Car wash scam in Thailand revealed
A man in Thailand recently had an unpleasant surprise when he took two of his cars to a local car wash, only to find them partly dismantled on his return. The TikTok-video he made of the whole scene went viral.
“Took my car to get washed and got my catalytic converter stolen”, the comment under the video reads. “Saw it with my own eyes, four to five mechanics were working on it enthusiastically. Ended up at the police station”,
The car wash scam led to a flurry of online queries asking for the location of the car wash to avoid using its services. Since then, the original video has been taken down due to legal reasons.
Exhaust pipe
The incident reportedly took place near the city of Khon Kaen. The video was filmed by a 44 year old car paint repair shop owner from Phra Yuen, Khon Kaen. Supachai recounted the event to the press, explaining that he had just finished painting a customer’s car and decided to take it for a wash.
The man and his girlfriend parked their cars and told the car wash staff that they would return later as they had errands to run in town. However, they forgot something and returned earlier than planned. To their shock, they found almost ten people surrounding the car, some underneath it and others working on removing the exhaust pipe.
As it turned out, the mechanics had already removed some car parts and replaced them with others. The car parts were worth over 40,000 baht (A bit over €1000) The man reported the incident to Ban Ped Police Station in Khon Kaen but also emphasized that not all car washes operate in this manner. He urged car owners to remain vigilant.
