In spite of promises galore, late summer is upon us and yet the awful curse of the Pattaya jet ski scammers is still with us.
As everyone knows,  the jet ski mafia is still extorting mega-cash from tourists after false claims of serious damage to the rented craft.  Huge sums of up to 150,000 baht have been demanded for no or very little damage to one of the 400 or so jet skis available for hire in the resort.
The responsibility to sort out the mess, which is doing Pattaya so much harm in the international and local media, is clearly that of City Hall.  That’s where the buck stops.
The Pattaya mayor has promised to “keep watch” on the operators as have his deputies and the chief of police. There has been talk of telephone hotlines and arbitration panels.  Yet almost daily reports of tourists being shamelessly exploited still reach this newspaper.  Victims talk of being threatened with beatings if they don’t fork out big sums.
The latest ploy of the scammers is to take several photos of the renters on the jet ski before they set out to sea.  Then the camera’s memory card is removed and the picture photo-shopped to remove signs of damage, dents or scrapes on the hull.  The memory chip is then reloaded into the camera and the returning tourists confronted with a fake picture of themselves with a damaged jet ski.
Many police officers refuse to get involved in the jet ski extortions but this is akin to Pontius Pilate washing his hands of any responsibility for a famous crucifixion.  Meanwhile, the scams continue even as an increasing number of embassies are posting water sport warnings to their nationals.
Pattaya needs bad publicity like it needs a hole in the head.  Many local businessmen are pinning their hopes on a good high season to come.  Yet the media and social networking publicity about Pattaya’s image remains predominantly negative.
The solution to the whole problem is not hard to see.  City Hall has to enforce insurance regulations for operators and make accidental jet ski damage a civil rather than a criminal matter unless there is injury or death to human beings.
A recent suggestion to erect notices on Pattaya and Jomtien seafront warning tourists that they are not insured if they rent a jet ski was voted down on the grounds that the operators would remove or deface such warnings during the night.
It’s also said that the jet ski operators are a powerful lobby at election times and that many local politicians are reluctant to offend them.  Nobody is disputing that reluctance.  It’s plain to see.
But the horror of the ongoing jet ski scams is doing far too much harm to the city’s tourism prospects to allow arguments like that to hold water.  Sweeping the problem under the carpet simply won’t work.  City Hall has to get its act together – now!