the beach and came in the thais had me in tears asking for 85000 baht. at first we refused to pay this and the kind australian tourist that came to our rescue went and got the local police. after hours at the police station and death treats from the thais saying if we were not gone by the next day we would be dead the police made us pay 50000baht or they were going 2 hold me until they got their money. after the scammers and police got their money for they day they let us go! since we have got home we have learnt how often it happens!

My family and another family have recently returned from Thailand. Unfortunately we were also the victims of a jet ski scam. The skis we hired were from the Northern end of Patong Beach (but we have since learned that the majority of jet skis along Patong Beach are owned by the same operator). Our two 15 year old boys on arrival back on the beach were told that one of the skis was damaged. My husband was also on a jet ski at the time and says that no damage was caused by the boys. To cut a long story short, we were held to ransom and after the Thai Boss arrived he started demanding 50,000 baht we were able to negotiate down to 25,000 baht (what a rip off, but at the time we felt it was a very small price to pay to get away with our lives). We were absolutely terrified by the yelling and abuse received from the Thai Beach Boys in particular the Boss Man who was extremely aggressive and barking orders to the Thai beach boys to do his dirty work. We suddenly realized we were being surrounded and also a large crowd had gathered to watch. We had no chance of being able to walk back to our hotel (Novotel at the top of the hill as our path was being blocked by some pretty heavy looking guys). Thank goodness we were due to leave Patong the next morning. It left a bitter taste in our mouths and my advice to anyone contemplating hiring a jet ski in Thailand is DO NOT DO IT, DO NOT BE TEMPTED, these operators are scammers and are out to get the unassuming tourists.

JM,

sorry to hear you were victumized with this scam also I hope it does not keep you away from thailand in the future ( just be careful)

it would be really cool if someone got this stuff on video and posted it on youtube, expose the scammers ( and supposed to be so mild and polite) thais that pull this kind of stuff

I got ripped of at Chaeweng Beach, i was dumb enough to have collided with my mate. Cursing myself on the way into to beach I thought it was about $400-600AUD in damage MAX so about $10,000-$15,000 damage. On the beach the 'boss' wrote on the back of a peice of paper a total of 90,000bht of damage - it was obvious i was getting scammed from the start. Our hotel first called the local police (watse of time), then the tourist police. We spend a total of four hours on the beach/at police station getting no where. The tourist police were obviously in on it! Bottom line is i paid 50,000 bht after two days of BS. I could of gotton it down more but that would have taken more time out of my holiday and you start hearing stories about people being bashed etc. not exactly my idea of a nice holiday in thailand.

I have heard quite a few stories since - DONT HIRE JETSKIES in THAILAND, unless maybe you take photos first with your camera, but still that doesnt guarantee anything with these dodgy operators and police.

A few points if you do get caught and are now panicking about what to do

1) dont hand over your passsport too the police no matter what, you dont have too (call your embassy)
2) get them to believe you have no/little money
3) they may threaten it will go too court but that will not happen! Ignore that threat
4) move hotels if the operators know where you are staying - esp if you havent paid anything

negotiating - it all depends how much time you want to sit in a thai police station for, you can wear them out or they will wear you out. myself after two days i just paid up so i could move on with my holiday and lesson learnt

Ive heard similiar stories about motorbikes/scooters - rent from a hotel if you can that is the safest way. I heard that one guys scooter went 'missing' over night (owner would have a spare key) when he reported it too the owner the next day they demanded 60,000 bht for a replacement bike!!

its a shame these guys ruin the image of all the hard working and honest thais out there, because for me it has!

Me and my mate went to Pattaya with my uncle who lives in Bangkok. We were both 18, and my uncle warned us of the amount of scams that happen, and all the mafia, and corrupt police etc. All 3 of us had a 30minute go on some jet skis in the morning, we didnt get scammd.

We had such a gd time, this time only me and my mate decided to go again in the evening for another 30 mins, before deciding i was in the sea and a woman came up to me asking if i wanted to jet ski for 700baht, i sed 500, she sed ok, ofcourse now that i think about it she would have agreed at 10. before hand we told the guy that we dont intend to be scammed and that we want to check our jet skis thoroughly first etc just as before. we came back, from another great jet ski and the guy sed those heart wrenching words, "Hey you damage my jet ski!", of course my friend had also amazingly damged his aswell (what were the chances). Instantly i sed, "im not gonna take this, u know i didnt damage ur jet ski" anyway we got my uncle, and the guy wanted 15000 baht each, stupid amount for some scratches, but we kept smiling, negotiatied, made jokes, sed wont pay that, we will have to get tourist police, THE PRICE LOWERD, then sed might have to get Uncle's lawyer, PRICE LOWERD AGAIN, an hour of negotiating later got the fine down to just 1500baht each. Looking at the fines some you guys got we got off easy, at the time we were pissed off and humiliated, if it wernt for jerry we would have been well and truly screwd, but i learnd some serious life experiences... always smile and dont piss off the Mafia.

James, sounds to me like 50,000 was a bargain, some tourists have paid much more for just a few scratches!

