Fried and conned! Chancer nicks nosh from Pattaya food vendor
Pattaya stallholder left out of pocket as smooth-talking scammer vanishes with dinner for five
A kind-hearted Pattaya food vendor was left gutted after a fast-talking freeloader made off with five takeaway meals, without handing over a single baht.
The victim, Aranya, who runs a humble roadside food stall on Soi Nern Plub Wan, is fuming after being duped by a customer who vanished with a bellyful of grub worth nearly 500 baht.
The cheeky chancer pulled the stunt around 7.30pm on July 15, spinning a sob story and playing the friendly customer routine, before scarpering with a hefty order and leaving the 28 year old Aranya high and dry.
“The economy is already bad, business is slow, and now I’ve been tricked into making food for free,” she wrote on social media, sharing CCTV footage and a plea for the man to return and pay his bill.
Speaking to Pattaya News reporters at her stall, Aranya described how the slick scammer, a Thai man aged around 30 to 35, rocked up on a bronze Honda Wave, asking about prices for regular and “special” dishes.
He ordered two large portions of pork basil fried rice with fried eggs, supposedly for himself and a mate working at a nearby garage. While she cooked, he kept chatting casually, putting her at ease.
But then came the twist, the man asked for three more “special” side dishes, claiming three more friends would be arriving shortly for a proper sit-down meal. The extras included stir-fried basil with canned fish, crispy pork with kale, and an omelette.
Trusting his word, Aranya handed over the rice boxes without taking payment, planning to settle up once the full group arrived. But after walking off with the food, the man never came back.
“I waited more than two hours,” Aranya said. “I even prepared the side dishes he ordered. But he never showed up. It’s not a huge amount, but to someone like me, it’s a real blow.”
She added that with her dishes costing just 50 to 60 baht each, every sale counts in the current economy.
The incident was caught on her stall’s CCTV cameras, showing the man chatting away and then subtly pulling up a cloth to hide his face once he noticed the surveillance. Seconds later, he grabbed the food and bolted.
Aranya plans to file a police report using the footage and hopes the man will come clean.
“If he sees my post, I just want him to do the right thing and pay what he owes.”
Locals have rallied around in support, slamming the man’s behaviour as shameful. One commenter wrote: “Scamming a struggling street vendor? That’s about as low as it gets.”
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