coffee-teacher-blog

“There’s a reason why they put the sign of non-Thai pickpocket there. It doesn’t mean that all pickpockets are from foreign countries, but they did have a real problem with pickpocketing gangs from abroad there, particularly some European countries. When you are a tourist, and you think another person is a tourist too, you usually don’t expect them to pickpocket you, and thus may not pay attention and your stuff is gone. So it makes sense that they explicitly make you aware of that. It comes across as a bit funny, I think mainly because of the language difference, but still a valid point.
And yes, these pickpockets really do pay the hefty admission fee. All it takes is one lifted wallet and they get their ROI. It’s a business investment.
Pickpocketing in fact isn’t common among Thais. For some reason criminal Thai’s have more of a tendency to scam rather than to pickpocket. Not saying there are no Thai pickpockets, but not nearly as many as in many other countries.”