Me and my cousin went to Pattaya and our eyes lit up as we saw jet ski's. We haggled the man down for 2 jet ski's for 30mins. We knew of this scam and knew what to point out for suspiciions. It was quite a populated place with many Thai's around the beach, which wouldn't work out in our favour if we had been scammed. We never went to the beach with alot of money; nor clothing. Just shorts, shirts/plain white towels and cash. Anyway.. We had our fun on the jetski's and the guy seemed to be ok, told us to look for damages before going on the ski's and we signed the contract, with FALSE details. In the end, we had our for and went on twice. :)

Always be cautious if there are many Thai's together about Jet Ski's, who also look rough and hot headed. Stay away from each other when on Jet Ski's so you can't get accused of bumping into each other and causing damages to the ski's. Keep a close eye on each other on the Ski's and IF one of you do get shouted at and the Thai's seem angry. Put the pedal to the medal and go far away from that beach and ditch the ski's on the beach, pull out your spare change and jump in the closest taxi/tuk-tuk. Who cares about the knock off shirts and plain towels? (with no hotel logo on)

I'm not saying you should do this but always be careful, don't ea from their hands and if you do collide with each other, never return back to the Thai's! You will never will against them and the corrupt police.

Anonymous, phew, what a palaver for half an hour on a jet ski! What do you think will happen to the fools who try a runner and are caught *%@#*

Juan is absolutely right. You should defend yourself by all means and at all costs. The best advice is make a Thai acquaintance. They are not going to ever harass you with a Thai friend alongside. Never ever submit to them to them if you are sure you are right.

It was reported in this weeks Phuket Gazette about the jet ski scammers trying it on with a Father and Son. They never gave in refused to pay and got a lawyer. Well done to them. I had seven friends visit me in Phuket 3 weeks ago and they were warned not to even go near the jet ski operators, although they really wanted to try they were afraid of being scammed. Bottom line they said they never enjoyed Phuket, it was just one long hassle one after another.

too bad none of this shows up on youtube. ( or even network news) make the scammers infamous and see how they like the exposure.

I think their attitude would change if their rants and threats were recorded

Does anyone know what the police charges would be for punching a jet ski operator in the face and walking away.

Its probably cheaper than paying the bastards for make believe damages.
Even if its a week in the slammer it would be worth it.

@Mike, believe me, its not worth it, you did what they WANTED you to do, 50,000 or however much for a bruised face, its easy money to them and the...

When me and my friends got a jet ski out in pattaya on our last two days there, our nightmare began. We gave the jet ski's back in after initially agreeing a price of 700 THB for 30 minutes each. What followed was a bill of 115,000 THB for "damage" we caused to the carbon fiber on the jet ski's, etc. We said no, and that's when things turned violent. Soon we were held captive at the beech and they started pulling knives out on us. They threatened to kill us at the beech if we did not pay. Eventually they let me go, it took 3 separate visits to the police station before an American volunteer came down to the beech, approximately 5 hours after the incident with my two friends held captive by around 12-15 angry Thai's. We went to the police station and were threatened to be killed. Eventually we came to an agreement of 50,000 THB in fear for our lives. These guys continued with the death threats, hands in the pockets, etc. It was a horrible experience and it doesn't suprise me about these stories. We spent all our remaining money and took extra overdrafts out of the bank to pay these crooks. 10 hours later and finally we escaped pattaya. they had been waiting outside our hotel after initially paying 33,000 THB with the agreement to pay 17,000 THB the day later. We paid the money three hours later after coming to an agreement with the bank, at 3am in the police station. We got back to the hotel, fled in a taxi to Bangkok (they had even bribed our receptionist with 1,000 THB to tell him if we left). I'm sure these guys are now very satisfied having pulled this scam off.

I want to return to pattaya in december and go travelling again around Thailand, but these guys just opposite soi 13 have really made us fear going back despite what was a great time.

word has it bravo network just did a special on situations like this.

here is a link to the trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scdpbVZEdS8

http://www.torrentdownloads.net/torrent/1316157/Big trouble in tourist Thailand (Episode 1)

i was watching a documentary recently called "big trouble in tourist thailand" they were trying to get a navy marine to pay £1500 for damage he didnt do. the owner guy then said "if you run" and brought out a rifle. A senior member of the ship came out and it nearly resulted in a fight. they eventually settled on like £850. It puts me off going there! seems to happen loads.

Adam*****

You paid them omg...... where were the tourist police. where are your rights this is crazy...

People, scams happends also, when you rent a motorbike. Be very carefull when you rent one.
Those scams are common from the '90s allready!
Guys like JJ are the scum of the earth!

I recently completed a trip to Thailand which included a side trip to Phuket. I worked in Thailand for a few years and one of our fav past times was heading to the beach and hiring jet skis and we never had trouble (that was quite a few years ago). Anyway, this time I also hired a jet ski while in Phuket. Before I hopped on the Thais insisted I inspect the jet ski from stem to stern and we agreed there was no damage. 30 minutes later I handed it back, still no damage and no problems. This was on the crowded main beach at Patong (not sure if that is relevant). I am not sure if it was just a reasonable operator, or the crowded beach. I don't doubt the stories but thought I would add a comment indicating it is not all bad. Having said that though, I think I will give the jet skis a miss in future.

Seriously guys, JUST DO NOT PAY. It really is that simple. There is very little they can do unless they take you to court which won't be happening.

A copper once wanted 10K of me here for not carrying a passport. I laughed him off and demanded to go to the police station. I was instantly waved on my way with no charge. They will all try it on but none of them are willing to go the distance.

So just remember the motto: DO NOT PAY. (And dont hire jetskis in the first place obviously)

ONE question: Why does anyone try to rent these stupid jet ski's?
I donot like them and they are a good way to get in hospital!
AND note I lived here about 26 years!!

JJ is now out of jail and back to his old tricks with the help of the BiB scaming tourists

Watch this: a seconhand jet ski for sale in Pattaya.

