On my first trip to Bangkok from 5th to 8th September, I met with a scam! Before I flew, J told me to be aware of tuk tuk drivers and never take tuk tuks there. But everything happened too smoothly to be thinking right on the spot. Here I shall write down the whole experience, hoping to become one of the search results for "orange sapphire", "gem scam", "bangkok gem", etc.
This day, 6th September 2016, a lovely Tuesday morning after finishing breakfast from our hotel
(The Berkeley Hotel Pratunam), we stepped out wanting to walk to the nearest BTS to go to the flower market. Then, a guy dressed in long pants and black jacket saw us walking past and became friendly with us. He asked where we wanted to go and then said that the BTS station that we wanted to go was very far. He then offered to bring us to the nearer BTS. Dad and him walked in front of mum and I, and I couldn't hear what they were talking about. After walking for about 200m, they stopped and looked at the map that my dad was holding. The man looked at the map and said the tuk tuk could bring us there for 30 Baht. We were elated upon hearing this as that could save us from the heat of walking to the BTS! So we agreed unanimously. The man added that we were very lucky as it was a special lucky day in Thailand that day! He said we must go visit this feng shui temple as it is only opened once a year! Furthermore, it was on the way to the flower market, and the tuk tuk will wait for us at the temple. He added that all the Thais went early in the morning to pray and have left for work already. So we won't be meeting the crowd.
We got up the tuk tuk happily and in a short while, we cut through a quiet alley and reached the temple. There was nobody and we offered our incenses. My dad even asked the person from the temple and confirmed that the temple opens everyday, and was the pagoda at the back that opens once a year. We walked over to the pagoda (~30 m) and mum immediately commented about the unglam scaffoldings outside the pagoda. We were told to go up the pagoda to pray. So we went up the second floor and immediately saw a well-dressed man, age about 40 plus, standing there.
He was in a white long shirt with black pants, an iPad and a business black pouch. Soon, he was introducing himself as the relative of Hong Leong Group Finances and his name was Eric Kwek, residing in Singapore. He said he was there to pray for his business as well as pray that to win the bid for the building of railway from Singapore to KL. He then showed us the video clips from the morning's praying procession on his iPad and then told us the history of the three buddha statues on the second level. The picture below showed a bejeweled "nine hundred year old pendant". He turned on the torch on his phone, shone on the pendant and told us to get a closer look at the gems.
My dad asked him if the pendant was placed there permanently and if anyone had tried to steal it? The man replied that those people who has stolen it, would sit at the bus stop the next day with the stolen buddha placed beside them on the bench, looking dazed and stoned and unable to move. The police will then come for them and the buddha will be returned.
He also said he has been living in the US for a long time and has been in ill health a few years ago but after coming to pray there, he recovered and met a man who introduced a feng shui gem to him. He has worn that ever since and his health and business has been good and smooth. My mum asked why wasn't he wearing his ring at that time. He replied he just bought a six carat orange sapphire in the morning and had left it at the shop for resize. He then wrote down the "address" for us to go buy the gem too. Mum even commented it was all fated that we had such good luck to meet up with him!
We showed the tuk tuk driver the "address" and he brought us there. It was a very short distance. We entered the shop
Color Gems and immediately asked for orange sapphire. The salesman showed us a few rings and my mum offered to buy me one. She said it was to bring luck for me. So mum paid 23 000 Baht and I was very happy with the pretty ring.
We left the jewelry shop and the tuk tuk driver told us that the weather was too hot and the flower market was very small and not worth to visit. He suggested we go to MBK instead. Hence we didn't go to our flower market as planned and took up his suggestion. Later in the day, we went ASIATIQUE. Throughout the day, we picked up more and more suspicious points about our morning.
Suspicious pointers:
1. He grew up in the US, but did not speak English with any US accent.
2. He was not dressed in tailored shirt or pants. (I mean he is a rich business man, relative of Hong Leong Group chairman Kwek Leng Beng.)
3. He was using a non-smart phone.
4. He was not wearing a branded expensive watch.
5. Address given to us was only a word "CHAANG", meaning "elephant". How did the tuk tuk driver understand where to bring us?
6. He was not wearing his ring and probably gave a convenient excuse that it was undergoing resizing.
7. It was such a hot weather but he insisted to be stationed in the pagoda the whole day to pray for his business.
8. No decorations or any other visitors in the temple for this special occasion that happens only once a year.
9. The pagoda only had two accessible levels. The third level was dirty, filled with cob webs and cigarette butts.
I then googled and typed in "orange sapphire bangkok" and saw that the first few search results were all about gem scams. Our hearts sank and affected our night. This
search result particularly helped us in getting back our money. We followed the steps written by him.
The next morning, we googled for the address of the Tourist Police. I called them to double check on their address.
Address: Khwaeng Wat Sommanat, Khet Pom Prap Sattru Phai, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10100, Thailand (Same building as the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, beside Ratchadamnoen Boxing Stadium)
Tel: 1155
We tried a couple of taxis, some didn't want to bring us there, some quoted exorbitant fares. In the end we paid 350 Baht. When we stepped in, we were greeted by a police woman. "How can I help you?"
"I want to make a complain," I said.
"Oh, did you buy a gem?"
Oh my! We prepared what to tell the tourist police the night before, phrasing in such a way that we bought the ring in an unsound mind, and we didn't have to even explain anything! The police woman asked for the receipt, the gem and my mum's ID. They called the manager of the jewelry shop and everything was settled in less than ten minutes. The police woman flagged a taxi for us to go back to the shop and the same salesman was friendly and gave us our refund without any grumbles. We were lucky the whole process was so smooth!
The whole thing started from the man who offered to bring us to a nearer BTS station, to the tuk tuk driver, to the man in the temple and finally the man in the pagoda. He even dared to lie in front of the three buddha statues. All these effort put in just to get more customers to buy their gems. *clap clap*
