Jetski scammers should be splashed out of the water
There have been many complaints about the jetski scams against tourists in Pattaya.
When a tourist rents a jetski for some fun and excitement and then returns it, the scammers point to some old dent, scratch or flaking plastic on the boat and accuses the tourist of causing the damage and demands thousands of baht as compensation. When the scammers insist they go to the police station, the tourist is usually advised to pay up.
The tourists have had unpleasant and costly experiences and feel that they have been the victims of a well-established system of cheating. So many of them take their next holiday elsewhere and recommend their relatives and friends to do likewise.
I wonder why there has been no effective action against these jetski crooks.
Specifically:
Why weren’t the Tourist Police doing their job?
Why hadn’t the media taken it up?
Why wasn’t the tourist complaint court system launched in September, 2013, working?
Why hadn’t the Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT) taken action?
Some suggestions to deal with the problem include:
Inform Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha of the problem.
Encourage the media, particularly the print media, to undertake investigative journalism of the scams and report their findings.
The new Minister for Tourism and Sports Kobkarn Wattanavrangul should tell the TAT to warn tourists and to ask the Dept of Special Investigation to investigate the scams and use the evidence to launch prosecutions.
Ray Archer