Boats & Marine Sale/Rent

Area:
East Coast
City: Pattaya

Contact Name: Jan Gulve
Telephone: 0850448858

Description:
Yamaha XL,700cc,2T,Engine overhauled,good condition.
Price: 150,000 Baht
( $ 4,499 | € 3,064 | £ 2,702 )

So you paid more than 50% for a a small crack !
How much would you pay for a scratch on a hired car? 600 000 Bath?

that is a joke.i love jetskis i happen to own 1 & those thais are all s.h.i.t mate.you get scrathes & stuff all the time.definatly wont be hiring one when i go there now,because i was thinking about it.they won't be able to stand over me so easily like that tho

I reside in northern Thailand (11 years) and rarely visit the southern tourist areas because of trashed beaches and surly people there. Repairs in Thailand are incredibly cheap. Example: I got my pick up truck painted. the shop dissembled and reassembled the whole truck, interior, the engine compartment, painted the wheels, even took the cab off the bed! They sanded the whole thing down to metal and fixed a bunch of dings. Incredibly fine job. The whole thing cost Bt.12,000.

Any common fiberglass repair on the Jet skis mentioned would cost less than 2,000 baht, probably closer to Bt.400. The Thai PM is trying to do something about the major problem with Jet skis and other Thai extortions, but it's like trying to get rid of staff infection with hand soap, it won't work.

BTW, avoid duty free shops at Bangkok's major airport, unless you enjoy getting extorted big money for a false shoplifting charge.

I have been to Thailand, Pattaya, 2 times now, both times I have rented jet ski's on several occasions with no problem at all.

The operator actually took me for an inspection of the scratches and damages on the jetski beforehand, so that we would have no problem determining any new damage. However I was not aware of these type of scams at the time. I guess thats the best way to go if you want to rent a jetski, inspect it with the operator beforehand so there is no disagreements afterwards.

I will bring Nikolaj Valuev if I get in trouble :)

@Bolo, why would you want to bring an x world champion? David Haye, thats the one you should take.

Hi Guys, I just got back from Thailand today and this scam did hit me today with 15000 Baht. truly you can't do anything over there as you would always be outnumbered and these guys even tries to get physical. I was initially asked for a damage of 40,000 Baht but after so much discussion I was able to pay using my credit card's limit to last value. Just avoid jet sking. The total cost of trip was equivalent to what I had to Shell Out today. Don't expect any sort of help from tourist police. You are on your own with your negotiation skills. The whole trip was such a memorable before this scam stuck
me today and it made the entire trip ended up on such a bad note.

Also avoid the shops at airport, when they bag your stuff they insert extra stuff to make the sensor go off then they extort you with the cops to avoid charge.

Komrades, we know where these gurards live.

We take head, da, problem end.

Read carefully monkey man, da we come for you.

The police will not help you if you on cruise call cruise security they come get you with anti pirate team.

Da, police in on it won't help.

Pommy police there work for corrupt and pretend to broker deal.

Irish queef in loud shirt try scam you at jetski.

Da, Komrade, we know these. You touch westerner again, take head, show family.

Wow, some of the stories on this thread just can't be true, can they? Anyway, this one is, a few years back I accidently drove my jet-ski (hired) into my friends jet-ski, oops! My friends jet-ski sinks in about 2 minutes, we get back to shore apologise profusley to a ranting boss or employee? Get changed, jump in our cars and drive off?

Did I mention that this happened in good old Blighty! Kosher business with full comprensive insurance.
Only God knows what would have happened if this occured in Thailand, I'd probably have to sell my tiny house (2.4m) in Fulham (thats in London) to compensate for the lost and damaged jet-ski?

OMg cant believe all you people that damage a jetski then complain you have to pay to get it fixed..

Everyone who got scammed that sucks .. people who crashed you suck lol

I agree with Chris and Jesus. I sympathise with those who were scammed when not damaging the ski, but for those who actually did some damage.. well that is your fault for being so reckless. I went on the ocean in patong beach and stuffed around with some other people, but got nowhere near a collision. If you crash it, you pay for it. I can understand the operators viewpoint, imagine if every second tourist 'bumped' the ski and didn't charge for repairs? It would be wrecked in weeks! I also own a ski myself and know firsthand how stupid and careless some people are.

@Nick, fair enough, but to ask 150, 180 or 200,000 baht for a scratch, not a crack, but a scratch! How much does a brand new jet-ski cost, $7,000? Please, some operators are funking taking the funking p...

The scam happened to me too in mid of september 2009. Me and my friend rent a jet skii in pattaya about 30 minutes. there was little crack on the corner that i did damaged. They said to repair it, its gonna cost 46'000 baht. I was about to pay that amount but luckily English guy who live ther told me not to pay that amount cuz they charge tourism way much. So i told the jet skii guy to call the police so they can come and look at the damage a see what they say. He said in Thailand, police don't come you gotta go ther but that is lie. So I send one of my friend to go to the police station and get him here. So while i was waiting the police to show up, they were trying to jump me they were like six of them so i scapped to the street where a a lot of tourism were walkin so they couldn't do nothing. Rubbing up the story, we went to the police station and argue about the price. there were two English police they who was helping us and the head officer was thai who was with the thai skii guys. So finally I didn't want to pay them over $100 dollar but I paid them $300 instead of 1,316.00 because of my safety staying in Pattaya and coming back there.


I recommended you DO NOT rent a jet skii in Pattaya. If you do, DO NOT let them have your passport or I.D some of them would ask you N write a wrong information on the agreement sheet like fake full name, fake address, and fake signature incase something happens because if you write a correct info, they would try to find you who you are and what hotel you stay at.

I hope that helps

@Abdul, thank you my brother for the story, I will not be going any where near a jet ski.

