Dear Friend,
I want to share with u my OWN real life experience. Sad.
Hope your family members, friends and yourself DO NOT suffer the same fate as me.
A) Sway to get targetted. My story is 95% similar to http://www.2bangkok.com/2bangkok/Scams/sapp31.shtml
B) Sad..very common in Thailand since 2002 (records cos Internet started. LOL). http://www.2bangkok.com/2bangkok/Scams/stores.shtml
For that moment, my skill and knowledge seems to vanished.
a) My knowledge of ISO, ISO audit, body langauge reading skill, International Supply Chain knowledge, transaction experience, willpower, skill to analysis and IQ all became ZERO.
b) Especially the 2nd ring that is 10mins different. Donated to them extra. LOL. THB 20,860.00 SGD$ 878.06
i) There was some appearance defect. I was a QE. (Quality controller!) The removed the so call defect.
ii) The gem is bigger size than the earlier ring I saw which difference of $300-$400.
iii) There is even more smaller diamonds.
iv) Claimed to be old (cheaper) and new version difference.
My story goes:
Scammer no. 1 (Starter)
Monday (11/09/06), my wife and me was walking to 4face buddha location through Siam station, through a new shopping mall call Central World Plaza. Saw a grand praying area but did not seem to be it. 3 in 1 statue that have 4face buddha, extra buddha head on top of them. Body different. Told by a Thai claiming that he is 50yrs old, a lawyer that walked passed us and said hello to us as we were figuring how to go 4face buddha. That was his lucky day.
He told me we are lucky, today ---> The Lucky Buddha template is open to public. Why not I go there then go 4Face buddha.
I was thinking: "No harm since I have time to waste, pray and go to 4Face Buddha".
He suggested in between go Yindee, a gem shop that less 30%. I did not bother what is talking for that part.
He even told me only 30 baht to go via a Tu-tu that wear uniform. Trustworthy. MY ASS!
Scammer no. 2 (Driver)
Amazed that it will be only 30 baht compared to usual payment that I have to pay for more than that, we got him to help flag a incoming driver, IN UNIFORM! Lawyer helped to talk to driver on where to go. Did not notice that he told him Yindee. The driver is so kind to bring us into the temple and teach me where to get incense etc in lucky buddha house.
My Thoughts: "No monk, no crowd...?? What the! Cos Monday. Today 1st or 15th? Din think...pray and go off. OMG...I am a lazy person who does not really pray except exam or to spirits."
He left me and wife to go into 2nd house with sleeping buddha.
Scammer no. 3 (Thai Airways - -Phuket Cargo Staff)
At this moment, there is this person before us or just joined us. He took incense and a candle.
Not sure about the practise in Thailand, I took only incense and wanted to borrow light.
He spoke to ask, ask us if speak English, told me not to leave after offering incense, should sit around for a few mins.
Then chat ask whether we on holiday, here often...mentioned history of Lucky Buddha and the template.
LOL...not really bother. Still have the cheek to tell me he is from Tha Airwyas airline, Phuket cargo crew.
Chat that we here only for holiday? Commented that we are stupid.
Should have bought laptop and mobile phone from SG for a profit in Thailand MBK.
I remember: my handyman did such export loophole for Indians going back but for 2nd hand goods.
I recall that those phones I saw in MBK alike cheaper than SG...
Told us that we should do it next time. For tourist, we can buy ruby/saphhire to Singapore from this shop(Yindee) that Poh Heng is buying from. Forget to ask for Poh Heng Purchase Order in the shop (no use...will also be another fake paper). Told us that buying from this place that have 30% offer, tax free, we can sell to Poh Heng after 45days. Bought it alike personal use first. Told us to go there see, ask about 4Cs, 2Gs and so on...can get to buy 5pieces only for tourist and accept credit card. Shown us a copy of his purchase. Recommend get Princess Diana design.
