The municipality’s Tesakij department has been alerted to a group of scammers who have been working Tha Pae Gate.
Following multiple complaints, officials investigated goings on around Tha Pae Gate and confirmed that a gang of unscrupulous people had been hassling tourists, scamming them for money.
Many tourists say that they are approached at Tha Pae Gate by people asking to take their pictures, they are then charged exorbitant prices for the photos and are also pressured into buying expensive birds’ feed. Should they refuse they feel intimidated and often just pay to get away. According to many complaints, if tourists don’t pay for their photos then they find that they are unable to take nice photos of the gate for themselves as these people will then block their views with signs, traffic cones and even cordon off areas so that they can’t enter.
Officials say that since their regular inspection this behaviour has now ceased, but they ask citizens and tourists to be vigilant and to get in touch should they see such behaviour again.