I know you’re probably getting tired of hearing my stories of being hustled and scammed, but I wanted to share this one with you. I had a taxi driver who tried to hit me with three different scams in a single trip. I was a little impressed with his creativity.
When I landed in Bangkok, I grabbed a taxi to the hotel. My taxi driver first suggested that I put my luggage in the trunk. I told him that I’d keep it with me and I got in the car. I prefer to keep my luggage with me, since it eliminates the possibility of the driver holding your bags hostage or leaving with your things. I don’t consider this one of the scams, but it could have been.
After I got in the cab, I showed him my phone with the hotel address on it. He pulled the address up on his phone, confirmed it with me, then he told me that he’d pay for the highway tolls, and I would have to reimburse him 500฿ (about $17). I knew that was way too high; I seemed to remember that it was less than 100฿ the last time I took a taxi to the airport. I told him that I wasn’t paying 500฿, and I did a quick search on my phone for “Bangkok highway toll airport.” As the results came up, he said that it was only 75฿. I agreed, and we drove off. Scam #1- Overcharge for tolls. Know what the tolls should be. If you’re in doubt, tell him that you’ll pay. As it turned out, the toll was only 25฿, so I still got overcharged, but not nearly as bad as he wanted.
After we’d been driving for about 10 minutes, I glanced at the meter. It was off. I told him that he needed to start the meter, and he did, making some sounds as though he was apologizing. Fortunately, he didn’t give me a hard time about it. I think his plan was to hit me with a flat rate when when we arrived that would have been much more than the meter fare would have been. I should have made sure that the meter was on as soon as we started driving, but he didn’t push the issue. Scan #2- Overcharging a flat rate versus the meter fare.
When we got to the hotel, I looked at the meter, which read 177฿. Plus the 75฿ that I owed him for the tolls, and another 50฿ that is the standard airport surcharge (that’s a legitimate charge), and the total came to 302฿. He pulled up the calculator on his phone, entered 177฿, 75฿, and 150฿, and showed me that I owed 402฿. I told him what he’d done and that I saw him do it (I doubt he understood most of what I said) and had him do it again. This time he entered it correctly because he knew I was watching him and the total came up as expected. Again he made apologetic noises and gave me the correct change. Scam #3- Fast math may confuse a passenger who is tired from travel and just wants to check into the hotel.
Related to the “luggage in the trunk” issue is one case that I have read about. You get in a shared taxi and you put your luggage in the trunk. The driver stops to pick up another passenger who turns out to be his accomplice. When that passenger gets out before you, they grab one of your smaller bags from the trunk, one that you’re less likely to notice. Or, under the guise of taking a minute to pay the fare or make change, they quickly open your bag, grab what they can, and leave your bag in place. You don’t realize that something is missing until the cab is long gone. Tip: Keep your bags with you as much as possible. If you can’t keep them with you, make sure all of your zippers are locked to ensure nobody can get into the bag when you’re not paying attention.
Another known scam that’s hard to catch is if the driver alters the meter to run faster than it should. It would be next to impossible to catch, but it does happen.
Keep your head on straight, and you won’t fall for any of this, and the less you get scammed, the more enjoyable your trip will be. If you get scammed, hopefully it doesn’t cost you too much and you get a good story out of it.