Left temple, the driver suggest to go (Yindee Lapidary Co. LTD, 1091/75-77 Petchburi Rd. Soi 33, Makasan Bangkok 10400 Thailand. Tel: 253-1540-1 Fax: 651-6784), we did not reject. I thought and told wife, funny - 2 person told us same shop. Did not tell driver and he is driving us there.
4, 5 and 6th scammer (Sales workers and Gemologist)
Arrived and we went in, shop owner told us the same story about them being a wholesaler and that they were having a special promotion where they sold to the public at wholesale prices. Introduced us to some samples, the 4Cs and his connection with Singapore-Thai Chamber of Commerce...which looks alike any normal meeting minutes to me. Told us no obligation..listen no need to buy also can.
7th scammer (Fellow Singaporean and the root cause of our purchase)
At the very same moment, a chinese that they say is Singaporean came to collect his puchase and leaving for hotel. Chat with us, ask us where we stay and told us the similar story in Hokkien that we heard in temple. Mentioned that this is his 3rd visit here. Wanted to ask where he stay but did not. Confirmed that it is possible for sale.
When the male Sales Gemologist told me that he loves his wife very much etc...buy every year.. I had a moment of greed that I might even have to buy a set for our mothers...which means $10k! Lucky I did not take out all my credit card. I think I can jump if I do. I brought 4 cards. Possible to sign that much. Told him another story of our chat with the Singaporean. My uncle did told me about buying ruby from Thailand. Unable to recall properly. I did not bring my mobile along due to low batt. Wanted to call him but only sms him after I returned hotel.
The finally scammers (Ourselves)
My wife like the jewellery and I can afford it. Can sell it if need. Better still, next trip buy the balance design to sell off after our wedding. Make a profit since he say Ruby and Saphhire mine dying out. A purchase will make us member. Bought the first Ruby ring @ THB 28k after 30% discount.
They shown me a men ring that cost SGD$1.3k range which I like the design but very expensive. They brought me another design which is cheaper with more diamonds. Claim to be old series of saphhire. Bigger size than the expensive one. Bought the 2nd Sapphire ring @ more than THB 20k after 30% discount. Saw appearance defect and wanted to not buy. They polish the ring and I bought it since my wife wanted to buy me as a present instead.
Happily, we bought 2 rings and left the shop. SMS my uncle at night and told me mum over phone. Uncle warned me just buy for own use. Mum did not want to say more since I bought them.
2nd day,
I went back there 2nd day to change ring size. They told me to return an hour later. Got new tuk-tuk driver to bring me to his gem shop for his guide tips. Did not buy there cos killing time and does not look nice for the gems there. Took adjusted ring and left. Ponder no receipt or acknowledgement of ring under modification etc.
The driver took us to another shop again to help him earn gasoline. This time nearly bought a matching pair of earrings $300+. We shown them the ring and the sales lady said this is not ruby!!!!!!!! Our heart sank. The manager came and claim that this is from another country. Not Thailand ruby.... felt something wrong. They introduced us to diamond range and nearly made us buy a $1k set.
We left and did not buy anymore. Return home at past midnight, type in YINDEE LAPIDARY in yahoo...I strike a SCAM.
So many articles found online about the scam,
I found it funny when a series of people I met speaks English and told me the same place. I dare not bring my new jewellery go verify the ring value damage myself further. The Truth is Sad.
Hope u be careful when u travel too.
