If it's not glued down, screwed down or bolted down Thai thieves will find a way to nick it. And if it is glued down, screwed down and bolted down they will just use brute force to take the whole damned thing.
A few months ago water dispensing machines were the prime targets with thieves walking away with pocket fulls of coins and leaving shop owners short changed and members of the public more than a little thirsty for revenge.
Now the thieves are dialled in to a new more lucrative target. Mobile phone top up machines. The thieves are staking out these machines usually orange in colour and striking in the dead of night to lift these Thai piggy banks off their foundations onto pick-up trucks and off to some deserted location where they force them open. After pocketing the contents - they must have large pockets - the gubbins of the machines are dumped often in watery locations to destroy evidence.
2,000 Baht per machine is the average take from one of these machines - enough to buy the next few Yaa Baa tablets no doubt.
One such mobile mobster was recently nabbed and confessed to ripping off 10 mobile phone money makers. Police have called upon local citizens to be vigilant and to call in any suspicious activity that is of course if they have enough credit on their mobile device.