Just got back from Phuket, and stayed up at the laguna area Bangtao. The jet ski opperator on the beach outside the Sheraton was very good, and we had no issues whatsoever........ maybe I was lucky, but I never checked the ski and was not asked to either, but they were very good with my young kids, and even told me I came in too early and had 5 mins left before my time was up and sent me back out again. However their starting price of 30 mins for 1800 bhat would suggest they don't need to scam?

Just got back from Koh Samui, got scammed myself which really annoyed me. Beach was in Chong Won at MuangSamui resort..Failed to look under jet ski, hence when I returned it, lots of commotion about a rip underneath jetski which was completely and obviously a previous repair. Wanted 15,000 Baht, refused he called police, I called tourist police, they were pretty scared of this guy. After trip in police car to their shack they showed us the damage and we agreed on 7000 Baht just to get the hell out of their, especially as he had been roaming the hotel grounds because I stupidly put my correct details down. But as I was leaving the next day at 5 am, I decided to leave a little present on his chair on the beach. Took a shit and collected it in a plastic bag wandered down to beach at 4:15 am, no one around. So I too great pleasure in smearing it all over his chair and advertising board for the Jet Skis. I recommend Mussaman curry the night before. Back to hotel pick up cases, straight to airport for 6am flight just as the sun is coming up and warming the delicious aromas I had left for him...Little f*kin c**t.
You cant miss him, he has about 6 buddhas on a chain around his neck. Just don't hire jet skis from him or in Thailand. I hope it really f*cked his morning up ha ha ha

@JB, wow, that was story, the you know what was a little on the heavy side, anyway, each to there own. By the way, 7,000 is not too bad when you consider some have been scammed for 100,000!

I dont think that was on the heavy side. That stuff should have been smired all over him and then drowned as he has done this for years.
Hate these scamming cunts and any one that try's to get some thing for nothing from hard working people. :-)

well done JD

I agree 100% with me mate Foggy!

Why dont the Thais do something?
Dont they realize this stuff will kill the tourist industry?
Dumb.

@Foggy, you sound really tough behind your keyboard, Thai baddies love superguys like you because you let your ba... get in the way of logic.

hello,
his kind of happend every day in phuket,and police are corrupt because they get some percent from jet ski onwer,please don go to jet ski when you are in phuket,or maybe take some russians friends.

pls dont ever take jet skies in thailand .....they guys cheated me. i hired a jet ski in pattaya which has got a minor scratch. they demanded 90,000 bhat,finally i paid a whopping 50,000/-bhatt for a very minor scratch. i request to every visitor who goes to thailand........not to even look at jet skies at all. my whole trip has been spoiled.

I am planning a trip to Thailand next year .I am from India . Reading all this is making me shit scared about going jetskiing especially considering that the indian rupee is valued at 1.40 to a THB .This means if I am asked to pay 50000 thb I will end up paying Rs 70000/- for something I didnt do in the first place . Thats two months of my salary and my whole budget for visiting Thailand Malaysia and Singapore!!!! . Thanks guys .
I hope massage parlours dont have similiar kind of scams !!!

Yes, they will ruin your holiday if givin the chance.
Thats what they do. (with cooperation of the police)
Thats why the scam keeps going and going and going.

it just shows you that these particular types of thai people will goto any lengths to swindle innocent law abiding holiday citizens and because the thai police are so corrupt , they will only agree with the thai swindler and most probably take a share in the loot and if you refuse to pay , then you could get physically harmed .
NEVER trust that thai smile because behind it is a look of hate and greed .

Sorry guys ,I have to disagree here as I believe that we just cannot generalize .There are bad Thais and good Thais the same way that there are good indians and bad indians.
I will trust that Thai smile but I will be careful .
Just my two cents worth .No offence ,britidiot

there are good thais & bad thais ,good indians & bad indians etc etc etc , thats no excuse for the obvious and open-ness of these robbers and theives and even the corrupt thai police will support this crime .
my advice to any holidaymaker who gets scammed in phuket is to find a western volunteer policeman and donot pay for the jetski damage which didnot occur whilst in your pocession and an even better idea is not to hire these fawlty unsafe water vehicles .
The thais know that you are in thailand for two-three weeks holiday and that you have travellers cheques and credit cards and bank accounts and they will do and say anything to get their dirty hands on your money .
in patong -bangla road , the bargirls are there to make money , the bars are there to make money , the street vendors and sideshows are there to make money .

Nothing new to add- the experience was exactly the same as in most of the threads here. My company has pretty hefty links to the Thai Royal family but when the lawyer at the office started to discuss this with the officer he just switched it off saying "phone no good". Only after money was paid for the jet ski damage (UK£585) did I get it back from the officer!

My old army friend who was also there had a stronger response: a few days later he hired one of the jet ski from the operators that had ripped me and my friend off- drove it to the otherside of the bay ran it aground and left in a Taxi to Bangkok and the flight home. Of course, I don't condone this but I admire his style!!

Intimidation, police collusion, inept local officials allow this to flourish: I would like to post a picture of the rental guy but sufficent to say he has a tattoo of a manchester untied crest on his inner arm

Beware! These boys do not make their living from rental but from the scams!!!!! Thats the business and you buy into it the moment you rent a jet ski

@ chrislk, thanks for that, you really hit the nail on the head with a sledge hammer with your last paragraph!

I was in Pattaya last week, like the rest of those good people above decided to Hire a Jet Ski. We Hired 3 Jet skis after negotiations with the guy at the beech. It was a Friday afternoon (4th June 2010). We took the Jet Skis after checking the damage on the Skis and signed a contract which clearly stated that all damage is our responsibility, and they took our pictures on the Jet Skies and on the form they also took our Hotel details including our room numbers, which I found very odd. I am normally very careful with signing documents but on this occasion I had two Police officers with me from London, who had on a previous trip to Pattaya rented Jet Skis, and had no problems. It was around 2pm just outside the shopping center Festival Central on Pattaya Beach Road.

