The strip club scam is an outright robbery and it’s been happening in the Patpong area for who knows how long now. Here’s the scenario of the scam, lets say you’re walking along Patpong with a friend and someone approaches you and show you a menu or sign with something like “Watch naked girls dance. Beer 50 Baht, Soda 20 Baht”. You might be inclined to take up the offer since it sounds a like a decent deal and you’ll get to watch a strip show.

Once in the club, you’ll probably see some chick dancing lazily on stage, looking like she’s about to fall asleep or something. You might also see some older gal shove ping pong balls down her vagina. After a couple of minutes of sipping your drink, some girls will come over and ask, well actually more like demand that you buy them drinks (they get a commission on the drinks). You’ll most likely decline (unless you’re extremely nice or naive) since they’re not that good looking and are too damn pushy.

After finishing your drink, I can almost guarantee that you’ll ask for the bill right away, since the show sucks (and you don’t feel like being harassed by those ugly chicks). When you get the bill, you’ll be quite surprised that it’s not 100 Baht as expected for the 2 beers you ordered, but 1,100 Baht. When asked about the price, they’ll tell you that 2 beers are 100 Baht, and 500 Baht each for the show, totaling 1,100. If you start to protest and make a scene they’ll bring in the muscles, most likely some huge lady-boy and a couple Thai guys that look like they just got out of jail. They’ll surround you and demand that you pay up, and at that point you’ll probably pay them since you don’t want any trouble and the money isn’t that much to be fighting over.

What can you do to avoid being scammed like this? I recommend that you avoid these nudie bars altogether. Besides, the girls there aren’t that good looking to begin with. However, if you still really want to see some ugly lady shoot darts or ping pong balls out of her canal, then I would make sure you explicitly ask about the price first…for the show, drinks, tax, service charge, etc. If you’re in the club and they ask you to move to another area for a better view, ask them how much! This is another scam where they’ll charge you extra for “VIP” area viewing.
 
If you've had the unfortunate experience of being a victim, and would like to warn your fellow compatriots and visitors alike, please let us know and we'll post it for you.