Tieng Viet lovers club

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Another vn song with eng sub

Neu nhu anh den

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Chinh la anh

[jackbl]

Malaysian tourist recounts cabby cheat in downtown Ho Chi Minh City

Editor’s note: Y.L. and her family have recently fallen victim to a scam taxi driver in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, who has “a professional trick” to distract his passengers and steal their money.
In this piece sent to Tuoi Tre News, the Malaysian recounts her incident to “prevent more tourists from being victimized” as well as stop unscrupulous people from “tainting the name and image of the country."
This year is my fifth consecutive year visiting Ho Chi Minh City.
I have returned so many times because I like the food in Vietnam and I met nice and friendly Vietnamese people on my trips.
However, what I have encountered on this last trip may hold me back from returning to the city.
I have always been warned of taxi scams in Ho Chi Minh City and been advised to only take the two more reliable taxis, Vinasun and Mai Linh.
I have been taught by my friend who lives in the city how to identify fake Mai Linh or Vinasun taxis, including incorrect telephone numbers or misspelled company names, etc.
Unfortunately, bad luck struck me on December 1 at 10:00 am when my family and I boarded a Vinasun taxi right outside the Saigon Central Post Office.
I checked that it was a real Vinasun taxi, as it stated the correct phone number, 38.27.27.27, and also noted that the cab had a notepad, a new device recently installed in all Vinasun cars.
As it was my last day in Ho Chi Minh City, I had lowered my guard, which I now regret. I usually take note of the driver's name and taxi identification number but this time, my family and I paid only brief attention to the driver’s name and the taxi ID.
Upon reaching our destination, Ben Thanh Market, the driver hurried my parents and I who were seated in the back to alight. He was rude. My parents got out, but I remained because I wasn’t sure if he would harm my husband or just drive him away.
As the meter showed a fee of VND27,000 my husband was about to give him VND30,000 but the driver was reluctant to accept the money and started taking out a newspaper over my husband's hands and wallet.
He wrote "27" on the newspaper (as if we could not read it from the meter). My husband took this to mean he wanted small change so he looked for smaller notes in his wallet. The driver became even more impatient and took the newspaper out again to cover my husband's wallet and hands. We found it suspicious so we shouted at him.
After the commotion, my husband managed to take out VND26,000 and to our surprise, the driver accepted the money and quickly released my husband's seatbelt, demanding that we alight as if he had picked the wrong passenger who made him suffer a loss in fare.
We alighted, but just before we could close the taxi door properly, the driver drove off.
After the taxi left, my husband felt suspicious over what had happened, checked the money in his wallet and found at least VND1.5 million was gone. We clearly remembered that we had three VND500,000 bills and we had just lost them in seconds.
The driver managed to grab about VND1.5 million from my husband's wallet by using the newspaper to cover it and distracting us with an argument. He had clearly performed the fraud before as he was fast and did it without us noticing.
We then walked back to our hotel and got the hotel staff to accompany us to the police station to make a report.
Unfortunately, the police officer refused to take our statement and asked us to go to another police station. All in, we visited two police stations but we were told that we could not lodge a police report because the police do not serve tourists.
Upon returning from my holiday, I contacted Vinasun and the company sent me pictures of some taxi drivers to identify and I managed to identify the driver who robbed us.
With the help of some graduates of the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH), who were outside the Saigon Central Post Office taking their graduation pictures at the time we boarded the taxi, I managed to ask for one of their pictures, which has the taxi in its background.
The taxi identification number is similar to what I have remembered.

Vinasun told me that this taxi driver had been sacked in 2014 and he had colluded with other cabbies in multiple cheating cases.
Many cases have been reported but I was told that the police won’t take any action because the victims are tourists. There is not enough evidence to arrest him.
This part puzzles me - why should such a thief still be allowed to go around Ho Chi Minh City without any action against him?
How can he still be in a Vinasun uniform? How can he still be colluding with Vinasun's taxi drivers in performing all these robberies when many incidents have been reported?
I share this story to create awareness to readers of this scam which could happen to anyone, especially tourists.
This man will continue to repeat the act because no action has been taken against him thus far.
The incident has definitely left a bad impression on my parents who visited Ho Chi Minh City for the first time in their life, and it has definitely taken my trust away from a supposedly reputable taxi company.

