Phuket tuk-tuk driver robbed of gold jewelry after coffee lure

A Phuket tuk-tuk driver says a woman turned a routine fare into a theft by offering him coffee, leaving him unconscious and stripping him of gold jewelry worth more than 300,000 and his mobile phone. The victim, 53-year-old Somnuk Chanagkul of Patong, said the encounter began around 9pm on June 4, 2026, when he picked up a Thai woman whose face was partly hidden by a hat and drove her to Karon at her request so she could film a video.

Somnuk said he returned her to the area in front of Kalim School in Patong, where she offered him coffee and said she wanted him to try it because she planned to start a coffee business. He later lost consciousness and woke up in Patong Hospital on June 5, with the gold he was wearing and his phone gone. The loss is a sharp reminder that high-value jewelry is not only vulnerable to street theft, but to social engineering, where a friendly request becomes the opening move.

Police moved on the case on June 10, arresting a 23-year-old suspect on the 11th-floor walkway of a condominium in Bangkok’s Asoke area. Officers from Patong Police Station acted under a Phuket Provincial Court warrant on a charge of theft at night. Investigators also asked Patong Hospital to conduct blood tests to determine whether Somnuk had been drugged or exposed to another substance that may have caused him to lose consciousness.

The pattern is especially worrying in tourist-heavy Phuket, where casual rides, informal conversations and offers of food or drink can be used to lower a target’s guard. Gold jewelry, unlike money kept in a wallet or locked in a safe, is portable, visible and easy to remove once a victim is disoriented. That makes chains, bracelets and other worn pieces attractive to thieves who are looking for quick, low-friction opportunities rather than open confrontation.

For travelers, the warning signs in this case are plain: a stranger with a concealed face, an unscheduled detour, a too-friendly offer of coffee, and a personal story designed to sound harmless. In places such as Patong and Karon, the safest approach is to keep expensive gold jewelry to a minimum in transit, decline drinks or food from people you do not know, store spare valuables separately, and document high-value pieces before traveling so losses can be reported clearly if something goes wrong.