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August 4, 2023
Have you ever heard of the "Bangkok Black Jack Scam"?
Well, I had not - until I visited Bangkok as part of my 1989 trip Around The World.
Here's how it worked in my case.
I had just attended mass at a church that was located within walking distance of our hotel.
The service was nice, and was in English, and as I was taking a picture of the church I met a guy named Danny.
He seemed nice enough and started asking me what seemed to be innocent questions about the US and my trip.
Looking back on it, it is now clear that those innocent questions - such as Is this your first time in Thailand?" "Can you speak Thai?" "How long are you staying?" - all reveal that you're new to the country, know nothing and have enough money for a few months travel.
Danny was quite friendly and told me that he had a cousin that was going to be leaving for New York to become a nurse.
Not sure why- but the cousin leaving to be a nurse in the US seems to be a consistent theme according to other victims of the scam.
Danny said that his aunt and uncle were very concerned about the cousin's move to the US because they had heard so many bad things about how dangerous New York could be.
I tried to reassure him it was like any other big city and as long as you stayed out of the bad parts she would be fine
That is when he invited me to come to his uncle's house to reassure his aunt and uncle that the United States was safe.
It was up to me and there was no pressure.
I was a bit apprehensive but having met him in church and being a trusting person, I agreed.
We took a 15-20-minute cab ride and went into his uncle's house.
He said that it was customary to take off your shoes before entering to I followed his lead and left them just outside.
His cousin was there, and we chatted. She sounded very convincing as a nurse and said she was excited about having a chance to work in the New York.
See - there was nothing to worry about - so far it was just as Danny had said it would be.
He and his cousin were very friendly and offered me a meal of hot dogs, ham and fruit washed down with a Coke over ice.
I answered their questions about New York and made some small talk for a while and then just when I mentioned that it was probably time for me to start heading back to the hotel - HE appeared.
It was Uncle Frank.
He walked into the room and introduced himself. The first thing I noticed is that he did not take off his shoes when he entered the house and he appeared to be more "worldly".
Well, Frank said he worked as a floor manager at a local casino.
He was quite happy to learn that we were going to be in London as well and told me to make sure to look him up in London as he might be there at the same time we were going to be there (...anyone hear the scary music yet?).
He then offered to show me some card tricks.
Not wanting to offend him, I agreed.
This was a big mistake.
We went up a few stairs to a room with a card table, two chairs and cards.
We opened a beer and he proceeded to show me how I could always win in blackjack (...if he was dealing).
He also showed me a way I could win if he was on the casino floor and one of the dealers was dealing.
The way it was supposed to work is that he would be standing on the casino floor and could see the dealer's cards or somehow he would know what they had.
He would then cross his arms and extend a finger to indicate if I should take another card.
He said it was up to me to decide whether to take a card or not but suggested that I not win every hand because that would draw attention - No Duh!
He said that if was able to win some money it was customary to tip him but the amount would be totally up to me.
I told him this was all very interesting but that I needed to get back to my hotel.
That's when he pulled out $500 US and said that some Dutch guy that had won $30,000 the previous night - and had only given Frank a $300 tip - was coming by in a few minutes.
He asked me to stay a while longer and play with the $500 he was going to give me.
And since this guy was addicted to gambling he would want to play and we were going to rip him off and I would get a share of the proceeds.
Frank also wanted me to do this in London.
He assured me that I could make $2,000 to $5,000 US each place!
My immediate reaction was hmm... that's interesting - followed immediately by "what the hell is going on?"
This was serious stuff and I didn't want any part of it.
As soon as he offered me the $500 I said I had to leave because I had a tour scheduled with my traveling companion Todd and that if I didn't show up he would wonder what was going on.
Well, Frank wasn't very happy. He tried to convince me to change my mind but eventually told Danny to call a cab.
I jumped in the cab and Danny spoke to the driver. He then asked me how much money I had. I told him I had about 100 baht (I really had 400) so he told me to give it to him so he could pay the cabbie.
He kept the money and the cabbie headed back to the hotel where I paid him what Danny was supposed to pay him.
All the way back I kept asking myself how did I get into this situation?
When I got back to the hotel I could only think of one thing, spend as little of our remaining time there because Frank knew where we were staying.
I even added the following note to the journal that I was keeping during our trip - If I get killed tonight in my sleep by Frank and his henchmen, his phone number is 390 4881 (...he had given me a card with his number in case I changed my mind).
Years later I learned that what I had experience was a version of the "Bangkok/Thailand Black Jack Scam".
Fortunately, I was able to get out of it before it got dangerous.
You see, if I had stayed and participated in the game here is what likely would have happened.
The game of blackjack that I would be playing in with Frank's money would appear to be a normal game with the exception that I would be winning because Frank was dealing.
At some point the pot would be very large and I would have used the $500 they had given me. I would be holding the winning hand of 21 but to continue the game I would need to put in my own money.
At that point, they would have but the game on hold, sealed the cards in an envelope and helped me go somewhere to cash travelers checks - or in more recent years visit an ATM machine.
I have read about different endings after the sucker - me in this case - gets the extra money to continue playing in the game.
Some have the sucker losing the money in the game via some dramatic twist or getting robbed after securing the cash.
I am not sure what the end game was for the particular situation I was in - but I am happy that I never got to find out and am able look back on my experience and laugh about it - and wonder how I could have been so naive.
And to be fair - after researching this scam on the Internet - it looks like it had its beginnings just about the time I was in Bangkok - so maybe, just maybe, I was Bangkok Scam Joe - the first victim ever.