It was my first occasion I had ever been on a Jet Ski, we were having great fun, then the two of us decided to race to Island just opposite, approximately 2Miles more or less. As we were circling around the Island I looked behind me and the Jet Ski my friend was on broke down. We were very close to the Island and could see people on the Beach, lol as we waved to the people for help they waved backed. In the meanwhile my friend was trying to get his jet ski to work, for sum peculiar reason it would just go round in circles. As I got close to listen to what my friend had to say, the waves were very strong and we ended up crashing together, my Ski had some paint work damage and no damage occurred to my friends Ski. It was getting late and the waves were getting stronger, so we decided that I should go back and get help.

When I got to the Mainland I found 3 people waiting their who I never saw before. My other friend had already handed his Jet Ski in and no problems were found. I informed the 3 Thia guys that my friends Jet Ski had broken down, they were not really interested in that but were all hovering around my Jet Ski to assess thew Damage. One guy with a Pony tail and a donut just came over to me and said you are late you have to pay for over time and damage. I tried to explain the situation how the damage was caused by the problem we had with the first Jet Ski and it would not of occurred if the other Jet Ski did not fail, and it was your responsibility to make sure that your Jet Skis are in working order. He just did not seem interested and told me to shut up, from the tone of his voice I noticed that he meant business, in the meanwhile I was worried about my friend who was stranded and would swept out to sea. The Thai man said we would have to pay to rescue my friend (3000Bhat). We wasn't in a Position to argue so we agreed. I sent my other friend who him self is a Police man in London to the Police station. The Boat arrived and we went back to the Location I left my friend stranded I noticed that he was on the Island standing next to the Jet Ski. Before we headed back to the mainland they hovered around the Jet Ski and inspected the damage witch was bad due to the way my friend and been crashing into the rocks, anyhow as we headed back to the mainland, I got a texed from my friend who visited the Police station, that the English Volunteer Police guy informed him to keep our mouths shut and dont argue with these guys as they are some form of Mafia In Thialand.

When we got back to the Mainland we met the English Thai Police Volunteer from England and he explained how this is such a common scam and it wasn't worth arguing or worth getting into a fight. As before you know it the beach will be full of people with knives and Guns and CS gas. The Police are corrupt and they will be getting a cut out of this, the bigger the situation the more they will demand. Their is no escaping they have your Hotel numbers and pictures and in the worst situation they will even shot you in your Hotel rooms, and they can even stop you from flying out from Bangkok by getting your passport numbers from the Hotel.

Initially they demanded 120,000 Bhats which we rejected and the ETPV negotiated until they reduced the charge to 95,000 bhats, we somehow got the money together and paid.

Their is no Policing in Thailand they are all corrupt, do not expect any arbitration from them all they will do is sit their and smile and get a cut from the Mafia guys. It is best not to Hire Jet Skis or Bikes in Thialand as their is no form of Insurance and even if their was it would be worth nothing. The Thia people will always side with the Thias and they look at you as Frangs (foreigners). I see many people arguing about how foreign people do not know how to ride Jet skis etc.. that not the point, you dont expect to pay way beyond the odds for damage, and secondly no responsibility is ever taken by the Jet Ski owners for mechanical damage what so ever. Their is no Life Guard or any sort of Coast guard service on the coast at Pattaya Beach, so if you get stranded at Sea you are going to be out their a long time. Nothing is in your favor remember that, everything is a opportunity to make money fore them.

Just dont travel to thailand every one all around the world know the thais hate white people soo wy would I travel to a place I totally feel not welcome. I guess I would be stupid to travel to a place where people dont speak englisch and the onley think I guess the have theere is some cheep pussey, but cheep pussey I can find all around the world I dont have to travel all the way to thailand. Just stop complaining and dont travel there thats how easy it is my friends

Alex, this is web site that informs people of scams in THAILAND, there are other web sites that warn people of scams in America, Russia, UK, France, etc, etc., so why be condescending? As for Thais hating white people, do you have any evidence to back this up? Whats your problem, your ladyboy ran off with your best mate!

Alex you are a sex pest and a fuking dislexic one at that. its not white people Thais hate - its YOU they hate because your worse than a disease ridden rat. I hate you and Ive never met you..just face it you may as well kill yourself because no one loves you ugly fukin moron

Totally agree with Alex, unfortunately I live and work in Thailand and thai’s don't like us westerners, that’s why they do all this scams to us all the time.
They never do it to other thai people because they are all brothers and sisters.
Behind the nice smile they all have, is a violent psychopaths who kill you without regrets.
Stay away from jet skis, motorbikes and anything they want you to rent, stay away from all thais is my advice.
Thais is not nice and friendly people as your travel agent tells you

Ron


I have to disagree, thais rip each other off on every level, just not the tourist spots that get all the news.

from loan sharking to kidnapping, its in the thai news every week.

I travelled all around Thailand and had a great time, and found the people very friendly, but that's because I didn't hire any bikes or jet skis. Quit writing off the whole of Thailand because of scammers.

"Quit writing off the whole of Thailand because of scammers.'

