Today we’re going to learn about travel scams
Yes, we have been scammed on our travels. Several times.
There was the time Cam got robbed by a Thai prostitute in Bangkok (true story), the time we caught a pickpocket red-handed at the Great Pyramids in Egypt, the time an intimidating taxi driver scammed us in Romania, and the multiple times we’ve been scammed at border crossings in Guatemala, Peru, India and Cambodia.
Thieves live everywhere, and they love distracted tourists. You’re just as likely to get scammed in Paris and New York as you are in Delhi and Bangkok, so it’s important to stay alert and learn about some of the common scams that are out there.
In an effort to educate you about some sneaky scams targeted at tourists, we turn to fellow travel bloggers and asked them to share their personal stories and experiences.
1. The Litter Scam
Matt from Landlopers shares his experience falling victim to the infamous “litter scam” in Bangkok. I had a good chuckle when I read Matt’s story because the exact same thing happened to me in 2004! Proof that some scams are timeless.
It was my first time in Bangkok and I was still under the spell of the noise, the smells and the crush of humanity. The trip was also my first time to a developing country and I was nervous at times, but not that evening when my cigarette butt missed the can on the way into the SkyTrain station.
Almost immediately, a man in a camouflage uniform tugged at my arm and asked for me to join his colleague at a card table set up behind a nearby pillar. I was terrified.
I had no idea who these men were. Judging by the camo, I thought for sure they were police or military. I listened dumbstruck as they told me that I had littered and had to pay a large 4,000 baht ($130) fine. To make me feel better he showed me all of the other tickets he’d issued, but I noticed they were all to foreigners.
Then he looked at my watch and told me how much he liked it. He said he wanted to trade his knock-off Omega for mine and after that we’d be friends and no ticket would be necessary. My watch cost $50 so I agreed to give it up, all the time wondering if this was a sting to catch me trying to bribe a government official.
It was a horrible situation and I was truly scared out of my mind.
We traded and I promptly left, returning to my hotel where I burst into tears. What I didn’t know at the time was that I had just fallen prey to the Bangkok litter scam.
The men in question were not police or military, they were Bangkok Metropolitan Administration officials and while they issued me a ticket, I technically could have refused to pay it. Of course I didn’t know that at the time and, even if I had, I wasn’t exactly in the position to argue.
To protect yourself against this, don’t litter or throw cigarette butts on the ground. Should you get caught, try confronting them with the truth and see what happens. More than anything, don’t let this sour your impression of Bangkok. It truly is a great city and a few bad people shouldn’t be allowed to ruin it for anyone.
Cam here – when this scam happened to me at the train station in Bangkok, I didn’t have my personal belongings with me because I left them with Nicole and our travel companions. I had been robbed the night before (read the funny story here) so I did not have a wallet, ID or money.
I told the intimidating men dressed in military clothing that I was broke and could not pay. They were very confused and kept pointing at the scripted card with cartoon characters. They quickly got upset and forcefully made the universal hand sign for “pay me money”. I smiled, apologized and slowly started walking away.
I was terrified that I was going to get arrested (because I too thought they were police or military) but I didn’t know what else to do. Thankfully, they didn’t follow me. Lesson learned – don’t throw a cigarette butt on the ground in Bangkok!
2. The Distraction
Matt from Expert Vagabond shares his experience in Panama, where his laptop was stolen. The best part about his story is the outcome of self-described Operation Gringo Revenge (read his story here, it’s a good one!).
I actually haven’t encountered many problems with scams even after almost 3 years of constant long-term travel. But there have been a few. Like taxi drivers claiming the meter is broken. Or “friendly” locals who just happen to casually recommend a shop I should buy my souvenirs from.
But my worst experience was when my laptop computer was stolen by hookers in Panama.
A group of women entered the Cuban bar/cafe I was in, quickly sitting next to me and a friend. They were provocatively dressed, and made it very clear what they wanted. We were amused. But my mistake was brushing them off and ignoring them completely.
Even with my daypack strapped to the legs of my chair, they somehow managed to unzip it and make off with my $2500 MacBook Pro without us noticing. It’s sometimes easy to forget how good thieves can be!
3. The Distraction… part 2
Christy from Ordinary Traveler shares her friend’s encounter with a trio of scam artists in South America.
I, fortunately, have not been the victim of any elaborate travel scams, but I have had money stolen because I let my guard down while sleeping on a train.
I do have friends who have been victims of travel scams though, and this particular one caused our friend an extra two-week stay in South America because he had his passport, camera and money stolen.
The scam involved three people. An older woman on the street informed our friend that he had something on his shirt and offered him a tissue to wipe it off.
He took off his backpack in order to reach the back of his shirt. When he turned around, he saw a man running away with his bag. He had only taken his eyes off of his bag for a few seconds, which was all it took. He couldn’t catch up with the man in time to retrieve his belongings.
