Southern Buses - beware. - Lonely Planet travel forum

Southern Buses - beware.

Replies: 29 - Last Post: 20-Aug-2006 01:49 Last Post By: patthai

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bwanabrad

19-Aug-2005 18:23
Posts: 99

Southern Buses - beware.

Recently l had a young girl from the UK come into my shop, to do some internet banking. To her horror she found that one of her credit cards had been stolen overnight and just about maxed out. l have no idea of the sum involved, but as she immediately burst into tears, so l guess it must have been fairly substantial.

Trying to calm her down a little, we worked out that the most likely scenario, was that she was robbed on the overnight bus from Hat Yai or Songkla, to Bangkok. She carried two credit cards on her person, but the third, the one that was missing, was stored in her day pack in the overhead rack.

These gangs are nothing new. l was robbed on a bus from Phuket to Bangkok once myself, nearly thirty years ago. On that occassion, my pack along with about 6 others belonging to foreigners were stored in a locked compartment at the back of the bus, with the conductor showing us his key before we boarded. When we got off the bus at the Southern bus terminal, my pack had been ripped open and dumped on the ground. No surprise that the bus conductor was no where to be seen.

These gangs are highly organized and having been plying their trade for decades, so keep your wits about you, other than that, happy trails everyone.

Chanchao

19-Aug-2005 20:11
Posts: 6,715

We see these posts almost weekly. The tourist 'backpacker-express' unregulated, illegal buses are really a pest. Sadly, people seem to think they're 'convenient' because they leave right from Khao San and take you all the way to the beach..

GET YOUR TRANSPORTATION AT THE GOVERNMENBT REGULATED BUS TERMINALS

All Thais do, so should tourists/travellers.

Check out pics and reviews of all kinds of food at chanchao.fotopages.com. Get the Thai Travel Menu, a printable bilingual menu to help you order great food off the beaten path.

davelliot

19-Aug-2005 20:59
Posts: 4,374

And never leave valuable items in backpack or suitcase. If leaving valuables in daypack , keep the day pack next to your body in the bus .
Also when flying out of Bangkok valuables should never be left in the checked main luggage , the x ray people and baggage handlers work together to rip those off .
A prepaid money card or travellers checks are easier to replace than credit cards , replacing a credit card can be very difficult.

TedKarma

20-Aug-2005 00:24
Posts: 342

How long will it take for people to learn to keep credit cards, money and passport ON YOUR BODY. No where else. It's really not difficult.

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moobie

20-Aug-2005 04:01
Posts: 1,142

Has anybody ever been prosecuted for this type of seemingly common incident?

Being good isn't always Easy.

leereemo

20-Aug-2005 04:12
Posts: 703

Your point re: credit cards is right, I've found that out personally.

KevinCorr

20-Aug-2005 20:50
Posts: 3,758

4- "...Has anybody ever been prosecuted for this type of seemingly common incident? "

Good question. If not. What the hell do the tourist police do?

CrazyAl

20-Aug-2005 21:28
Posts: 108

I agree with No. 2, when taking busses, don't leave anything of value in your stored bag. Always keep your passport, camera, money, credit cards, anything you consider of value with you, at your seat, when you travel. I even lock my "carry on bag" when flying for "just in case." Busses are cheap in Thailand, if you are too lazy to sort your good stuff from your junk, you can always book 2 seats, one for your butt and one seat for your gear.

On the missing credit cards, I am only liable for $50 U.S. if my cards are mis-used. I'm not sure if this is just a U.S. regulation, in any event the "young girl traveller" has to notify her credit card issuer immediately and put a freeze on any more purchases.

I keep the address of my credit card companies in my internet files, if I get ripped off I can always access my e-mail files and get the credit card company address.

Just the other day in Bangkok, I overheard a "young traveller" complaining over the phone that his wallet and passport was stolen by a "pretty young girl" he met in the local beer bar. He couldn't understand why she would steal everything when he went into his bathroom to take a shower. I guess the temptation was too great (she was probably getting 500 baht or 800 baht for the night) and he stupidly left out stuff potentially worth thousands of dollars.

ELVIS - alive and well and living in Pattaya!

Malachi

08-Sep-2005 16:38
Posts: 117

I think a lot of people make the mistake of thinking they should always have their documents safe and then a stash somewhere else. But if you are travelling most people don't consider they have both of them on them at the same time. For instance if you get robbed in the street and lose your passport and credit cards it is nice to have something waiting back at your hotel/hostel, but most don't think that they have both on them when they are moving so they are just as well off consolidating them for safety reasons. Then again it is easy to overlook stuff when you are having a good time travelling

Veritas Liberabit

sprite

08-Sep-2005 17:30
Posts: 4,919

it is beyond easy to scan your passport page, and anything else you'd need a photocopy of, and email it to yourself.
record all that important info in an email to yourself, as per crazy al #7.

if your email won't hold the file, get gmail.

If you have to write it on your ass, it might not be true. fugly
MsU: Men always want my eclairs.

ManchVegas

08-Sep-2005 21:28
Posts: 7,353

I think all credit card transactions should be PIN based. That would go a long way to stopping this kind of fraud.

Get your hands off my ears. I know what I'm doing.

montyman

08-Sep-2005 23:40
Posts: 4,630

On your body and not in a bum bag, or cotton money belt, an inside sewn on zipped pocket is good or leather belt with money compartment, a wallet can be chained with a key ring, through small hole inside your trousers to your belt. keep card numbers as if phone number in address book and photo copy all docs.
I have seen a number of people robbed from what they thought were "safe" Hotel safety boxes, if leaving money in room, to go out to place were pickpockets might be prevalent ie festivals or drinking. Make sure you don't leave under pillow or mattress or in rucksack.
mm

montyman St East Asia , montyman2008 on flikr , montyman in Europe, Ukraine, Estonia ,Latvia,Berlin

Kerouac2

09-Sep-2005 00:16
Posts: 5,583

I was amazed once again at the naïveté of certain travelers when I took an overnight bus from Bangkok to Nong Khai with some North Americans. One of them had all of his cash stolen during the night (about US$2000), having put his daypack on the overhead rack! And not only did he do that, he also changed to another seat for comfort during the night and left his stuff in the original place.

From what I could gather the next morning, he felt 'safe' because it was a 'luxury' bus, which as we all know, only honest people take.

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scott_filtenborg

09-Sep-2005 02:40
Posts: 308

I second #3/TedKarma.

Why fly when you can travel surface! Bon Voyage!

bwanabrad

14-Sep-2005 21:01
Posts: 99

4 - some members of a gang have been caught and prosecuted, but not nearly enough.

A couple of days ago, two girls who had PM'd me called in to visit me at the shop. They told me some more about the gang of bus thieves. One girl had stayed awake with a torch to catch them in the act. She noticed a laser beam on the floor and switched on her light to find someone on theri hands and knees scurrying back down the aisle.

A German man on the same bus refused to get off the bus, until his lost / stolen money was returned. He was not phased by a threat to call in the police, instead he welcomed the idea. The other travellers also refused to get off the bus until his money was returned, and all the passengers had checked their belongings.

These girls think that these gans work every bus from the far south, not just some of them, and l beleive them. There is more to it than that however. The gangs are so brazen and so methodical, l can only think that the are employees of the bus companies themselves are heavily involved.

Solution ? Boycott these buses at all costs, until the operators rid them of the thieves.

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