Exactly my thought. Only write off 95%.
5% of Thais are actually quite reputable.

if u want to see 10 photo reports i have done on pattaya beach take a look at www.pattayasecrets.com and log in and go to the newbie section. many many pics of 10 scams going down mostly taken outside mike shopping mall near soi 11 and soi 10.
the same dodgy characters recur all the time

Striderman, why not just post the links here if possible, its too much of a palaver to go through all the registering, plus its not a family site!

sorry mick, i have no idea how to post a link mate.
it's taken a lot of effort just to load it onto there.
me and computers do not really get on.
by the way, it's now up to 11 photo shoots, saw another 1 going down today with 4 of the usual suspects again involved. by the way it may not be a family site but there is no nudity on there when u join

At Striderman, its easy mate, (highlight address in address bar, right click, copy then paste) onto this thread.

The jet ski pictures were posted on the tourist scam warning page at the Skyscraper City site

Search for:
skyscraper tourist scam warning.

The jet ski scam was exposed in Phuket last year by a film crew. The footage broadcast worldwide.
According to the Bangkok Post, the filmmaker will be prosecuted.

What did that foreign film crew expect? They should go to jail. Did they even have a work permit?
That broadcast did horrible damage to Thailand's reputation.

At Somkit, don't blame the messenger, its still hppeneing EVERY single day, why not remove your head from out of the ground and stop the denial.

Farangs are not forced to come to Thailand, If they don't like it...STAY HOME.

Somkit, is that what you really want? By the way, I'm Asian! Anyway, I'll take your good advise, from next year I will no longer be taking my family to Thailand for our annual vacation.

At Somkit, what planet do you live on, how are we going to get to the TRUTH with censorship, things cannot continue as there are, if Thailand is to salvage its reputation?

Thailand is the best country in the world and we don't need foreigners.
Anyway, we will kick them out soon enough and take over the property and businesses.
Teach them a lesson to be so arrogant.

Best country at scamming foreign guests.
The TAT spends millions on bringing in tourists and other government agencies rip them off.
Shameless people.
I live in a tourist town in the US. If I saw someone defrauding a visitor I wold do something about it.

somkit, you not thai you lie yu falang who want be thai like the violent big muth falang man in the video at the central worlds who is in prison now with many many lady boy girlfriends, ha, ha, ha.

It does seem that a majority of Thais think its Ok to scam a visitor. I can see scammers out in the open bothering tourists all the time. Why is this permitted?
Is it a racist thing or immoral, unethical behavior or are the scammers connected to police so nobody can do anything?
Somethings wrong.

yea somkit, what a plan. delete all outside investment in thailand ( the outside investment is responsible for all major construction in thailand,,, like the sky train, elevated highway in bkk, ect) maybe take it a step further, let the islamics from the south run the country

see who is really arrogant

We do like stinky foreigners money true.

Have non of you got any balls ? I suppose if you stand up to these criminals they must back down as I have never read of it leading to a fight. They sell martial arts swords on Pattaya beach. The real thing. Just buy two of those and cut a couple of these thai scum throats. They are still doing this scam now by the way.

Everything good in Thailand is made by foreigners.
Thais are lazy, theiving liars.

Predators. Thais are predators.

Pauvre etres humains, on rien compris!!!!!!!!

i am sure it is terrible to have had this problem especially in this country but for those who may be going to quiet kata beach in phuket, i had no problems here. i rented jet skis 3 times and one time me and my buddy were on our way in and bumped each other just a little on accident and the guy was right there watching. it made a small scratch he said something about it but said no problem charged us nothing and though i know they are a little shady because they offered to sell us marijuana (which i am military and did not accept). but honestly all the guys were really cool, they even gave me a discount the 3rd time i went there. good luck everyone.

Thanks for the advice. Note to self, scrub jet ski hire, brush up on my Russian. Going over there next week.

Don't fall for these scams. GO TO THE POLICE. Don't even waste your time talking with them, just tell them you will come back and pay IN FULL but with the police, then leave. Don't fall to their yelling and threats, it is what they do to try to intimidate you, and it works.

Also, don't carry more money on you than it will cost for the jet skis. If you have no money, they can't take it. The bottom line is.... GO TO THE POLICE NO MATTER WHAT!!!!

The jetski man in that programe has already gone to jail and the corrupted tourist police has already moved to another province after that program on air. We are thai, we were really angry with those ski men. Anyway, my husband (he is a british) went to USA last year he said he met some scammers as well. I think every where in the word must have scammers there isn't only in Thailand.

I lived in Bangkok for more than 10 years, ofcourse I have met a lot of scammers in my capital city. I feel more save to stay out of Bangkok. My advise is travel in country side is much better such as friendly people, less scammer and cheaper.

I hope everyone who read this forum will aware of these things and enjoy your trip. Don't be too nervous!

i am farang and own 2 jet ski and rent them out in thailand koh phangan thong nai pan.
i'm happy to see that some people use them brain, how can you people can be charge for a damages wasn't cause by yourself, you know for sure if you heat something !! and if its not you then why paid? no one will kill you if you stay calm and talk in a nice way , i mean dont need to fight if you right then those guys who wants to ripp you off know allready that they wrong and wont go to the court as they know they will loose and maybe have to cover and paied for your disagreement.
i understand and i'm pist off those guys as well for sure you have some bad fuckers here and police not help much.

you have to check what you want to rent in thailand or anywhere! no one will say anything if you want to have a check enven on the engine, a good man will be happy to show you how he take care is buisness,.

well for those people who think they can just broken things and say heuuuuuuuuuuuuuu its not me! or its ok, its just little bit!!! i'm sorry for you but you are so unresponsable,stupid and should not rent things out just use your feet. you think that just because you are here for short time that you can do anything and pass over when you back home , i see everydays farangs driving motorbike as crazy in the jungle dont care if they broke something especially when its something that the owner cannot see.
or take the jet ski and go behind the montain to do crazy things without any RESPECT of the material as its not them properity why to care????. i hope you dont borrow your car friend's!!!

