Thousands of tourists decide to cross the border between Thailand and Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat ruins in Siam reap every day. Many of them fall into the fake Cambodia border visa scam trap. In this article, we gonna show you how to skip this scam and save money.
The easy way is to cross through Aranyaprathet but you cannot cross by taxi. So you will have to pick two taxis, one from Bangkok to the border that will cost you about 2.000-3000 Baths ($60-$70 USD approximately) and another one from Poipet to Siem Reap that cost from $35 to $55.
Get more information about taxis in this post about Thailand taxis who want to charge you an extra for the taxi ride.
If you want to know more about the latest news in Cambodia country, you can take a look at this country’s news website that is available in English.
How Cambodia Visa Scam Works?
After a few hours in a taxi, you will arrive at Aranyaprathet the closest city near the Cambodia border. The taxi driver stops at the entrance of what seems Cambodia border.
One kind worker of “the border” comes to help you and prepare your visa.
Inside of the building some tables are visible with papers and the flags of Thailand and Cambodia.
Be careful, this is not the real border. It is just a company trying to scam you selling you an overpriced visa and of course, the taxi driver will get a commission.
Here is my experience on such a scam
Last year, I was having a trip with my friend to Thailand and Cambodia. we were taking a train one morning when we were in Bangkok which will take us all the way to Aranyaprathet and thereafter we will cross the border by land into the kingdom of Cambodia. This is going to be quite an interesting travel because the entire journey all the way from Aranyaprathet through to Siem Reap is ridden with scams.
So one of the objectives is we are going to capture all the scams as it takes place throughout the entire journey to Siem Reap.
5 hours on a hard seat in sweltering heat is no joke. To add to it all, a hard seat.
My bum is getting a serious beating this leg. But I guess, the only consolation to be had here is you’re really living it like how the locals do. Onboard the train, we had the opportunity of viewing the less touristy aspects of Thailand.
From having excellent vantage points into one’s open concept toilet all the way the vast open rice fields.
I have to admit, I love sitting on Thai trains. Their onboard catering is by far more interesting than any other trains I’ve been to before. There are always so many varieties of food and drinks available. You never really know what you can expect from the next person carrying your food into your carriage.
Okay, so we’re several hours into the ride from Bangkok all the way to Aranyaprathet and we’re probably just another 20 minutes away from Aranyaprathet town itself.
It’s a very very hot day today but thank God the windows are very wide and generally very well ventilated.
Now at some point in this journey, passengers in this carriage and I believe in other carriages as well were literally packed to the brim to the point whereby you have several passengers having to stand but it’s all easing off right now as we’re drawing closer to Aranyaprathet, which is pretty much the final destination
in this train line that we’re going through.
So I guess the next step from hereon is pretty much filming the entire scam that lines from Aranyaprathet all the way to Siem Reap itself.
So what I’ll be doing is – obviously I won’t be using a giant camera around. I’ll be pretty much using my little sports action camera and I’ll be attaching it to my bag. From there hopefully at keypoints during the scams I’ll be able to switch it on without having too many people notice what is happening.
So off we went with the Tuk Tuk for 70 Bhat. just 5 minutes in and we were already brought to our first scam zone -The visa processing office. Having read up on the modus operandi beforehand I was able to call it bluff immediately.
Me: Hello, I want to go to Thai immigration, not this building.
Tuk Tuk Driver: [finger points at building] “This is the immigration office.”
Me: “No, the real Thai immigration, just go okay?”
Tuk Tuk Driver: “This office process the visa that you need to enter Cambodia.”
Me: “No, no no, I don’t need, just take me to Thai immigration!”
Tuk Tuk Driver: “$#^&%^%&^^”
Truth is, some nationalities don’t even need a visa when entering the Kingdom of Cambodia. Whilst some nationalities do, they have the option of either doing it online or directly at the Immigration counter or officer. All this visa processing business outside of Cambodia is a hoax to part you from your cash.
Once you get pass the visa processing nonsense, the rest of the journey across the border is relatively easy but not necessarily hassle-free. Nonetheless, most tourists survive.
It is also here where you get your first taste of Cambodia and the impact of the concentrated casino zone has on the local. Cheap alcohol that ranges from local to impressive international brands, luxurious hotel chains, beggars, individuals in despair. All this is kind of a weird mix, so I can’t wait to get out of this place.
After you get pass all the immigration stuff and you should be well into your second challenge.
The ‘company’
So what’s the story with this company? Well, here are the facts. The ‘company’ built a bus station a few kilometers away from the immigration checkpoint. The ‘company’ has exclusive access to all visitors coming through the checkpoint. Most importantly, the company’s main investors are shadily the local police officers.
Now, once you’ve boarded the ‘company’ bus, it’s no different from being a lamb being delivered into the slaughterhouse.
Once at the ‘company’ station, you have no choice but to go with the company’s designated bus or taxi, which is overpriced and most importantly either deliver you to their preferred guesthouse or just a few kilometers outside the city.
That’s when the surprise comes into play, you’ll get ripped off again.
Tuk Tuk Driver: “Do you want me to take you to the bus station?”
Me: “Err, no need. I will want to find a place to eat my lunch first.”
Tuk Tuk Driver: “There is a restaurant inside the bus station where you can have your lunch. So you may just follow me to the bus station, In the bus station there is a restaurant, you can eat something after you leave. You can do transport and everything by yourself at the bus station. ”
Me: “Okay, I look around first? I come back later okay?”
Tuk Tuk Driver: “Because you can’t find other restaurants around here anymore. You will have nothing to eat. You can only have … errr nothing here. So it’s not important for you to walk here. If you walk to somewhere else you will have many problems.”
Because too many errr … drivers come to err…. to get you something or sometimes you lost something.
Me: “Okay, I go see first, then I’ll come back…”
Tuk Tuk Driver: “No, no, I think it is good that we leaving now and go to the bus station.”
Me: “I’ll come back later, I’ll come back later. Thank you…Yah, I’ll come to look for you.”
Of course, I just walk quickly and never look back again.
How to avoid fake Cambodia border visa scam?
When you reach the main street close to the border, ask the taxi driver to drop you there. If anyway he stops in the fake border, just turns around and goes till the end of the main street.
You will reach the embassy and then you pass the passport control. After you pass the border, there is one small house, there you can pay the $25 to get the visa. The corrupt policemen who work there will cash you about 200 Baths extra for the visa but, better to pay than to have problems with Cambodia police.
The good point is that you save about $25 skipping the fake Cambodia border visa scam.