[jackbl]

Another victim of scam taxi in central Ho Chi Minh City speaks out

Editor’s note: Paul Threlfall gives another account of what appears to be a ring of fraudulent taxi drivers targeting foreign tourists in downtown Ho Chi Minh City.
The Australian and his wife were conned out of a few hundred Australian dollars by a dishonest taxi driver in September, in a case similar to that of Malaysian tourist Y.L., as he recounted in this story sent to Tuoi Tre News.
On the morning of September 22, we took a Mai Linh taxi from the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica to Ben Thanh Market.
Upon arrival, we offered the taxi driver VND100,000 for the VND23,000 taxi ride. He said he did not have change so we said that would be OK, and that he could keep the change for a tip. He refused and wanted the right money.
There was then much fussing about it by the taxi driver with our envelope which contained both Vietnamese dong and Australian dollars, and we thought he was trying to help us and get the exact money for the fare.
Then a large amount of the money spilled out of the envelope onto the floor of the taxi, so I was busy trying to recover my money. After a minute or two, he accepted the 100,000 dong and we got out of the taxi and he departed.
It was then that we discovered that 300 Australian dollars was missing, and it was too late to do anything because the taxi had left.
We were very unhappy that we might have been robbed. We have been to Vietnam many times and this is the first time we have experienced dishonesty.
We then thought we might go back to the Notre Dame cathedral and ask if a woman in green uniform (who was there when we hailed the cab and who we thought was a police officer) might remember the taxi driver who took us to Ben Thanh.
The woman called her male colleague across and they did remember him and not only that, pointed out that the taxi was parked across the road.
These green-uniformed people and I confronted the taxi driver, who later pulled out five AU$50 notes from his pocket and passed them to me.
I asked about the six AU$50 notes held together by an elastic band but he insisted only five notes were found in his taxi.
There is no way I can verify that he 'found' the money, but I have my suspicions that the AU$300 was secretly put in his pocket during the earlier confusion in his cab.
My wife and I really appreciate the assistance these officers gave us, without which we would have been AU$250 poorer.
We hope that this man and woman, who have assisted a couple of elderly Australians with their positive and very helpful manner, will be recognized and rewarded by their seniors.
I also hope my story can help warn tourists about some dishonest taxi drivers.
Again, I am sorry that the police did not take any action.
But this will not stop us visiting Vietnam in the future.

[jackbl]

Tips to avoid scam taxi in downtown Ho Chi Minh City

There are several scam taxis in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City that only pick up foreign passengers, and it is strongly advised that foreigners look for help from a green-uniformed team when it comes to hailing a cab.
A Malaysian tourist and an Australian couple this week shared with Tuoi Tre News accounts of how they lost cash after falling for relatively similar tricks employed by two different scam cabbies in the downtown area.
The bad news? They were not the only victims.
A common trick these scammers use is insisting they be paid what the taxi meter shows, even though the foreign passengers offer generous tips.
The passengers will thus have to take out their wallet to find money, which is not an easy task as they are not familiar with Vietnamese banknotes.
Then, the cabby will try to create a messy situation to distract the tourists from their wallet and steal their cash without them even noticing.
In the case of Y.L., a Malaysian tourist, the fake Vinasun taxi driver used a newspaper to write down the amount of money he wanted to be paid and showed it to her husband, while the paper was in fact used to cover his hands stealing VND1.5 million (US$70) from him.
Aussie Paul Threlfall, in the meantime, dropped some of his money onto the scam Mai Linh taxi floor after the driver tried to grab his envelop, where he kept the banknotes. The cabby quickly took AU$250 ($182) when he was busy collecting the bills back.
Y.L.’s husband offered to pay VND30,000 for a VND27,000 ride, whereas the Australian tourist generously gave VND100,000 even when the meter showed only VND23,000. But in both cases the drivers refused to take the gratuities.
“The driver who robbed Threlfall had previously targeted another foreign couple with a similar ploy,” Ho Ngoc Dat, a member of a team in charge of assisting and guarding tourists in the city’s downtown, told Tuoi Tre News.
Dat is the man who helped Threlfall find the scam taxi driver and got back his money.
The Australian thought he was helped by a police officer, but Dat is actually a member of the ‘tourist guard’ team, managed by Thanh Nien Xung Phong Co., a city-based public service provider.
The team members wear green uniforms and stand guard in front of popular attractions in the downtown area, ready to help foreign tourists.