I never ripp off any one of my customer for fake damage! but i have seen some customers told me its not them...... and beileve me i clean my jet skis with my workers with shampoo everynight and know them perfeckly.
so many people try to escape for the problem they did themself and never heard SORRY!
i understand the exitation of people when they feel soooo free and do things that will never do in them own country and i talk only about motor engine now but if i start to talk about the women....PFFFF!!!

here in thailand you have the opportunity to rent jet ski without driving license, in an open water with amazing view !! totallly free!! the BEST!!!!!!! what would you say if you had to rent those jet ski with someone driving for you? where is the fun? or just drive in cercle in a security ligne for 20,30min.......
NO come on you all come here for something special , you can do anything here but you have to respect things that is not your and people.

about the damage, its very simple just have a check on spare parts prices with The compagnie (yamaha or seadoo...)YAMAHA DAW SAMUI or YAMAHA MARINE PATTAYA. if you want to you can go with the owner to the shop and by the broken parts with him and keep the one is broken.
have a good check on the jet ski before to rent it out even UNDER AND THE ENGINE!!
take some pictures in case and if you dont THRUST the guy just go to another compagny.

i dont know how works some compagny to charge you but for me its CLEAR and on paper, you paid for broken parts and 4000 baths per day for loosing rent. That's it! if you not agree with that so just dont rent it and do something else, let this for the people who can control themself.
i love my jet ski and take care them myself with my workers i do work only with new jet ski and take allways between 5 and 10 minutes to explain to my customer how to ride saflly out of the bay for the swimmers , go in and out slowlly to not anoying with the noiise, to dont race to close, to stay away 500meters from the island in case rocks under water, well i do the maximum for give the security and the fun soo after that if you are the only capitain on the jet ski.

sorry pcan but 150 000 baths second hand jet ski in pattaya sure you can find also less than 100 000 baths but its a dead jet ski man i know it by experience!!!!!!!
a new jet ski as i do have is around 500 000 baths .the spare parts of jet skis are very very very expensive, a lot electronic ... its an expensive toys that we give you for play . imagine i borrow your BMW or Porche car better i do becarefull if i want enjoy expensive toys dont you think?

The way to deal with the jet ski criminals is to advertise them out of business they only exist because tourists dont know to stay away from them and never rent.

are you sick of them and the corrupt police extorting money from tourists or did they already scam you here is what to do print up a small warning leaflet telling people about the scam (they can check on the internet it is really a scam)

you can get four small leaflets from an a4 page, now place them all over the tourist area everywhere than information leaflets usually are.

But be very careful not to be seen by anyone these criminal guys will find out about this and be very angry at all the scam money they lose.

if you have a few thousand tourists out of the millions who go to thailand doing this you will soon drive them out of business , if they want to operate it would have to be like a taxi with a licence photo ID etc.

The other thing to know if you really must hire a ski......... is how to get out of the scam

never give a copy of your passport...or real name ...or real hotel.

1. Assuming you cant just walk away from them , what to do is call the police..... now the police and the scammers work together but all you need is to get away from the beach..... use the police to do this they are corrupt and will probably take you to the station and try and pressure you to pay the money so they get their cut....but you will know how to deal with him.

(also make a lot of noise on the beach make sure a lot of tourists hear about the scam)

very very important dont let the police make you lose your cool....he might try and set you up to be arrested for breach of the peace.

2. Now away from the beach start asking the cop why are you being detained by the police are you under arrest? what law have you broken? ....demand the tourist police ....these are different guys....but they might be corrupt too... say you want to call your embassy and consul for a lawyer.... you will speak to the newspapers etc.

you will be out of there quick the police have no lawful reason or power to be involved in negotiating anything to do with jet ski rental it is a completely civil matter.

New must watch video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsPuoaktoAw

How it works and is still going on in Patong too despite jet skis supposedly being insured now.

lets hope they don't go after the guy with the camera for interfering with their monkey business

Just spent a few days in pattaya and saw the jetski scams every day.I got involved a couple of times and told people not to pay.
There was one incident where several falang men got involved and the english couple who had rented the skis were able to get away.
One american guy was right in the faces of two thais and they backed down.
Dont be afraid of these people,they are all cowards.
But dont expect any help from the police,they often get half the money.
People have to understand that it is very cheap to reapair things in thailand.
I saw damage that may cost $50 to fix and the jet ski operators were asking for 50,000 baht!
And who would be stupid enough to believe that jetskis from southern thailand have to go all the way to pattaya to be repaired-ridiculous.

these scams seem to be worse than ever as of dec, 2010 ..it has been a very slow off peak season so to make up for it : they are pulling the scam on everyone that rents a jet ski .

it is true ; they will try the violence thing if nothing else works ...

the deputy mayor held hearings and many of us wrote letters . which tells me that this thing is so big that the mayors office can not control it or they are on the take !!!

Fuck thai pussies is all u need to do in Thailand! Skip the jetski bullshit and temple crap!! Happy hunting, guys..

2 dead on jetskis in Patong today.

TWO tourists, a man and a woman, were killed when their jet-ski slammed into a catamaran off Patong today, Phuket police report.

The deaths were confirmed by Lieutenant Colonel Nikorn Chootong, of Kathu Police Station, which oversees Patong.

It is believed the jet-ski riders, a couple aged 25-30 and probably from China, tried to go under the central portion of the catamaran, possibly mistaking the catamaran for a single-hulled vessel.

The death crash occurred at the southern end of the beach, after the couple rented the jet-ski from an operator on the beach near the Patong Beach Hotel.

First reports said that while the man was riding the jet-ski, the woman had the starter key.