 | ---------------------------- This guy din buy...I did. :( [URL=http://www.2bangkok.com/2bangkok/Scams/Sapphire.shtml] http://www.2bangkok.com/2bangkok/Scams/Sapphire.shtml[/URL]Mine is the latest. :( Latest scam from Yindee - August 29, 2006 A reader reports: Just came back couple days ago from Bangkok. on the 2nd last day of my trip 22 Aug 06, me & my gf met this Thai guy outside Isetan, world trade centre, at the 2 shrines. His opening line was talking about how to pray to an elephant god but his accent was quite thick so we din really catch what he was saying. After that, he asked us where we were going (Pratunam market), he recommended us to go to pray to "Lucky Buddha" before going there. "Lucky Buddha" is opened only once a month to the public, so we thought we were really lucky & he went on to ask what we were working as & he said he been to S'pore a few x & he'll be going there nxt chinese new year as he has lawyer friends there, he's been to lucky plaza, sim lim etc. He even showed us his Thai ID. Thai No. 1 is short, fat, dark & in his 50s, speaks English with a thick accent like has phlegm in his throat. Then he told us about this jewelry shop also only open once a month to tourists but they only limited to buying one set at discounted price, cause the shop is a wholesaler to big jewelry shops in s'pore like ang chang, poh heng etc & it charges 100% export tax to them. Once again, we thought we were lucky. He then called for a tuk tuk (told us to hire tuk tuk with only blue uniforms & yellow tags cause they're regulated... can anyone verify if it's true?) to take us to "Lucky Buddha" temple ie. Wat Disallongsaram (near Bangkok Palace Hotel), followed by the jewelry shop & finally our destination (Pratunam). Upon reaching the temple which was like located inside a small road, the tuk tuk driver waited for us while we went in. It was a rather small temple with many stray dogs running around (minimum 30). We couldn’t really locate the door as we saw 2 wooden doors but they were closed. As we went round the corner, a Thai man appeared out of nowhere & we asked him where the entrance was. He said “oh u’re not thais?” & brought us in. My gf had noticed later on he was wearing socks with sandals despite his long sleeved shirt & pants attire. After praying to the “Lucky Buddha” (come to think of it now, there was only this huge Buddha which looked kinda cramp inside accompanied by a few other statues, it seemed really run down compared to other temples), he told us it was 100 yrs old & only opened once a month to public cause other days of the month are for the monks to pray for the thai people. Then he asked us how we got to know of this temple & of course we told him about thai man no. 1 (cause not many ppl will know about this place….. yeah right), & where we were going next. He then told us about the same story about how the jewelry shop was giving discounts & only for tourist open once a month etc etc, in between asking us what jobs we held. (seems like checking out if u’re rich enough to buy jewelry) He then pulled out a receipt from his pouch for a set of sapphire jewelry (like for ear rings, bracelet the lot) which was priced at $96,200 Baht or about US$2,600.00 (which was stated there, probably for potential prey to have an easier conversion). Told us he was a silk businessman flying to London morrow where he’ll sell it off at Harrods for twice the price or US$5,000. He actually had a loophole at one point but we din realize that time, ie. He mentioned only tourists could buy 1 set at discounted rates so how could he an authentic thai buy it at a discount. Thai No. 2 is slim & in his late 40s, he has got big bug eyes & as he talks u’ll see his eyes open quite big. After we left the temple, the tuk tuk brought us to the jewelry shop “Yindee Lapidary Co Ltd”. The staff welcomed us warmly & spoke not bad English. The shop was empty except for a Caucasian family who were selecting gems. The boss, a thai Chinese in his 50s (with a big nose & long ears) would welcome us warmly & offered us drinks (saying even if you don’t buy, it’s ok as they’re registered with S’pore-Thai chamber of commerce, he’ll show you the book even). They’ll then proceed to educate you on how to select gems & how to tell a real one from a fake one, using a diamond tester (to convince you that your purchase is real). At this junction, another guy (turned out to be a Singaporean !!!) who’ll come over & show his receipt to the boss (there’s other staff around but why only to the boss?) & they seemed to know each other well, like hi how are you etc? He’s in his 50s, slim, has gold bracelet & rings encrusted with diamonds on his hands, probably to impress you that he made $ through this method, when he talks he looks toothless but has teeth in the upper row. He then chit chatted with us like asking us where we were from & say oh he’s from there too, later on breaking into our dialects to strengthen the “bond” with you. He’ll tell us the same thing bout him coming here to buy only 1 set with cert & all & selling it back to local gold shops for a profit, been here 3 x but his wife never saw it. He told us to tell the shop that we are buying it for personal use but after that we sell it off later. As he left he din seem to collect anything from the counter. The staff would proceed to show us all the expensive sets of jewelry & when my gf enquired on individual pieces then did they show us separate pieces. We went down to view the cheaper pieces (so called cheapest sapphire ring was at S$580), but we did not have any intention on buying, so we left the place with just their namecard which they welcomed us back again (my a**). We were very lucky in that we didn’t purchase any gems or forced to cause the gems you buy are not fake, they’ve certificates to prove & diamond testers but just that the prices have been marked up & are not as good quality as you think they are. We were even considering buying some for investment the next time round till my very good friend told me it was a scam & I looked it up... |
 | taotia wrote on Sep 18, '06, edited on Sep 18, '06 Wow...if only our hp have Wifi that day or did not use the credit card.