“The dishonest cabby [who defrauded Threlfall] always targets foreigners, and he drives more than one fake taxi,” Dat revealed.
“Today he will be a [fake] Mai Linh driver, and tomorrow he’d disguise himself as a Vinasun cabby.
“Police officers are kept informed of his cheating.”
Asked to be separately seated
Both Y.L. and Threlfall managed to have photos of the taxis that defrauded them, which show they were victimized by two different scammers.
The Australian tourist, in a separate email sent to Tuoi Tre News, also described another trick by such fraudulent taxi drivers.
“I think there are some taxi drivers in Ho Chi Minh City who try to separate wife and husband into front and back seats to cause confusion and argument to distract passengers,” he told Tuoi Tre News.
Before stealing Threlfall’s cash, the scam Mai Linh driver asked him and his wife to sit separately, and the couple was told to do the same when they flagged down another cab after the incident, which helped them realize it was indeed a trap.
“After our experience with the taxi driver from Mai Linh, we looked for another taxi to take us back to our hotel,” he recounted.
“We waved down one outside the Saigon Central Post Office, and the driver indicated that I should get into the front seat and my wife into the rear, just like the bad driver we had at the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica.”
Realizing it was a ‘bait’ similar to what he had previously undergone, Threlfall refused to sit as he was told, and got into the back seat with his wife.
“It was at this point that the driver made indications with his car key that he could not start the cab and that we should get out and hail another taxi,” he said.
The couple eventually got out of the cab, only to see that “ten seconds later the car 'magically' started and drove off without us.”
Dat, the tourist guard, eventually helped him hail an authentic cab.
Seek help from tourist guards
Dat said his teammates know clearly which taxi drivers are dishonest, so it is recommended that foreign visitors request assistance from the team.
“After helping Threlfall get back his money and flag down a taxi, I told the dishonest driver not to continue swindling foreign tourists as it just ruins the image of the city,” Dat said.
The tourist guard revealed that fraudulent taxi drivers usually offer to give the team ‘coffee money’ to ignore them, but they will never accept it.
“I hate dishonesty so I always keep a close watch to be able to provide help on time,” Dat said, explaining why he could easily help the Threlfalls to find the driver who had cheated them.
“I just do my job to keep the image of this city a beautiful one.”
Thanh Nien Xung Phong Co. says on its website 60 percent of the tourist guards can speak English, so visitors will have no problem asking them for help.
“We are tasked with protecting foreign tourists when they are disturbed by street vendors or overcharged by xe om [motorbike taxi] or taxi drivers,” Nguyen Thanh Tuyen, head of the team, told Tuoi Tre News on the phone.

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US man gives advice to duck, tackle taxi cheats in Vietnam

Editor’s note: John Wyman did not go through a whole month in the first quarter of this year without being cheated by a taxi driver in Ho Chi Minh City.
The American man, who in some cases managed to settle the score with fraudulent cabbies, shared his stories with Tuoi Tre News, plus some recommendations on how to effectively avoid or confront scam taxi drivers.
First time cheated – January 2015
I took a taxi from Ben Thanh Market to the Cho Lon area in District 5, and asked the approximate fare (which should be around VND70,000) when the cab came.
The driver kept up a steady patter in broken English, while I paid attention to the meter.
As we arrived at the Cho Lon Bus Station, the meter read VND77,000.
The driver pulled over and I handed him VND100,000 for the fare, but he said that it was not enough as the meter now read VND770,000, which I refused to pay.
He then locked the car doors, forgetting that I could just as easily unlock them.
He became extremely agitated, but I said calmly that I would have the policeman standing near the bus station come over and straighten this out.
At this point he unlocked the door (which I had already opened), grabbed the VND100,000 note and told me to get out.
Then I demanded my change. He argued but I refused to leave the cab till I got my money. He relented.
Second case – February 2015
I took a Vinasun taxi from District 10 to the InterContinental Hotel which we had done numerous times and the fare never exceeded VND100,000.
This time, the meter was partially covered and we did expect there would be a problem when we arrived at the hotel.
Sure enough, upon arrival, the driver uncovered the meter and it read VND250,000.
Again, I refused to pay, instead going into the hotel and explained the problem.
A hotel staff member came out and spoke to a couple of other cab drivers about the correct fare. They all agreed that the maximum fare would have been VND90,000-100,000 depending on traffic.
The hotel paid the driver (I reimbursed them later) and the Vinasun cabby took off.
I attempted to report it to the company, but they denied that they had any cab of that number or a driver of that name.

