Every year, hundreds of thousands of western men come to Thailand to meet Thai girls. For most, because it’s difficult to get to know a ‘good Thai girl’, particularly on a short vacation, they go to the notorious red light districts and meet Thai bar girls (the polite word for ‘prostitute’). Unfortunately, some also get more than they bargained for. With the drugging and robbing of foreign men by bar girls relatively common in Thailand, particularly in Bangkok, it’s important western men know what to look out for and how to avoid being drugged and robbed themselves.
The Set Up Before Being Drugged – Most of the reports by western men of being drugged and robbed by bar girls center around the red light districts. Usually, the man will meet a Thai bar girl (one of the prostitutes working at that bar). She’ll spend time at his table, have a few drinks, play some pool and be very friendly. Eventually, if the man suggests leaving the bar girl will often mention “Just one more drink,” which is usually the drink that’s drugged.
The man will then leave with the girl or often by this time, girls, in a taxi and the next thing he remembers, he wakes up the day after in his hotel room with his passport, his credit cards, his valuables and all his money gone. The girl and her friends will have fleeced him, left him to sleep off the drugs and disappeared into the night.
How Does The Robbery Happen? – By the time the girl has slipped the drug into the guy’s drink, it’s already too late. She’ll get him into a taxi before he passes out and, once he has, stop off to pick up some friends – usually male. The men will ‘help’ the westerner back to his hotel and tell the hotel staff he’s had too much to drink and ‘passed out’.
As this, unfortunately is quite common for western men on vacation in Thailand, the hotel desk staff and security will often believe it and let the ‘good samaritans’ into the hotel. The best hotels will ask for ID from the Thais and won’t let them in without. Many of the lower level hotels however will not.
Once in the man’s hotel room, he’s thrown on the bed to sleep off the drugs and the team goes to work stripping his hotel room of anything of value. Cash, credit cards, jewelry, passport, cameras, laptops – anything they can either spend or sell. Within 10-15 minutes they’ll be out of the hotel, usually through the back entrance, and off back home to count their stash.
When the man wakes up, with little proof of what happened and no real idea who the girl was, he hasn’t a leg to stand on. Also, as he was already passed out by the time the guys arrived, he didn’t even see them, so he’s no help there either.
The man will sometimes go to the Thai police sometimes, out of embarrassment, he won’t. Either way, without much proof or knowing who the girl was, the police are unable to do anything more than file a police report and tell the man to chalk it up to ‘being unlucky’.
How to Not Get Drugged and Robbed by a Bar Girl – Seriously, it’s easy and nothing more than common sense, which unfortunately many western men seem to leave back home in their own country when it comes to pretty Thai bar girls.
1) Don’t go to the red light districts (as this is unlikely to happen, read on for point 2).
2) If you meet a bar girl, do not accept drinks from her. Buy your own drinks and watch very carefully that only the alcohol and mixer goes in there. To be on the safe side, only drink from previously sealed bottles (beer is best in this instance).
3) If you must have sex with a bar girl, don’t take her back to your hotel. The girls know all the ‘short time’ hotels and you’re better going here. Sure, it might cost you a few dollars for the room, but it will cost you a lot less than losing everything you brought with you on your trip from your hotel room.
4) Don’t drink too much. Stupid judgement usually comes from drinking too much. Have a couple of drinks then switch to water or coke. It may not be as much fun but, in the long run, it will be.
5) Stay at a three, four or five star hotel that has good security. The lower level hotels will sometimes have security guards who are paid by the girls to turn a blind eye.
The higher level hotels rarely do and they take their security, and thus their reputation, seriously. They’re not likely to let two unknown Thai men carry you into your room – they have staff for that.
Thailand is an extremely safe country, even for drunk westerners with sex on their minds. Have some common sense when it comes to dealing with Thai bar girls. The girls are in the business for the money and, if they can get it without having to have sex with you, some of them will. Of course, not all Thai bar girls are like this, but some are.
Be aware of what can happen when you go out and chances are, it won’t happen to you.
