Buyers, be on guard at duty free
Saturday August 08 2009
Airports tend to bring out the worst in us. They make us twitchy, distracted and often downright careless, so it's little wonder that a growing brigade of scheming predators are using them for easy pickings.
But the latest swindle to hit the travel world really takes some beating.
Irish tourists have fallen victim to the elaborate ploy which is thriving in Asian airports such as Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand.
Known as the 'zig-zag' scam, it works as follows: an unsuspecting tourist browsing in duty free is arrested on suspicion of shoplifting. They are then removed from departures and whisked off to a local police office, where they face a rigorous interrogation until a large sum of money is handed over to buy their freedom.
This is what happened to two British IT experts, Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin, earlier this year when they were preparing to board their flight from Bangkok to London.
As they were leaving the airport shops, a security guard approached them and asked to search their bags, claiming a Givenchy wallet had been stolen from the counter.
The couple were arrested, even though nothing was found, and held by the police, who demanded 400,000 baht (€8,000) to secure their release.
When they resisted, the ordeal turned nastier. They were questioned in separate rooms and their passports were taken from them. After the interrogation, they were put in a filthy humid cell with blood on the walls and threatened with transfer to the infamous 'Bangkok Hilton' prison, where they were told they would have to spend two months waiting for their case to be processed.
The next day, an interpreter arrived and told them that if they did not hand over the guts of €10,000, they would face a very serious charge. He offered to take them to an ATM machine, where they withdrew about €6,000 between them and handed it over the police, who finally let them go.
When they contacted the British embassy to relay their ordeal, diplomats told them they had fallen victim to a well-known scam whereby visitors are held for alleged shoplifting then made to pay a middleman to win their freedom.
Last month, a Kilkenny woman was arrested at the airport and accused of stealing an eyeliner worth about €20, while an Australian tourist said he was thrown in a cell after being accused of stealing a doughnut in the airport.
Such is the success of the Thai racket, there are reports of similar cases in Cambodia and smaller Asian airports.
The British Embassy is warning passengers at Bangkok airport to be extra careful when shopping at the airport and not to move items around before paying for them.
There is, of course, a much simpler way of staying safe: bypass duty free completely and sit tight at departures until your flight boards with your wallet and passport intact.
- Gemma O'Doherty