Latest case – March 30, 2015
I took a Mai Linh cab, dispatched from their office to our house to take us to Tan Son Nhat airport.
Since there were three of us, we had quite a lot of luggage.
When we arrived at the airport, the driver told me to go get a cart and he would help unload.
I left my computer bag on the front seat since I did not want to have to watch it and load the cart.
As soon as I returned to the spot, the driver had dumped our luggage at the curb and drove off with my computer.
I immediately contacted both the Mai Linh dispatcher at the airport who basically stalled for 15 minutes asking nonsensical questions, and could eventually find his cellphone number.
While this was going on my wife directly called the Mai Linh Office, which wanted to know the cab number, which we did not have. They knew who picked us up, but refused to contact the cabby.
When we had our Vietnamese friend contact the cab company they wanted the serial number of the computer, which we provided.
We never heard another thing from them and since we were departing on an international flight, we could do nothing.
How to avoid scam drivers, and to confront them?
Since I am a very large American, standing 193cm and weighing 110kg, I am not easily intimidated and usually overcome these difficulties.
Unfortunately, many other tourists are easily intimidated and hesitant to report incidents to the police, since they either won’t/can’t speak English or just ignore you.
So here are some advice and recommendations.
1. Stick to the major cab companies, Mai Linh and Vinasun
2. If possible, call the cab company for pickup, which is less likely to deliver a counterfeit taxi. You can also use GrabTaxi or Uber since it is pre-paid.
3. Always get/take quick photos of the taxi number, plate number and driver information.
4. When confronted by a cab driver, never take your money out in front of him. If he refuses your payment, walk away. Let him call the police. If he argues about not having the correct change, pay him what you have, not more than the meter. It is his problem if he does not have change. (I do not mean asking for change from VND500,000 for VND30,000 fare).
5. If you must take an unfamiliar cab, be sure to check that the meter is reset and that it appears reasonable. No matter where in the world I travel, I make sure I know the approximate fare to where I am going, and have that amount available so I do not need to dig through unfamiliar currency.
6. If arriving at an airport (better book in advance if staying at a hotel), do not take any available cab there. Ask for Mai Linh or Vinasun – you might wait a couple of minutes, but it is much less likely to be ripped off. Again a little checking on the Internet will let you know the expected fare from the airport to your destination.
7. When unloading your luggage, stay with the car until everything is unloaded, and double check, because once it pulls away anything left is gone.
8. Be very careful around tourist sites, the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, Saigon Central Post Office, Zoo, etc. Many of these cabs will rip you off. Better to walk a 100m distance to a business or hotel and catch a cab.

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Song from Ho Quang hieu

Khong cam xuc

[Moderator88]

Haha..scam is everywhere la! Sbf also got plenty Liao! Do more charity in wetnam to earn more good karma!

[blur185]

wah after MIA from SBF so long this thread is still alive!

xin chao ban! o day ai cg khoe kg? neu co ai kh hieu cai gi voi tieng viet toi co the giup ban viet lai tieng anh nha.

[jackbl]

Originally Posted by blur185

wah after MIA from SBF so long this thread is still alive!.

I got many newspapers report and YouTube to show here so this thread still alive lor

[blur185]

Originally Posted by jackbl

I got many newspapers report and YouTube to show here so this thread still alive lor

good to see you still updating vn news! Cheers Bro!

[Naka_Timo]

Originally Posted by Moderator88

Haha..scam is everywhere la! Sbf also got plenty Liao! Do more charity in wetnam to earn more good karma!

Upped you back liao

[SuPerMANzz]

Hi bro, anyone can intro me to good viet fl?

[kcir]

Anyone know the meaning of this "Phe qua ma oi". Many many many thanks to anyone that help.

[jackbl]

Originally Posted by kcir

Anyone know the meaning of this "Phe qua ma oi"..

Shiok ahhhh my mother.... Other than "ma oi", you can replace with "Troi oi " (my god) or "Anh oi" (my honey - she calling you), etc.....

You must be making love or heavy petting her to make her express that sentence. Good work!!!!