I wrote about this scam and a few others (including the story where I had money stolen on a train in Europe) in this article – tips for keeping your valuables safe.
Cam here – we learned of a similar scam when we were in Banos, Ecuador. Similarly, the scam starts when someone sprays ketchup or mustard on you when you are not paying attention. Then, a sweet elderly person comes to help you, cursing the young kids that sprayed you.
But, while the friendly person helps clean you, an accomplice grabs your bag or wallet and runs down a sketchy alleyway with your stuff. It happened to one of the people staying at our hostel.
Coincidentally, we visited Banos during Carnival, which brought thousands of people to the small city. Everyone was spraying water guns and silly string at each other. I kept thinking people were trying to scam me and got into karate pose every time I was sprayed.
Looking back, my paranoia was quite comical.
4. The Fake Tickets Scam
Sam from Nomadic Samuel shares his experience sniffing out a scam in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Recently, I wanted to take an overnight train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. The first travel agency I visited informed me that ALL seats on trains departing on that particular day were full; however, a tourist bus – with just 5 seats available – was leaving in the evening at a discounted price of 750 Baht.
My instincts told me something was fishy about all of this.
Instead of feeling pressured into purchasing the bus ticket, I decided to shop around at a few more travel agents. Not only was I able to find a train ticket to Bangkok, but I actually got the exact type of seats I wanted (lower sleeper birth) at regular price.
Just for fun, I checked the price of overnight buses. The average price of an overnight bus at these other – more reputable – travel agencies was only 400 Baht. Thus, the first travel agent not only lied to me about the trains being full; she went as far as trying to rip me off by quoting a bus ticket that was nearly double the regular price!
In order to avoid such a scam, here are a few tips to consider.
(1) Compare prices at several travel agents before making a decision. Shopping around ensures you’re getting a common price.
(2) Research the cost of something online or ask fellow travelers. Often the best information for prices of tours or transportation can be found on travel blogs or by word of mouth.
(3) Don’t feel forced into making a quick decision based on scarcity. If something smells fishy, such as an agent saying only 5 seats are available, trust your instincts. For example, Chiang Mai is a huge tourist hub with a plethora of transportation options to Bangkok. There is no way, by booking several days in advance, that ALL bus tickets and/or train tickets would be sold out.
Overall, if you do your research, shop around, ask others and trust your instincts, chances of you getting ripped off or scammed are minimal.
5. The Gem Scam followed by Fake Tickets Scam
Dani and Jess from Globetrotter Girls share their frustrating encounter in Thailand’s sin city. Like thousands before, they fell victim to a fake ticket scam when booking transportation in Bangkok.
Dani and I had just landed in Bangkok, and it was our first time in the city, and in Asia. We were jet-lagged, bewildered and pleasantly surprised by how nice everyone seemed to be that first morning.
What we didn’t know until after is that from the first hour out on the street that day, we had jumped head first into an intricate string of common Bangkok scams, the first few of which were harmless, but the second bit of which ended up costing us a good amount of money and causing a ton of stress.
First, there was the friendly man who told us of the temples and put us into a tuk-tuk, that was ‘conveniently’ just pulling up. The tuk-tuk took us around to a few temples, telling us that the whole day tour we were on was absolutely free, because of a government tax credit he would get if he took us also to a tailor, a jewelry shop and a tourist agency along the way.
We understood that this was all part of being on the annoying tourist trail, but it was worth it to see these gorgeous Thai temples, we thought. Until we were taken to one ‘off the beaten path’ where a man got to talking to us in such a friendly way that when he told us about a ‘real’ travel agency where the ‘locals’ go, we had the tuk-tuk driver take us there to book our onward travels.
We thought we were being smart, savvy, independent travelers for some reason, even though we would normally never book flights or bus tickets through a travel agency at all.
After hours of whizzing around this new city, we arrived to the travel agency on a tiny Thai back street, and run by an American man from San Francisco. For some reason, this felt like a relief, as everything was feeling very foreign, but alarm bells didn’t ring that we had been told it was a ‘local’ place.
From him we purchased plane tickets and bus tickets. The plane tickets were completely fake, which we only realized when the bus never came that we had purchased the tickets for either.
We attempted dozens of phone calls and were handed from person to person over the phone until eventually the numbers didn’t work and we realized that we were scammed out of quite a bit of cash. We have since been back to Bangkok and were never even approached by any of these scammers, as though that halo of innocence was now erased from above our newly-arrived heads.
Cam here – when we visited Thailand in 2004 we were also manipulated into taking a cheap tuk tuk city tour in exchange for visiting gem and tailor shops. So did our friend Raymond from Man on the Lam, read his story here.
There wasn’t much info on the Internet back then and social media didn’t exist, so we relied on our trusty guide books for info (which was limited and outdated). Fast forward 10 years, a quick Internet search reveals hundreds of similar stories. It’s funny how many people have been tricked by these scammers, considering they use the exact same lines and strategies.
