Gem Scams

There has been a noticeable rise in the number of scam victims reporting to the Embassy. A large variety of scams are commonplace within Thailand and New Zealanders are advised to be wary of any deal that sounds too good to be true.

Gem scams are particularly predominant at the moment and our advice is that if you do not know anything about gems then Thailand is probably not the place for you to buy them. If not complete fakes, inferior quality gems are often passed off as being worth more than they actually are.

Think before you buy, not afterwards. The Embassy is not able to pursue the recovery of money for New Zealanders who become the victims of a scam. Further details on some of the more commonplace scams, but by no means is it an exhaustive list, can be found in our New Zealanders in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar section of this website.