Three Tourists Tried to Pay a Phuket Bar Tab with Toy Money, and It Went About as Well as You'd Expect

In what may be the most optimistic financial transaction ever attempted on Bangla Road, three foreign men walked into a Phuket entertainment venue on April 1st and attempted to settle their bill with three crisp US$100 notes. The notes were, upon closer inspection, printed on standard paper, bore the word 'Copy' in blue ink, and featured the helpful disclaimer 'For Toy Only' across the top. One assumes the board game they came from did not include a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card.

The staff, who have presumably seen every conceivable dodge that Bangla Road's clientele can devise, were not fooled for long. A worker spotted the suspicious currency, blocked the group's exit with the quiet efficiency of someone who has done this before, and called the police. The three men — whose nationalities have not been disclosed, perhaps to spare their respective embassies the embarrassment — were duly arrested.

Under Thai criminal law, attempting to pass counterfeit or fake currency carries penalties of up to ten years in prison and a fine of 200,000 baht, which is rather more than the food and drinks bill they were trying to avoid. One suspects the legal fees alone will make the original tab look like a rounding error. The fact that their 'counterfeiting' operation consisted of raiding what appears to be a children's Monopoly set does not, alas, serve as a legal defence.

This was not even an isolated incident. Just last week in Pattaya, two tourists believed to be Indian nationals were spotted handing out similarly fake US dollar notes to people at Runway Market, including — with impressive audacity — children. The notes in both cases carried identical 'Copy' markings and appeared to come from game sets. Earlier cases involving counterfeit euros and fake pound sterling suggest that Thailand's entertainment districts have become something of a testing ground for people with more nerve than sense.

The lesson, for those who require one, is straightforward: if your banknotes have the word 'Toy' written on them, perhaps do not attempt to use them in a country where the police take a dim view of such creativity. Bangla Road has seen a great deal over the years, but even by its standards, this was a new low in financial innovation.