Thai tourist detained at Changi Airport for carrying more than $20,000 cash says he was pranking friends

Pranks aren't always harmless, and it's not all fun and games, especially when you're a clueless traveller in a foreign country.

One tourist from Thailand found that out the hard way, after getting himself detained by Singapore immigration officers at Changi Airport.

The reason? He did not declare that he was carrying over $20,000 in cold hard cash.

TikTok user Sungstarwin posted about his prank-gone-wrong on Sept 10 in a clip that has amassed more than 1.2 million likes.

It is not known when he flew to Singapore or how long he stayed.

The content creator, who has 2.4 million followers on the platform and 2 million subscribers on YouTube, was travelling in a group of five other friends.

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In the clip, he described how he had offered to exchange Thai baht to Singapore dollars for his friends.

Sungstarwin ended up changing 610,000 baht (S$23,254) in total.

His wily idea, however, was to withhold the money from his friends until they reached Singapore, and then charge them a higher exchange rate for the cash.

Well, the joke was on him, as Sungstarwin's prank backfired soon after they landed.

Snippets from the clip showed Sungstarwin speaking to an immigration officer before being led away to a separate area for questioning.

In the clip, Sungstarwin also said that the white bag he was holding (which belonged to his girlfriend) contained currency amounting to 100,000 baht.

All seemed to be well though as he was eventually released and the group appeared to go on their merry way.

@iamsungstarwin

ผม โดนตำรวจสิงคโปร์จับ รีวิว ที่ไม่อยากรีวิว5555555555

♬ เสียงต้นฉบับ - Sungstarwin

To those who queried how he was found out, Sungstarwin replied that he'd made the admission after officers asked him about the amount of cash he was carrying.

Sungstarwin claimed he did not know about Singapore's law on taking cash in and out of the country, which requires one to fill in a form declaring the amount brought in.

And from the multitude of comments on the video, it seemed many of his Thai followers too, were unaware.

For anyone who is similarly clueless, here's a notice we found posted on Singapore's Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) website:

One commenter shared that as a flight attendant, she would have to make an announcement on the regulation before every landing. "Maybe you all were sleeping," she added.

Sungstarwin expressed surprise and replied that yes, they were probably asleep as "we were very tired".

Many also questioned the need for such a regulation. While the reason is not explicitly stated on ICA's website, similar laws exist for many other countries as well. In the US, the cash limit is to prevent money from being used to fund illegal activity such as money laundering or drug trafficking.

The main takeaway for some, however, was how loaded Sungstarwin is. 

While all seemed to be well in the end, it is a good reminder to all of us that some prank ideas are just best not acted upon.

ALSO READ: Teen pours water all over himself for a 'stupid prank' at Punggol McDonald's

candicecai@asiaone.com