BANGKOK, THAILAND – A motorcycle taxi driver in Bangkok helped a Russian man find his missing sister and received a reward of 100 US dollars for his efforts.
Missing Russian first reported in Chinatown
The woman had been reported missing in Bangkok after she was last seen on the busy Yaowarat Road in the Chinatown district. Her older brother then turned to a motorcycle taxi driver for help.
The driver posted photos of the woman in a Facebook group for motorcycle taxi riders. The images showed her in a black-and-beige checkered dress, flip-flops, with blonde hair, a tattoo on her back and a large bag, without mentioning her name or any personal data.
After the Facebook appeal, several users reported seeing the woman in different parts of the city. Many said they had spotted her around the busy Wongwien Yai traffic junction.
Encounters before the rescue
One man reported that he had met the woman on 22 February in the Bang Na area. He said he had offered her help, which she refused, asking him to leave her alone.
In a later post, the motorcycle taxi driver stated that the woman suffered from a mental illness. He explained that since 19 February she had repeatedly tried to walk on foot from Chon Buri to Bangkok.
Found under BTS station and given medical care
The driver reported that on 26 February he finally found the woman under Pho Nimit BTS skytrain station. He took her to Bupparam Police Station, where she waited for her brother.
He said that he and the brother had searched together from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. before they found her. She was then referred for treatment at the Somdet Chaopraya Institute of Psychiatry.
Cash reward and other acts of honesty
In another post, the driver shared a photo of a 100 US dollar banknote. He said he had received it as a reward from the Russian brother for his help.
The report also referred to a previous, similar case in which a Thai woman offered a permanent job to a garbage collector after he returned her lost cash of 100,000 baht. In 2024, a Grab driver received 2,000 baht after returning a mobile phone that a passenger had forgotten in his car.
Would you have helped?
The story described how a simple motorcycle taxi driver saw a search notice and acted immediately. He then spent hours searching with the brother until they discovered the missing woman under a BTS station.
The account raised questions about the value of the 100-dollar reward and the role of social media in such searches. It asked readers whether the money or the gesture mattered more, and whether they themselves would have shown the same level of commitment.