They move...in mysterious ways

Internal Trade is part of the Ministry of Commerce, which licenses jewellery stores (or so we are told). They have been fairly succesful at getting some kind of refund back for gem scam victims, and appear to be the one Thai institution that can be given a certain level of trust.

ADVISORY ON JANUARY 2, 2007

Further to our November 17, 2006 advisory, we have received a second positive report regarding Internal Trade from a gem scam victim. According to this victim, it took about 4 hours to settle everything from complaint to receiving the refund. The victim had high praise for the excellent service and recommended that any victim seek help from Internal Trade.

According to the latest report, internal trade now offers two options, either getting a full refund (with the assistance of Internal Trade, it would appear) or the option to prosecute the store. If you choose the full refund, you should settle for nothing less than 100% during the negotiation stage. For the prosecution, one must spend about a week in Bangkok to deal with the case.

According to this latest report, the address for the Department of Internal Trade at the Ministry of Commerce is as follows (this is exactly how we received it):

Kalong Phanig
Sanambin Nam
Nonthaburi

The Email to contact is compro@dit.go.th addressed to Mr Suchat Sinrat. Phone numbers (in Bangkok) to call are 025475356 or 025475358.

This latest information is not verified but it is being posted to our website in the hopes that it may help other victims currently in Bangkok. We have not received any feedback from victims outside of Thailand getting any assistance from Internal Trade (see November 17, 2006 advisory).

According to the website http://www.tisi.go.th/wto/contact.html, this is the address for the Department of Internal Trade:

Department of Internal Trade (Bureau of Weights and Measures)
Thanon Nonthaburi 1,
Nonthaburi 11000
THAILAND

Any victims who have interfaced with the DIT are encouraged to tell us about their experiences here.

ADVISORY ON NOVEMBER 17, 2006

Earlier this year, we received an unusual report from a gem scam victim who reported having had what appears to be first-class treatment by the Department of Internal Trade. This victim reported that they went to the new location for Internal Trade and a man by the name of Suchat Sinrat helped the victim by calling the store, negotiating a refund and sending the victim back to the store with three DIT employees. The victim ended up getting 100% back from the store.

We have been unable to independentently verify this information, nor have we received any other such reports, so we are putting this on our site in the hopes that other victims may be able to achieve a similar level of success from the DIT. Here are the contact details that we received:

44 100 Nontaburi Rd., which is about about an hour by bus from the other location we have listed below. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to pinpoint this address in terms of public transportation, but this is how the victim described her trip there:

"I took the number 32 bus at the Wat Pho, which followed the main river in Bangkok (probably the Chao Phraya) northwards. The bus driver told me when we were at the NONTABURI station (about 40 minutes by bus) where I had to get off. But the address isn't quite close by so I had to take a taxi for about 10 more minutes to get there."

Attempts to confirm this are ongoing, but if anyone has any personal experiences to share on this, or wishes to have Suchat Sinrat's e-mail, please send us an e-mail

ADVISORY ON MAY 20, 2002

We have received a series of increasingly negative reports from Group members over the past month. One member reports being told that Internal Trade can only get one refund per store. Since the beginning of May, virtually no new refunds have been reported from Internal Trade. While we are not changing our opinion as to the effectiveness of this office, we are suggesting victims proceed with caution and ask many questions while at Internal Trade.

We do not know their secrets, but they are more powerful than they like to admit, given what they have accomplished for some of our members. Your best bet is to talk to them and see what they say. Be patient, you rarely meet Mr. Soiploy; his employees have varying degrees of English, none particularly high. But they are friendly, and far more familiar with the scam than they would like to be.

Mr. Soiploy's office moved in late 2003 or early 2004. The new address is as follows:


Mr Manat Soiploy 2nd e-mail address, manuts@dit.go.th

Department of internal trade

40/100 Sanam Bin Nam, Nomthaburi Rd, Muang, Nonthaburi, 11000

Tel: 02 547 5356


His old contact information is below, but he is no longer at this address:

Mr. Manat Soiploy, Director, Monitoring and Operation Bureau,
Department of Internal Trade, Maharaj Road, Bangkok 10200.
Telephone 662 622-2424 Fax 622-2413,
e-mail manats@dit.go.th

The information we have received recently indicates that Mr. Manat is able to contact the stores and get a representative to negotiate a refund. One e-mail credited him with an 80% refund which, unusually, was posted to the credit card, rather than refunded in cash.

If you have had recent experiences with Internal Trade, we'd like to hear from you to ensure that the information on our site continues to help future victims of the scam.


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