Just came back couple days ago from Bangkok. on e 2nd last day of my trip 22 Aug 06, me & my gf met this dark Thai guy (Thai No. 1) outside Isetan, world trade centre, at e 2 shrines. His opening line was talking about how to pray to e 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 jewellery 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 jewellery 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 verfiy if it's true?) to take us to "Lucky Buddha" temple ie. Wat Disallongsaram (near Bangkok Palace Hotel), followed by the jewellery 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 e 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 e jewellery 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 jewellery)
He then pulled out a receipt from his pouch for a set of sapphire jewellery (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 convsersion). Told us he was a silk businessman flying to London morrow where he’ll sell it off at Harrods for twice e 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 jewellery shop “Yindee Lapidary Co Ltdâ€. 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 jewellery & 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.
There are links on which you can read up on Thailand gem scams. The 1st link is on e blacklisted jewellery shops & how they operate, the 2nd & 3rd links are specific threads on “Yindee Lapidary Co Ltdâ€.
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/Scams/stores.shtml
(Yindee is near the bottom of the page)
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/Scams/sapp27.shtml
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/Scams/sapp31.shtml
The Thai government is fully aware of this problem but there’s nothing they can do & credit card companies will not on at your side either, so be warned !
