Scam in the Shark Bar, Pattaya
I stayed a few days in Pattaya recently and enjoyed visiting some gogo bars. When I barfined a few of the gogo girls, I normally had pretty good experiences. For now however, I would like to report a scam case and warn my fellow mongers not to fall victim to this cheating as well.
On July 26,2018 (I. E. The day before Asalha Bucha. Buddhist celebration in Thailand), I visited the Shark Bar in Walking Street Soi 15 (same Soi as the previous Angel Witch). It seems that the Shark bar is now in the premises of the previous "Beach Club".
I ordered a draft beer, and shortly thereafter, two girls joined me. They were quite ok, and I enjoyed their party. So, I ordered two Lady Drinks, one for each of them. About half an hour later. It was around 23:15 h. I decided to leave and thought there is enough time to hit another bar, before they close. Due to the Buddhist Holiday, closing hour on July 26 was 12 AM / midnight.
I paid the three drinks (90 + 155 + 155 = 400 THB) and handed a 1'000 THB note to the waitress. Since I needed some smaller change, I did not give her any of the two 500 THB notes in my wallet. When the waitress came back with the change, I noticed that it was only 100 THB. I complained and reminded her that I gave 1'000 THB, therefore the change should be 600 THB. She insisted, however, that I gave her a 500 THB note only.
I was and still am absolutely 100% sure I gave her 1'000 THB. As a matter of fact, the Shark bar was the first place I visited that night, after leaving my hotel room. I had no expenses between leaving the room and entering the Shark bar. And, before leaving my room, I had counted all my money in the wallet and knew exactly how many notes of what denomination were in my wallet. So, for me it was easy to find out that, indeed, I gave her a 1'000 THB note, since one of them was missing in my wallet, but no 500 baht note was missing. Nevertheless, she stubbornly insisted that I gave her a 500 THB note. Even the two gogo girs (still sitting with me) confirmed that I gave 1'000 THB to the waitress. So, I called the manager (a lady). She was visibly pissed off and little motivated to help sorting this out. She told me to come back on July 28, after the Buddha holidays. By then, they would have counted the income from that evening and could figure out whether there was any 500 THB too much in their hands. Knowing the mess they have with the money in these bars, I already knew that coming back was no option at all, and I requested that the money be counted immediately. Finally, the manager instructed the staff to count the money right away. Still, I would have been extremely surprised, had they found "too much money" in their pockets.
I repeatedly told the manager, as well as the waitress that I had counted all the notes in my wallet and that there was absolutely no doubt at all that I had given a 1'000 THB note. I knew, I was wasting my time. But for me, it was now not really about the money anymore. I was just very disappointed to fall victim to such a simple and stupid scam. Actually, during my 20+ years of coming to Pattaya, I visited countless bars in Pattaya, but this was the first time to be cheated so bluntly.
Meanwhile, one full hour after my payment had elapsed. The bar was already closed, and the staff was still counting the money. Or at least, they pretended doing so. The manager now told me that also the two gogo girls sitting with me before, had confirmed that I handed only 500 THB to the waitress. Ok, the case became clearer: it was obviously an intentional scam, and the bar had instructed the girls to lie. There was no progress at all, and I had already threatened the manager that I would call the police if there is no progress. Now, it was time for calling the men in brown.
I left the bar and went to the police officers posted at the beginning of Walking Street. There are always some "Tourist Police" officers and some Thai Police officers. Finally, I could convince them to accompany me to the bar: one Tourist Policeman, two Thai Policeman, and one (female) Police Assistant. Back in the bar, the staff seemed to still count the money. The manager was obviously pretty frustrated that I came back with the police. However, she told them that they "had not found any excess cash of 500 THB". Hence, it was. As expected. Word against word. Meanwhile, the assistant took a few pictures with her smartphone. But even the policemen could not motivate the bar manager to agree to a reasonable solution. I guess that everybody already knew clearly that the bar team cheated. But the bar was probably afraid that by offering a solution, they would admit the scam. Hence, they insisted on their version.
Not very encouraging. But I learnt a few things. The police told me that these gogo bars are equipped with CCTV systems that supervise all the action. In case of a dispute (and possibly for other reasons as well), the CCTV recordings can be used as proof. Good to know! Therefore, the policemen recommended me to formally report the next day to the official police station in Beach Road. The police there would have the power to request the bar to open the CCTV and to review the recording. Then it would become visible what kind of banknote I handed to the waitress. Well, the recommendation was good, and I would have done all this, for the sake of punishing scammers. But the time for my departure was approaching, and due to the Buddhist Holidays as well as the King's birthday, I had no chance to see this CCTV recording before my departure. Hence, there was no chance either to see the bar team losing face and to get my money back. As frustrating it was, I had to give up.
The lessons for me (and perhaps for some fellow mongers as well) are as follows:
- If ever I can, I shall pay with the smallest possible banknote (recommendation by the police).
- Whenever giving a banknote to the waitress, I shall tell her the denomination, e. G. "I give you one thousand baht" and make sure she realizes what I am saying. Best would actually be asking her to repeat the amount.
- And, of course, always to check the change and to complain if it is not correct.
- If there is any scam, always report to the police. If there is a bar that regularly cheats, this will damage its reputation and increase the chances to nail them down.
Obviously, I will not visit the Shark bar anymore, whenever I come back to Pattaya.
If you, fellow mongers want to do a favor to me and to you as well, please avoid visiting the Shark bar in future! And, should you still go there, I strongly recommend to follow the above procedure. Such advice is also useful in general for any other bar, I guess.
I am afraid that this is all what I (or we) can do in this case. At least, I wanted you to be warned about the scam practices in the Shark bar in Pattaya (and possibly in other bars as well).
Wonderer. Who is now richer by one more experience.
P.S. The police told me that this was the first time they got aware of a scam in the Shark bar, though it was a pretty obvious case. They told me, on the other hand, that they hear a lot of cheating cases (with much bigger amounts!) from the Russian-owned bars, I. E. Those with "European Girls'. So, be warned there as well.
Thanks all for the additional suggestions
Thanks for all your additional suggestions. I think they are all quite valuable, and some might be more practicable while others less.
In the case of the Shark bar, I assume that it was an intentional scam. Some of the things that happened hint in that direction. So, even taking pictures of my 1'000 baht notes wouldn't have helped. They just wouldn't show that note to me.
Hence, I believe the best is really:
(1) To use the smallest possible notes.
(2) To agree with the waitress on the amount you gave to her.
Then, it should be much safer.
At Mr. Enternational: It was not about the money. I invested my time (altogether about 1. 5 hours) since I don't like to be victim of a scam and since I want to make sure to the best possible extent that it doesn't happen anymore, neither to me nor to fellow mongers.
Last, but not least, if you have time you may go to the police station and request that the CCTV is opened. Then it becomes clear.
Wonderer. Wish you all better luck!
