Yesterday started as any other day. It was a bright morning here in Chiang Mai. Dan was at the Create office doing his thing while Jen went to the local government vehicle registration office so we could transfer our car into our name (we never did this last year when we bought it – oops).
As Jen and a Thai lady (who was helping us with this process) walked into the front door of the office a man approached them and, in English, asked “Can I help you?”
“Sure” they said, “we need to get our car registered and transfer the ownership into our names”.
So, the very helpful gentleman invited them to take a seat, asked them for the details of what they wanted, and proceeded to tell them he could do it all for them, right there, for 3300 Baht – about 100 US dollars.
Sitting in this man’s office, there at the motor vehicles building, Jen and our Thai friend gave him the necessary documents and cash, while he went off to get the transfer and registration taken care of. And they waited.
About 20 minutes later another man walks in to the room and in Thai says, “Can I help you?”. When the ladies say they are waiting for the “other man” to finish their work and get the new documents for them, the man seems confused. He tells them there is no other man. That office is his office and nobody else works there.
It’s then that Jen and our friends realize they’ve been scammed.
keep reading here…
They tell the man, who works in that office, everything that happened. He speaks to other office employees – none of whom ever saw the first guy. Apparently there are no corroborating eye witnesses.
So Jen and our Thai friend spend about 4 or 5 hours there… talking, explaining, re-telling the story to branch manager and security officer. But still, after all this time, the motor vehicle office’s staff don’t know who it was or how it could have ever happened. In fact, they started alleging that Jen was making the story up and trying to scam them!
After all of this, Jen decides it’s time to leave and go to the police station to file a report (they’d tried calling, but the police wouldn’t come). As they are in the motor vehicle parking lot their phone rings. It’s the branch manager from inside. he wants them to come back in.
So they head back in to the office, where the management begs them not to go to the police! They claim they’ve recently received a reward for their efficiency and professionalism, and they appear to be afraid it could hurt their reputation. Plus, they insist this has never happened before, and thus the police really oughtn’t be bothered.
So, they propose a deal: If Jen promises not to go to the police they will register our car and give us the required ownership transfer papers and car inspection… for free. After talking this through with several people on the phone, we decide this is the best way to go, since that is what Jen went there to do. Jen says ok. We’ll do it. If they can fix the situation then we won’t go to the police with the story.
In the end, everything works out. Jen came home with the paperwork completed & the car registered in our name. It took 6 hours, countless phone calls, negotiations with the government office’s management, and losing a little bit of cash… but in the end we got the papers we needed.
But the questions remain: How was Jen and a local Thai lady conned by a man in a middle of a government office? How was it that nobody – not a single person! – saw him as he invited Jen into the empty office and took the money? And why was the office staff so adamant that we not go to the police?
It makes me recall an episode of The Real Hustle, where they illustrate how most cons are not performed alone. It’s a team effort. Somebody watches while the other person pulls the con. The question I have is not if there were other players in this con… just who they were.