These scams would not be possible without the credits we have.
See this luck couple:
Latest scam report from Blue Dragon - September 14, 2006
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
A reader reports: And yes! We keep on falling into the trap !
It doesn’t matter if you are an experienced traveler, or not. You can not help but trust the people that are part of this scam…How couldn’t you?! The first one we encountered was the pseudo guide at Wat Pho who recommends this wonderful temple where there is a Lucky Buddha.
The temple not only opens until late but the entrance is also free! He also mentions something about a great sale at Thai Expo where they have a huge discount for foreigners… a sale that happens once a year and that you can not possibly miss, plus “today is the last day” he says… Who needs the Lucky Buddha, we are already so fortunate! So privileged! Even though at the moment you don’t feel like following the recommendation of a stranger on the street of going into a jewelry store, it stays in the back of your mind…Finally the guide offers to give instructions to the tuk-tuk driver to take us to the temple and we drive away with this warm fuzzy feeling of having met a great human being who’s only goal is to help travelers “in need”.
Then we arrived at the so called Lucky Buddha, we walked around and to be honest, we didn’t feel that lucky to be there, there was not much to see, but hey, you can’t complain, is free! Plus there are some friendly tourists there too! An American and a French man. And they are really talkative too. Well spoken, educated…the Lucky Buddha turns out not to be bad at all… Plus these tourists have been to Thailand in several opportunities so a couple of recommendations would hurt, would they?
“The American is a Chef living in the USA”. He tells us about the story of the temple, the meaning of some of the colors, etc… Then he starts asking where do we come from, what do we do…And after having an lovely conversation with this great and interesting character, he says that Thailand is known for its gems and good priced jewelry (which we already knew)… and that we should take advantage of the last day of the Thai Expo! What a coincidence! …BOOM, the words from the guide resound and then we say…Hmm probably is a good sale, everybody is talking about it!!! Plus we were considering buying some pieces from the land of the blue sapphires, so why not go check this sale out… Plus the American reassures us by saying that he comes in every year for this special sale to buy jewelry of great quality and price. He gives his suggestions, but he is never pushy… these guys know it all!
We say goodbye to our new American “friend” and we go away on the tuk-tuk to our final destination. We arrived at the store and everything looked very normal. All the sales people were in uniforms, the display of the pieces was impeccable, there were other customers, how can anything go wrong? Well, everybody knows the rest of the story. We bought some over priced jewelry that was worth nothing…. But our story, fortunately, has a happy ending.
Luckily for us, we never kept the jewelry from the store. We paid 15% down and they put them in a safe until we were done with our traveling. We were supposed to pay the balance once we picked up the pieces….
But before we went looking for the jewels, we read on La guide du Routard and on Lonely Planet, something about a gem scam… We started to get chills down our spine and a bit of a stomach ache to tell you the truth, when we started reading the exact same scenario ... We quickly went on the internet and “googled” the Blue Dragon and boom! All the stories unfolded on the screen! The friendly American, the French…the Lucky Buddha!!! AHHH… (By the way THANKS for having this space! You saved us lots of hard earned money! )
We quickly printed the stories from your website and gave it to the Blue Dragon staff and told them to give us our money back and to STOP robbing people. They agreed to give us a refund. That same day we called the credit card company and cancelled it to avoid the transactions from going through. I also had to report these transactions as fraud and attached copies of the stories published on your website as back up. Since we never received the pieces we were able to stop this entire nightmare before it was too late.
