We learnt this the hard way. Me and 2 friends got absolutely and completely SCAMMED by scooter renters. The worst thing is, they had my friend’s passport as ransom(collected in the form of a deposit). We made the mistake of telling them that our flight was the same day and in 4 hours, and they quoted the outrageous amount of 60,000 baht(for a few scratches on two of the scooters). After a lot of arguing, begging and pleading we “reduced” it to 38,000 baht. We are broke college students for whom this experience was very painful and honestly, kind of ruined our entire holiday. We didn’t know what else to do other than to pay the money because, our flight was in 2 hours and we were an hour away from the airport. We tried calling the embassy but they wouldn’t budge. We had no choice but to relent. We learnt a very expensive lesson that day. NEVER give your passport as deposit to rent the scooter.
EDIT: I’m from Singapore, where college is heavily subsidized and flights to Phuket are extremely cheap. Unlike the US, it’s normal for parents to pay for college and we use our savings from national service (compulsory 2-year army conscription), internships, and part time jobs during the summer to pay for short trips to countries nearby.
UPDATE: I’ve posted the pictures of the scammer and the receipt to hopefully raise awareness of the scam and where it is in the hopes that something can be done about it.
whatsapp profile of scammer: https://imgur.com/a/7IadX0a
profile picture of scam number: https://imgur.com/a/B2W2OIK
picture of taking our passport: https://imgur.com/a/eA8Aj9T
picture of receipt: https://imgur.com/a/Na7YrIE
