The infamous “Gem Scam” has been around for years, and it’s probably the most well-known scams of them all, yet countless visitors have had their vacations ruined because of this scam. It is elaborately setup and involves many actors and “coincidences” as you’ll see below.

Part I
You’re minding your own business, sweating your ass off trying to get to some temple using your handy map, let’s say Wat Pho. All of a sudden, a Thai stranger approaches you and asks where you’re headed. You politely reply, “Wat Pho”. This stranger then looks at you in disbelief and tells you that the temple is closed to the public today, due to a royal celebration within the temple.

He’ll try to make small talks with you and then suggest that you go to some made-up temple, with names which he probably pulled out of his ass, such as the “Golden Diamond Buddha Temple”, “500 Arms and 10 Headed Buddha Temple”, “100 Tons Shiny Jade Buddha Temple”, etc. He might even casually tell you that there are some special deals on gems today, but doesn’t make any attempts to get you to buy anything. At some point in the conversation, he'll casually tell you about a special deal on gems that are being offered to tourists, but he doesn't make any suggestion that you go there or give you any sales pitch.

After a few minutes of conversing, he’ll then offer to flag down a Tuk-Tuk for you to take you to the fictitious temple. It’ll cost you only 10 or 20 Baht because he’s Thai and is able to make such a deal.

1st sign of scam: We Thais by nature don’t like to approach complete strangers, and especially on the street. If you’re being approached by a Thai person speaking perfect English on the street, this is the very first warning that this person is up to something devious.

2nd sign of scam: The temples are never closed, they’re opened 7 days a week, rain or shine. Some other excuses they may give you as to why the temple is closed are: - Closed due to constructions. - Closed due to a Buddhist holiday. - Closed due to the King’s birthday. Whatever the reasons, it’s best to find out for yourself at the entrance and don’t start any conversation with this stranger.

3rd sign of scam: Tuk-Tuk don’t cost 10 or 20 Baht, they can cost just as much as the Taxi or even more. If you’re being offered a ride for anything less than 40 Baht, something is definitely wrong. I suggest you decline the offer, keep on moving, and don’t even look back.

Part II
Let’s say you accept the deal and hop on the Tuk-Tuk, which then takes you to some ordinary looking temple, nothing special about it. The Tuk-Tuk driver shows you the main entrance and waits for you outside the temple. Once inside the temple, you happen to meet a nicely dressed Thai man speaking fluent English, who might claim to be an English teacher or a business man. He’ll probably chat with you for awhile, making small talks about Thailand and your home country (which he happens to have a good knowledge of for some reason). The conversation then steers towards the huge deal on gems, which confirms what the other man on the street mentioned earlier. He’ll tell you that this special deal involves wholesales buying at low prices, which you can then resell at your home country for a HUGE profit. He’ll also tell you that this offer was previously only available to Thai students, to finance their studies overseas, you see. However, since today happens to be a special “Exports Promotion” day, it is now being offered to tourists as well. You’ll have to go to some special export shop to get this deal, as it’s not sold at any regular gem shops. He might also tell you that the Thai government is backing this promotion and you’ll receive a Certificate of Authenticity after the purchase. You can still go for fun if you decide not to buy, as you’ll be shown exquisite Thai gems and learn about the gems trade free of charge, so there’s really nothing to lose. He’ll even mark the location of this “special shop” on your map for you, which you can show to your Tuk-Tuk driver.

4th Sign of scam: You know what they say, if it’s too good to be true, then it’s probably not true. As you can already guess, there’s no such thing as a government backed gems promotion, just made-up to rip you off.

Part III
You decide to go to this gem shop just for fun, since you have nothing to lose anyway. Once at the gem shop, you’ll be well treated by the owner or manager himself. They’ll offer you drinks and a comfortable chair to sit on so you can check out the beautiful shiny gems. At the shop, there’ll be another foreigner in on the act, pretending to be a customer checking out the gems. He tell to you that he’s been buying gems from this shop for years and selling them back in his home country (US, Canada, Germany, Neverland, etc) and making HUGE profits. He might also tell you that’s how he finances his lifestyle of traveling around world, just buying gems from Thailand and selling them overseas.

The shop owner then gives you a hard sales pitch, and tries to get you to buy a bulk of gems worth around $3000-$5000+. He’ll tell you that you’ll be able to resell these for twice or three times as much and you’ll receive a Certificate of Authenticity and a Money Back Guarantee certificate. He’ll also offer to mail the gems to you at your home address, so that you won’t have a hard time getting through Customs.

If you don’t have $5000 in cash with you, that’s fine too. They can take you to the nearest ATM so you can make a withdrawal. Don’t have a debit card?...no problem!!, they also accept all major credit cards, but not at their shop since they don’t have a credit card processing machine. They’ll take you to a nearby gold shop where you’ll have to buy some gold and give them the gold as payment for the gems. They’ll then make you sign all sorts of papers and even ask to see your passport, they’ll then give you several certificates to make the transaction look legit.
After the deal is complete, they’ll take you out for drinks, check out some girls, sightseeing, whatever. They’re basically trying to get you not to think about the purchase. The reason for buying the gold is so that there’s no way for you to cancel your credit card payment, since you already gave the gold to them. The gold shop would want their gold back to cancel your payment.

5th sign of Scam: The Tuk-Tuk driver, after being shown the X on map knows exactly where this shop is just by glancing at it, even though the map is in English and he doesn’t even speak of word of it…strange huh?
6th sign of scam Any legitimate jewelry shop should be able to accept credit cards. There’s definitely something wrong if they don’t and offer some fancy work-around such as buying gold to pay them.

Part IV
You arrive home and in a good mood for having spent 2 awesome weeks in the “Land of Smiles”. You also can’t wait to open your package and resell those gems for the HUGE profit. After opening the package, you realize something peculiar about the “gems”, perhaps feels a bit light and cheap for some odd reason. You then take the gems to a jewelry shop to only find out that they’re worthless pieces of rocks or glass. Suddenly you have another realization and say to yourself, “No wonders they wanted to mail it to me!!....f**king bastards!!” You’ll try to call the shop from the number on the receipt but it doesn’t ring or it goes to some old lady’s house. You might even have a friend that’s in Thailand go to the shop, but find nothing there, only an emptied room. The ultimate and sad truth now settles in, and there’s not much you can do about it…You’ve been scammed!!!

Hopefully this won’t happen to you, since you’re now armed with this knowledge. Keep in mind that there are different variations of this scam, but the basic idea is someone trying to divert you from your main destination and get you to a fake gems shop. Please do not go with any strangers to some jewelry or gems shop. If you really wanted to buy gems you should go on your own accord, to a reputable shop which you can verify with the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand).
 
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.