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The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/ShieldKroete on 2024-09-23 14:19:26+00:00.
So a friend and I are in Bangkok for a few days. We were walking past the national museum (which is closed today) when a Thai man came out the gate and started talking to us. Since it’s a touristy area I was on my guard but he didn’t try to sell us anything and said he was working for the museum and setting up a future exhibit.
After about 10 mins of chatting he gave us some seemingly legit travel tips and suggested some less crowded, destinations including some temples. In an offhanded way he also talked about a textile factory outlet / tailor which is only open some days a year which we could check out. They supposedly have some really cheap high quality items for sale since they cater to locals.
He then went back to the museum to get a map where he marked his suggestions
Finally he told us to be on our guard regarding tuk tuk prices and that tourists are often scammed by drivers and that locals often pay much less.
After we thanked him and said our goodbyes he then waved over a seemingly random tuk tuk and negotiated a really good price for us to visit some of the aforementioned attractions.
We then drove to one of the temples which as promised was almost empty and actually quite beautiful. There we met an old man who started telling us some things about the temple and also gave us some advice about interesting spots in the city, which are not so easy to find and not crowded with tourists.
When I gave him the map so he could show us where to find them, he saw the marked textile factory. He recognized it and started talking about how this is a really good opportunity to buy some clothes for local prices and that they’re only rarely open for retail and how he actually bought some really high quality silk and cashmere suits and dresses for his wife there yesterday. Since I told him about an upcoming job of mine in the same profession he supposedly is in, he gave fatherly advice about appearing professional at meetings.
Up until that point we had a really good time and were very happy about the nice locals who took their time to give us advice and basically free tours.
When we got to the tailor it didn’t quite look like a factory outlet and there were no locals there but it looked very professional and high end. At that point I might have gotten suspicious but it had really good reviews on Google from accounts with (seemingly) different nationalities with photos that were taken inside the store. The people inside the store also did a very good job of not giving us time to think. Every time I was trying to calculate prices in my currency or trying to get a closer look at the fabric they had a question, suggestion or some smalltalk ready.
After a few minutes I let myself get talked into commissioning a dress shirt and trousers. They tried to sell me multiple suits, ties etc but since I hadn’t seen any final product I declined. The only reasons I was willing to buy anything at all were the ringing endorsement of those two nice locals who kept talking about dirt cheap high end suits. In the end I paid about 120$. They gave me a receipt and told me my clothes would be delivered to my hotel the same day.
Later today I randomly stumbled upon a description of the Thailand tailor scam online, which sounded weirdly familiar. Basically everyone I mentioned before, including the tuk tuk driver, is working together to make us think we’re getting the deal of our life on those clothes when in reality the fabric is really cheap and not nearly worth the price.
The beautiful thing about this is that the tailors never actually tell you that what you’re buying is cashmere or silk. You only assume that because everyone else independently tells you about the awesome high quality cashmere suit you’re going to get. Since you’re actually getting the ordered clothes you cannot go to the police or your credit card company. You’re just tricked into paying much more than they’re worth.
Since everyone involved seems genuine and friendly, gives legit tips and only mentions the tailor as a side note I never connected the dots until it was too late.
In the end the clothes were actually halfway well fitting and don’t look too bad.
Right now I’m a bit poorer than before and feel quite stupid for having fallen for a common scam. I thought I would be able to recognise scams like this but I was completely blindsided by the way everyone was working together and subtly influencing me over the course of about two hours.
Looking back there were a few signs that I should have noticed but up until the actual store I think there was no single obvious clue. Especially since I have met people like that while travelling who were actually just friendly and trying to help me have a good time.