Another police officer told Phuketwan the bodies of the dead couple have been taken to Patong Hospital.

The deaths are likely to bring to a head the issue of jet-skis being used without controls on Patong and other Phuket beaches.

Operators of the jet-skis continue to be accused of scams based on ''damage'' to jet-skis, although an insurance scheme introduced last year was designed to obliterate the fraud.

Safety experts have long been urging the use of buoys to partition off a segment of Patong beach for the safety of swimmers, who are constantly endangered by jet-skis and speedboats towing parasailers.

Safety experts have also been urging lessons for jet-ski riders. Under Thai law, jet-skis actually require a master's certificate to operate.

The use of jet-skis on Patong and other Phuket beaches has grown despite an edict from a Governor almost seven years ago that the jet-skis be phased out over seven years. That time limit expires in March.

One Singaporean tourist was killed last year when his jet-ski was hit by another jet-ski ridden by a friend, and a pair of Australian tourists confessed to deliberately crashing jet-skis off Patong earlier this week.

and no doubt the jet ski owner will try to collect money from the catamaran owner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsPuoaktoAw

please please be carefull this scam has happened to me and mate these 12/17/2010 in pattaya by the beach we were asked 500 bah for 30 mints sounds good thats like just over 10 pounds after 10 mints my jet ski stopped (due to petrol cut the story short we were asked to pay 35,000 bah each total 70,000 bah as they clamied we damged the jet after about 3 -4 hours we paid 40,000 each, as we were told we would go to jail by 1 police man who was in on the scam, leaving us in a helpless situation we had family wire money to bail us out of the situation, please dont put yourself in this situation if only we would have known about these scams before.

It is infuriating to read how thse vermin are allowed to continue robbing tourists daily. Authorities in Payyaya seem to have no interest in stopping these scams. It makes you wonder
I symphatise with you guys. I would hope you email your countries embassy in Thailand and suggest that they update their travel advise for your citizens travelling to Thailand warning of the dangers of renting Jet Skis. It might save some of your countrymen from the same fate.

DO NOT RENT JET SKIS IN THAILAND.

Write to your local newspapers and publicise this scam.

And join the Facebook group.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001909826119

Wow, I was thinking about going to Thailand with about 20 friends for a bachelor party, but reading this... I'll be sure to convince the lot to visit someplace where people, businesses and especially the POLICE are not corrupt!

Thailand seems to be ran by those gay girly-boys!

its pretty hard to determine whose these scammers are until you have an incident on the jetski

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Another Victims report
I am embarrassed to say I was a victim of this scam. My and my friend rented two jet skis in Pattaya and did NOT have any accident. Upon return they demanded 80,000 Thai baht for a few scrapes we didn't make. We didn't have the money and 7 or 8 boys started beating us. We both had to go to the hospital for injuries. Later we told the police who said there was nothing they could do and we should have just paid them.

I WILL NEVER COME TO THAILAND AGAIN and have been telling everyone I know to do the same.

This Saturday I'm going to Phuket for the first time ever, and after reading all these stories I do not think I will be renting any Jet Skies.

I travelled all around Thailand and had a great time, and found the people very friendly, but that's because I didn't hire any bikes or jet skis. Quit writing off the whole of Thailand because of scammers. Thailand Hotels

I have to say I'd much rather take a beating than pay 40000 baht, because cuts and bruises would bother me much less than losing that amount of money, and the scammers get nothing. And no, there isn't realistically a chance of being killed by them on the beach. Take the kicking.

Dear Joe Public, it might cost more to put you back together Mr tough guy.

the latest ploy used by some of these crooks is to take several photos of the tourist on the ski before he starts. the SD memory card is then removed and the pics photoshopped to remove any sign of scrapes on the hull. The memory chip is then reloaded into their camera. when the tourist brings the ski back he is confronted with pics of himself on a "perfect ski" with no scratches showing and a document he signed earlier promising to pay for new damage. Nice touch. Calling the police will not help, the line is you signed you pay the only question is how much. the favourite scammer answer to "i am not going to pay " is "pay me or pay hospital more"

Are there any hotels or anywhere that will not rip you off for jet skis in koh samui

"Are there any hotels or anywhere that will not rip you off for jet skis in koh samui"
No.
Thais think tourists are the enemy and ripping them off is a thing of pride.

evil cunts they all are and i hope a wave hits em again...especially phuket.

cunts they all are and i hope a wave hits em again...especially phuket,,,

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/485472-jetski-scam-on-channel-3-news/page__st__25

If thats all you can hope for then you really are a sad bastard and deserve all the Bad Karma that will return to you and your loved ones - RIP

I am going to Pattaya and Bangkok next week. Is it safe to rent a motorbike in Pattaya or they do same scam with that too?

Have some good compagny in Thailand for enjoy jet ski.They are in kanchanaburi and organise jetski tour on the river Kwai

www.safarine.com/randojet-exploration.en.html

Me and my partner are going to chaweng next week is scooter hire corrupt?
can you hire scooters without handing over pass ports?

My friend is been scammed right now there he just called me his honey moonrip seem to be blowen .its so frustrating knowing ur being scammed and u cant do anything i want to help him and nothing to do

Bugger no jet skiing for me , what a shame going there in five weeks will be still awesome

same thing happened to me in koh phan gan, i had to pay 450 euros and they took me to the police station where they had previously arranger something with the "cops" that weren't even wearing a shirt. as i am a girl they threatened to have me spend the night in prison (...) and go to court in koh samui. after trying to negotiate i had to pay, but was scared and ever since then dispise all the thais involved in scamming of any type. u make your country look very bad, and it is a shame.