A Chinese tourist was tricked into buying a fake Hermès bag for 1.4 million baht (S$53,000) from a seller she encountered on Instagram in October 2023, Thai media reported.

The 27-year-old woman, who goes by the surname of Deng, is the wife of a Chinese businessman who lives in Singapore.

Bought bag from second-hand store she patronised before

According to Deng, she had seen the bag on the seller's Instagram story.

She then contacted the seller and arranged to buy the bag from a second-hand store at a "well-known" shopping mall in Ratchaprasong, Bangkok, on Oct. 1, 2023.

Deng was quoted by Shin Min Daily News as saying that she had bought two Hermès bags from this store before with no issue.

However, in this instance, she found that the bag did not contain a receipt after she left the store.

When she contacted the store, they insisted that they had placed a receipt in the bag and added that if she wanted to return or exchange the bag, she would be charged an additional 20 per cent fee for "loss".

Deng said she then decided to send the bag to a Thai luxury goods authentication institute called The Catch Fake Brandname (TCF) as she was suspicious.

Bag verified to be fake, seller refuses to take back bag

TCF subsequently informed Deng that the bag was fake.

Deng then contacted the seller to return the bag. However, the seller refused on the grounds that the bag had "disappeared" and lost its value.

Deng engaged a legal representative who filed two reports with the Thai police — one on Oct. 6, 2023, before she returned to Singapore, and another on Nov. 1, 2023.

Deng also had the bag verified a second time upon returning to Singapore, only to receive the same result, Shin Min reported.

The legal representative also headed down to the store with the police to discuss the return of the bag.

The store offered to buy the bag back at 980,000 baht (S$37,000), meaning Deng would still suffer a loss of 30 per cent.

The legal representative was quoted by Shin Min as saying that Deng's current demand is for a full refund.

More to be done to protect tourists

As neither side could come to an agreement, Deng decided to bring the matter to the attention of the Thai media on Jan. 10, 2024.

She was quoted by Khaosod English as saying that she found it difficult to find a government agency protecting the rights of tourists and questioned how those who are in Thailand for a short time could get justice if they are cheated by a store selling fake goods.

Speaking through an interpreter to Thai media, she added:

"I would like to ask the country’s leaders to help in this matter. I am worried that tourists who have experienced the same thing as me might be afraid to come to Thailand to travel and shop."

Following Deng's meeting with the Thai media on Jan. 10, 2024, the store is still unwilling to refund the full amount.

Instead, it has only proposed to reduce the loss Deng would incur from selling the bag back to the store.

Both sides are still negotiating.

Top photos via Saichon Chounchou/Facebook