My girlfriend and I fell victim to a scam in Koh Samui. It is not
unique to Koh Samui, but it was the first time we have encountered it.
Basically it is the vacation club scam.
We were approached by some Thai men on the street. We were asked if we
spoke English, and then given some scratch cards. We had won a major
prize, and could collect by coming to a 90 minute sales presentation
at an undisclosed location. We greedily agreed. We were met by a
British guy, his name was Peter Jensen. He was nice, albeit
unprofessional, talking casually. After 60 minutes of chit chat he
started with the pitch. It sounded lovely. Free holidays and cheap
deals all over the place, many hotels to choose from, etc etc etc. 2
hours later came the price tag. At this point we said no. It was for
$17,000 for a 30 yr membership. Then they reduced it to a 3 yr
membership, and dropped the price to $5,000. We again said no. Then
Peter’s boss, Dave, came to the table, and kept going at us, and
eventually after some more sales pitching and viewing their “website”
we said yes. Looking back at it I can’t believe we said yes. It was
like we were hypnotized. The paperwork was limited. They took $1,000
from my credit card as a deposit, and we agreed to pay the rest in
installments. Only when we got back to our hotel some 6 hours later did
we Google the company, and found that it is a scam. We were
devastated. How stupid could we have been?!
Anyway, I hope that you will add this to the scams that are listed on
your site, so that no one else falls prey to this.
You can see more at
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293918-i7560-k3588118-Paradise_Direct_Vacation_Club_Scam-Koh_Samui.html
Thanks
Regards
Michael
Answer from Thailand Scams
Yes i agree how can some people be so stupid? Would you do this in your home country just hand over this kind of money? This “scam” has been going on for years and it is only sometimes the you actually see the foreigners. Most of them hide since ONE way to get back the company is attack the the boss with lack of work permits, scams, visa and other things. The best way to get the money is to attack with everything you can think off at the police station and make a big new about it.
They have a science behind the free tickets and they know 100 % who should get the winning ticket. In some companies they have 3 stars on some use 3 birds but if you fit the profile of a buyer you will win for sure. I was walking in Bangkok everyday the same route and everyday the same Thai guys came and asked me about this and i always told him NO in Thai. Finally my Thai friend told them in THAI to stop asking me since i would be angry but he pushed my friend aside and came asked me anyway. I than took all his 200 fliers and tossed in the air all over World Trade Center. The Thai man started to pick a fight with me and from nowhere a English speaking man came and dragged the Thai man away he did not want to have the police attention off course.
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