Credit Cards and other Phuket, Thailand Tourist Trap Tips

As credit card fraud becomes increasingly bad, be ultra-vigilant in Asian countries. Thailand is well known for it. Even though you may take precautions such as not letting your credit card out of your sight, it is not enough. Once they have the imprint of your details, you are at risk.

We observed all the rules about credit cards in Thailand and we're not sure how, but someone managed to make a number of withdrawals from our account adding up to $6,000. It may have been that they accessed our account details whilst we were using wireless internet to check account balances and transfer money. The money was taken out in the UK. I have heard of many people with the same problems recently. You must check your account for a few months following your visit as the withdrawals have happened as long as 3 months after the visit.

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At Least Do This: My advice to anyone is to withdraw cash at an ATM (with caution) and use that. Do not use your credit card for general transactions.

We found that although you are supposed to be able to withdraw 40,000 baht per day, we could only get 20,000 in a transaction.
Alternative: Perhaps the wisest choice is to take as much cash with you as you can and keep it safely on your person.

I wasn't sure on previous occasions I stayed in Phuket whether I had lost some money or whether I'd spent it without noticing. The last time I was sure I'd had money stolen by the housekeeper, as I set her up after I became suspicious and caught her. It also appears that she or her young daughter who she would bring to work on a Saturday took my Prada sunglasses.

Friends of ours stayed at the Diamond Cliff Resort, they had a pair of Armani sunglasses disappear from their room, along with at least AUD$100. The $100 note was stolen from the daughter's purse while the family were at the pool. The parents aren't sure whether they had any go missing or not as they didn't check.

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At Least Do This: Do not leave your valuables anywhere they are accessible even while you are in the apartment/suite. The money I had stolen was taken while I was upstairs and the maid was downstairs.