Vietnam scam alert: Thai men survive scam and physical assault

Photo via TikTok/ @golf_sanit

A Thai TikToker issued a warning to other tourists after he and his friend survived a scam and physical assault by fraudsters in Vietnam.

The Thai man shared his experience in Vietnam in a video posted to his TikTok account @golf_sanit on Friday 27 October. He said in the caption.

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“I fell victim to a scam in Vietnam. The scammers also tried to physically attack me. #vietnam #scamwarning.”

In the video, Golf explained that he and his friend rented electric skateboards at Ho Chi Minh Square in Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam. Golf shared a picture of a Vietnamese man in a light blue shirt and told his followers that this man was involved in the fraudulent scheme.

Golf then went on to describe how he and his friend initially intended to rent electric skateboards for a ride around the square. They were initially informed that each skateboard would cost 600,000 Vietnamese dong (equivalent to 880 baht). Consequently, they handed over 1 million dong (1,470 baht) to the two male vendors.

They provided the vendors with two 500,000 dong banknotes and awaited 400,000 dong in change. However, the vendors only returned 40,000 dongs. The vendors claimed that they had communicated that the skateboards were priced at 60,000 dongs each and insisted that Golf and his friend had given them 100,000 dongs, not 1 million dongs.

Female food vendor intervention

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Golf and his friend were certain they had handed over 1 million dongs and attempted to seek a resolution. However, they couldn’t reach an agreement, so the vendors suggested going to the police station to review the on-site surveillance camera footage.

As they were on the verge of leaving with the vendors to visit the police station, a female food vendor intervened and promised to return 1 million dongs to them. Golf suspected her to be the mother of one of the teenage vendors and disapproved of her son’s dishonest actions.

The Vietnamese woman indeed returned the money to Golf and his friend, and the pair hurriedly left the area. However, Golf revealed that they could not return to their hotel for fear of their safety as the two male traders continued to follow them.

The scammers forced them to delete all the videos of the incident on their phones, which they had to do for their safety. However, the scammers continued to follow them. So, Golf and his friend decided to stop at a tea shop near the spot where the scam took place, where vendors and Vietnamese teenagers helped protect them from the scammers.

Golf said he learned from locals that there was no police station in the area, as the scammers had mentioned. The locals said the scammers tried to take them to a secluded place and physically assault them.

Golf and his friend warned others not to rent anything in the square and not to follow the disguised scammers to the places they suggested.

According to Golf, the tea shop owner also urged tourists who were confronted by these scammers to seek help from street vendors like themselves.

Golf added that there were not only bad people in Vietnam but also good people who helped them.

@golf_sanit

โดนโกงเงิน และจะพาไปทำร้ายร่างกาย ที่เวียดนาม #vietnam #เตือนภัยมิจฉาชีพ 🇻🇳

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Petch Petpailin

Petpailin, or Petch, is a Thai translator and writer for The Thaiger who focuses on translating breakingThai news stories into English. With a background in field journalism, Petch brings several years of experience to the English News desk at The Thaiger. Before joining The Thaiger, Petch worked as a content writer for several known blogging sites in Bangkok, including Happio and The Smart Local. Her articles have been syndicated by many big publishers in Thailand and internationally, including the Daily Mail, The Sun and the Bangkok Post. She is a news writer who stops reading news on the weekends to spend more time cafe hopping and petting dwarf shrimp! But during office hours, you can find Petch on LinkedIn and you can reach her by email at petch@thethaiger.com.

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