Pattaya moto-taxi driver returns lost wallet with $400 to American tourist

By Hoang Vu April 27, 2023 | 01:01 am PT

A woman uses her mobile phone while riding a motorbike during rush hour in Bangkok, June 16, 2017. Photo by Reuters

A motorcycle taxi driver in Thailand's tourist hub Pattaya returned a forgotten wallet with about $400 in cash to an American tourist on Wednesday.

The female driver gave the black wallet to local police after discovering it on the ground of an alley, Pattaya News reported.

She said she had driven the foreign tourist to his hotel in South Pattaya earlier in the evening and believed that it belonged to him after seeing his picture in the wallet.

She also told the police that the tourist claimed he did not have money when he was dropped off, but she willingly let him go without payment.

Police then identified the wallet belonged to the American man and contacted with him to recover it.

Pattaya, a sleepy beach town until the 1970s, started to swell during the Vietnam War when U.S. military members flocked there for rest and relaxation.