But this story doesn’t stop here! The day before leaving Bangkok we wanted to go for our last tour. We took the subway and then a taxi. We asked the driver to take us to one of the temples and he started to say “let’s go to a jewelry store, you don’t; have to buy anything but I get a free coupon for gas”.
We politely said “no, please take us to the temple”, but he kept on arguing with us until he stopped the cab and told us to descend! In shock we said ok enough of the cab drivers for today…let’s take a tuk-tuk…big mistake! We spotted one not far away. The tuk-tuk driver seemed very friendly until he said: “Today is a national holiday here in Thailand, the temples are closed, but I can take you to the Lucky Buddha…. LUCKY BUDDHA!!!!
We jumped out of the tuk-tuk and we manage to tell the tourists that were standing there not to take that tuk-tuk because the driver was part of a scam… We “saved” a couple of travelers, including one from India who shared the 2nd taxi of the day with us …but as we drove away and looked behind, a couple of travelers took the tuk-tuk and drove away…maybe they were heading to the Lucky Buddha, who knows….we just shook our heads. |
 | Hi,
I am from Singapore and also got scammed - in the region of S$6k!!! Almost exact same storyline as yours!!!
I flew back three weeks after that to report to Tourist Police, with help from some Thai friends. The rep from Yindee issued credit notes in front of the Tourist Police, but the darn credit notes never went through.
Got my Thai friend to help once again, after waiting in vain for almost 4 weeks for the credit notes to go through, and this time, they gave her cash. I got back almost everything, but of course have to minus air ticket I paid to go back BKK, expenses incurred during the trip, getting a Singaporean Gemologist to certify those are low-grade rubies, and some exchange rate. Bottom line is, I got back most of my money.
If you have Thai friends, you should try to get back the money. Let these people know that they cannot always succeed.
(If you need to contact me, do email me at kargtan at yahoo dot com dot sg.)
KG |
| KG, really?
You able to help? |
| loverll,
i tried to reply you through yahoo but apparently, it didn't go through. can you e-mail me to discuss in private instead? key thing is, you'll need to have thai contacts. i definitely cannot activate my contact as she's already done it once (too dangerous - i read somewhere that these people are triad-related). so it's either through another contact or you'll need someone in bangkok whom you can trust. e-mail me at kargtan at yahoo dot com dot sg please. |
 | mugaj wrote on Jun 17, '07 It really sad to know about your bad experience in thailand and i'm a girl from thailand and i will becarefull when i have to buy anything from abroad also especially in thailand we have a lots of fake product if you need that i know the place you can go and you need the real i also know the place to buy. contact me if you go back to thailand cos u can trust me. |
 | i am a victim too. Just came back from Bangkok yesterday, my bf suddenly felt like checking up on Yindee. Went into the Net, type in Yindee Jewellery..Heart stopped a while. We are Cheated by them!!How to get back the lost? is it possible. Sad... |
| Move on..JUst dun get CON the 2nd time by attempting to go back to get the $ back.
BTW, how much is ur damage? |
 | Hello,
I am a French tourist; just came back yesterday the 27th June from Bangkok and I have discovered your articles about gem scam. I have been a victim of gem scam on Monday 26th in the Yindee Lapidary store, 1091/75-77 Petchburi Rd, Soi 33 (near D'Ma Pavilion Hotel), Makasan, Bangkok 10400 Tel: 253-1540-1, Fax: 651-6784.
