PATTAYA, THAILAND – A Thai-Australian couple alleged they were extorted by men in police clothing in Pattaya after the husband was detained over an unpaid bar bill, saying they handed over cash at a police station to avoid formal charges.
Allegations and payment at the station
The incident began in the early hours of October 13, when 25-year-old Mint received a call at about 5:20 a.m. saying her Australian husband, aged between 35 and 40, was being held for failing to pay a bar bill of 6,464 baht. She rushed to the Mueang Pattaya police station and said a man in a police-style uniform took her into an interrogation room.
Mint said the officer told her, “Pay 20,000 baht and the case will not go to court.” After a brief negotiation, she said the amount was reduced to 15,000 baht. She withdrew money from a nearby ATM with her sleeping child on her arm and handed the cash over in a small room beneath a staircase on the station’s second floor, near the toilets.
According to the couple, the officer accepted the cash without issuing any receipt or paperwork. Minutes later, her husband was led out to the main entrance and released, with no official record of the arrest or the payment. “He just walked my husband to the main entrance and let him go,” Mint said.
Similar visit weeks earlier
The couple said this was not an isolated episode. Around two weeks earlier, two men in police-like attire had appeared at their apartment. One wore a dark blue vest and the other a shirt marked “POLICE.” They accused the husband of failing to pay a 600-baht food bill, the couple said.
Mint said she paid 20,000 baht during that encounter as well, again without receiving any documents. She declined to confirm whether her husband had in fact failed to pay the bill. “Whether the original bill was unpaid or not, that is not our focus,” she said, describing the pattern as a repeating tactic: the same approach and the same sums demanded.
Couple seeks help from media
Left alarmed and seeking redress, the couple took their story to local media. The regional newspaper Athip Burapa published their account in the hope of recovering the money and exposing the incidents. The online outlet The Thaiger also reported the case.
The couple said they wanted two things: for their money to be returned and for authorities to investigate whether the men involved were serving officers or impostors in uniforms.
Police response and wider concerns
The Mueang Pattaya police station had not issued a public comment on the allegations at the time of the reports. The couple and local reporters said more tourists and expatriates had described similar encounters in recent months, raising concern about scams or corruption affecting visitors.
Pattaya is a major Thai tourist destination and such allegations threaten the city’s reputation. Corruption and impersonation in uniform undermine public trust and complicate law enforcement’s role in protecting visitors and residents.
What remains unclear
Key questions remain unanswered: whether the men who demanded cash were genuine officers acting outside official procedures, or criminal impersonators exploiting victims’ fear of arrest; and whether there will be a formal investigation following the media coverage.
The couple said they hoped publicity would prompt authorities to act and warn others. “We went to the police station expecting help, not to be extorted,” Mint said. The case underscores broader worries about safety and accountability in a city that relies heavily on tourism.