A man traveled by bus to another town. When he got off the bus, some of the luggage had already been unloaded, and his luggage was not there. He grabbed one of the men unloading the luggage, pushed him up against the side of the bus, and asked him where his luggage was. Someone else said, dont get upset, we will find it. It turns out his luggage had been taken to a back room in the bus terminal.

You cant be sure in this situation, but it is likely that if he was not assertive, he would never seen his luggage again.

A couple stayed in a hotel. While they were out during the day, the room was cleaned, and their money and valuables disappeared. They insisted on calling the police. The guest house staff told them that will not be necessary. But they insisted on calling the police. The cleaner had gone home, but they told the cleaner to come back. The cleaner had put their valuables in the safe.

I believe, if they had not insisted on calling the police, they would never have found out where their valuables were, and they would have been stolen. I believe, it was a theft designed to look like it is not a theft if they could not get away with it. I believe other hotel staff were also in on it.

Somebody hires a motorbike. He later goes to a bar and has a few drinks. While he was in the bar, his keys are swapped with the keys of another motorbike which is the same model and same color. He goes back to the guest house on the other motorbike. Some time later he discovers it is not the same motorbike. He needs to pay for a new motorbike at the place he hired if from. He is told to report it to the police, so they can say he is the one who stole a motorbike. They can then swap the motorbikes back and repeat this with another customer.

With this trick, he does not realize until some time later that it is a different motorbike, which makes it more difficult to track. In this case, with a some searching in the area, the original motorbike was found.

Even more common, the lock cylinder is modified so any similar key can be used to start the motorbike, and theft is easy.

An inexperienced traveler arrives in a town. He gets a tuk tuk to a guest house. He tells the tuk tuk driver he needs change for $100. The tuk tuk driver offers to get change for him. When he comes back he says he was unable to get change, and returns $100. Some time later he realizes that it is one of those fake $100 bills they use for funerals. He is new to town and cant even identify the tuk tuk driver.

Keep your wits about you, take precautions, and be assertive when it is necessary. It is sickening to hear foreigners say: this is Cambodia, things get stolen, there is nothing you can do about it. While the thieves are saying: these people are really stupid, you steal their things and they dont do anything about it.

Thanks for coming onto this forum. Your experience and knowledge of KoW and everything SEA is unlimited. You should apply to be a MOD.

"While he was in the bar, his keys are swapped"

How, like a James Bond thing?

explorer wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 10:05 am
Keep your wits about you, take precautions, and be assertive when it is necessary. It is sickening to hear foreigners say: this is Cambodia, things get stolen, there is nothing you can do about it. While the thieves are saying: these people are really stupid, you steal their things and they dont do anything about it.

There is another group of people saying: Cambodia is like any other country, exercise a little common sense and you will be fine.

Fo a start:

1) Don't put valuables in your luggage in the hold and watch it loaded on.

2) Use the safe

3) Don't drink and drive, if you do, don't leave the keys lying around the bar.

4) Try to use small bills, if not possible, get it changed yourself.

cautious colin wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 10:57 am There is another group of people saying: Cambodia is like any other country, exercise a little common sense and you will be fine.

These people either dont know, or are not being honest.

There are many other countries with high crime rates. In these countries, it is also wise to take precautions. When they compare Cambodia to other countries with high crime rates, most of what they say is true.

There are also many other countries where the crime rate is much lower, where it is not necessary to be concerned about many of the things you should be concerned about in Cambodia.

A lot of the people who become victims of crime, are people from these safer countries, who are unaware of the precautions people should take in the less safe countries.

Kammekor wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 11:12 am True story. Just this morning I bought 3L of petrol @ 3.500r and the guy at the local Tela tried to shortchange me 500r. If I would not have confronted him he probably would have kept it. After confronting he handed me over a torn 500r note!

Quite often people give you too little change.

How often do they get it wrong, and give you too much change?

explorer wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 11:16 am

Kammekor wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 11:12 am True story. Just this morning I bought 3L of petrol @ 3.500r and the guy at the local Tela tried to shortchange me 500r. If I would not have confronted him he probably would have kept it. After confronting he handed me over a torn 500r note!

Quite often people give you too little change.

How often do they get it wrong, and give you too much change?

I’ve spent a lot of time with English speakers and I think he’s “Taking the piss”.

noooooooo.................. you think?????

Arget wrote: ↑Wed Dec 12, 2018 11:27 am noooooooo.................. you think?????

Yes. I’m quite sure.