In my well known French tourist guide book "Le guide du routard" they tell tourists to be aware of this kind of scams BUT I would never have thought it would happen to me as I thought I was not a naive person. But They do not give a list of the stores as some other websites like www.2bangkok.com do. The same scenario happened to me that occurred to a lot of the tourists that wrote to your website. I was near the Isetan shopping center, when a Thai man came to me. He told me that this little shrine in front of Isetan was a Hindu shrine, but if I wanted to see a nice shrine, I had to go to the Lucky Buddha temple, opened once per month. He also told me to buy gems for my family and that he knew a good factory store called Yindee that was doing a 30% discount only today.He came with me to fetch a tuk tuk and he indicated him the addresses of both places. As you say, the price of the tuk tuk was surprisingly cheap for the length of the trip but since I did not see anything suspicious! Had I been given some drug without noticing???
Then in the lucky Budda temple, I was approached by a Thai man who told me he was a lawyer and that he bought jewelry for 2500 USD. He showed me the receipt, and told me that he would be able to sell these gems in France for twice the price. Still, I did not feel the threat !!!
Once in the Yindee store, I was directly approached by a 50 year old Chinese lady, very nice, good level of English and very persuasive. I know a little bit about gems but not too much about price bands. She showed me some orange sapphires, less expensive than blue ones. I bought a saphire for 980 Euros (1280 USD). I have made an appointment with a jewelry expert in Paris that I will see this week-end to know if I have paid an extraordinary price or not.
As I am now in France, there is nothing that I can do to get my money back? I will still alert the French authorities and write to www.routard.com, a tourist website, to alert other French tourists.
Best regards,
Stephanie
|
| I advice take it as lesson learnt.
Going back will waste more time and money. |
 | had similar experience.... 1) Guy dressed as Security guard outside MBK before morning opening time, telling tourist that MBK is only open an hour later contradicting guidebooks. AND suggest u go some duty free jewellery shop first and gets u a Tuk Tuk.
2) Smartly dress guys with lots of emblems and badges on his collars out side the Grand Palace, telling us it is close to visitor for the day. AND suggest we go other temples , with some jewellery shop visits in between and help us call a Tuk Tuk.
Luckily we did not buy anythings there...... but a friend was not that lucky.....showed us this diamond necklace bought for $3000 and only a cert to authenticate it...... it doesn't look expensive to me....... |
 | TO HELL WITH YOU ALL THAI SCAMMERS . WE'VE BEEN ROBBED. |
| Better still...there is still part 2 scammers who want to help.
LOL |
 | A staff member of mine just returned from a trip to the US, in which he passed through Bangkok. He did not get "scammed" in the way described above but he did make a substantial purchase at Yindee Lapidary. He has asked me if he thinks he got a good deal. After what I've just read, I suspect not.
He purchased:
"Cut ruby with diamond earrings in 18k white gold settings -- weight: R 1.93 cts, D 0.21 ct. G 7.40 g" for 50,000 Thai Baht, as well as:
"Cut ruby with diamond ring in 18k white gold -- weight: R 1.25 cts, D 0.12 ct. G 3.60 g" for 30,000 Thai Baht
I want to clarity on why people feel "scammed". My question is this: is the "scam" that people: a) were lured to the shop through deception? b) paid too much? c) the jewerly that they bought was fake? d) both a & b? Or, e) all of the above.
Just trying to get clarity for my friend who wants to know the value of his purchases. Are his rubies fakes? Diamonds? We are Indonesia, and there aren't a whole lot of jewelers I trust here either. I suppose I could check for him next time I'm in Singapore. Anyone know of a reputable jeweler to appraise in Jakarta or Singapore?
Thanks,
Brian |
| For Free appraise, go to any PAWN shop in Singapore.
Risk free and no fee!
It's alike a $1 item selling for $500.
The term to use is "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"
They used Deception...human's greed and impulse.
If you are able to THINK rational and properly...will not fall for it.
1) ISO does not needs promotion.
2) One is unlikely to be so LUCKY (Yes for unlucky...!)
3) Most fall for the oldest trick in the book...
4) One have to experience it to learn it.
5) More.
I do forget about this lesson if not for people posting and I read it almost once every 3 months due to people reading it and writing... |
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