We didn’t get scammed into buying fake gems or crappy suits (we were on a backpackers budget, so even $5 gems was too much) but we did waste a lot of time visiting sketchy retail stores instead of seeing the sights. That said, the tour was dirt cheap and it made for an interesting travel experience. Oh Bangkok, you’re so silly.
6. Fooled by Kindness
Caz and Craig from yTravel Blog share their unfortunate experience in China, where they paid the price for letting their guard down.
We had just arrived in Guangzou, China from Hong Kong. We needed to travel from there to Yangshao, but could not work out how to get there.
We stood in front of the timetable for 20 minutes, staring blankly as the characters ticked over. We couldn’t read a single word. No one around us spoke English. It’s the only time in my travels that I’ve been at a complete loss as to what to do.
That must have shown on our face—the unsuspecting, tourists in need!
A very kind young man swooped in to rescue us. He spoke perfect English. He organized the tickets for the trains, told us the times and where to go and said he could take us shopping while we waited for our train to leave that evening.
Aren’t people just so nice?
He took us shopping, found us great deals and then somehow managed to convince our stupid selves that he could get us a student pass, which would make travel in China sooooo much cheaper (like it wasn’t already).
We were fooled—by this stage we were seasoned travelers and had never been conned before. I don’t know what we were thinking. I mean, we shared a meal with his family and children and everyone was so lovely.
Needless to say he took the money and ran. Oh well. Chalk it up as a lesson learned.
7. The Border Crossing Scam
Pete and Dalene from Hecktic Travels prove that not all travel scams end badly. Sketchy scam artists at the Peru-Ecuador border crossing tried to extort money from them but these fiesty Canucks stood their ground and walked away with money in pocket and heads held high.
We knew better. We had heard all the warnings, talked to others who had done it, and read in Lonely Planet that the border crossing from Peru to Ecuador was the “sketchiest in South America”.
We knew that there would be a group of men trying to convince us that we needed to go with them, that we needed to pay them for a special “Ecuadorian visa.” We knew it was a scam.
So, how they ended up with our passports in their hands, and how they led us into a tiny room just before the real customs office, we’re not sure. We looked at each other unbelievably, we had somehow been smooth talked into handing them over, and stood listening to the four men around us explaining that we each had to pay $10 for a visa
They were demanding and abrupt, and they had our passports in hand. I reached for them and the man pulled them away.
Finally, we had had enough.
Pete, towering over the shorter men by at least a foot (and looking particularly badass after a recent buzzcut) just started yelling: “NO PAGAMOS NADA!” We are paying nothing!
He repeated the statement over and over, and when he finally raised his voice loud enough that heads were turning from other parts of the office, they relented.
Quite quickly, they handed our passports back over and scurried out of the room.
8. The Border Crossing Scam… continued
Ayngelina from Bacon is Magic experienced the mysterious “exit tax” when crossing the borders in Mexico and Central America.
Crossing through borders in Mexico and Central America can be challenging when avoiding scams, often border agents will insist there is an exit tax of $2-5 which is not true.
However, the border scam between Chetumal, Mexico and Belize is so organized and long standing that it has almost become a legitimate exit tax of $20 that even bus drivers will tell passengers to get ready to pay.
When I passed through this border my Spanish was not good enough to refuse so I simply paid. Later on through Central America I refused some of the exit taxes, in some cases they let me pass through and other cases they just waited until I paid – they weren’t going anywhere for the day.
It’s annoying and fortunately it’s not true for all of Latin America.
9. The Taxi Driver Scam
Cailin O’Neil from Travel Yourself shares here frustrating experience with a Jordanian taxi driver in the city of Amman. What is it about taxi drivers?
My first day in Amman, I took a taxi from my hotel to Rainbow Street. When we arrived I only then realized the taxi driver hadn’t turned his meter on.
I didn’t feel like we had gone that far but when I asked him “How much?” the driver said “Whatever you feel like”.
I gave him $5 US only to have him tell me $5 more. I was a bit surprised because he had just said to pay what “I” wanted. I gave him another $5 and shrugged it off.
Later that day I took a taxi back to my hotel from the same distance. This time with the meter running. It came to $2! I tried to give this taxi driver $3 and he refused to take more than $2.
At that I point I realized the first guy scammed me big time. It wasn’t a big loss but still made me angry.
Cam here – we’ve been ripped off by taxi drivers all around the world, with the most notable being in Eastern Europe. In Bucharest, taxi drivers have rates posted on the side of the vehicle in an attempt to reduce the widespread overcharging.
Even with this knowledge, we jumped in a taxi and told him our destination. We knew the cost of the trip because we had done it numerous times before. Within 3 blocks the meter had jumped to over $20 CDN – the entire 5 km trip should cost $10.
We yelled at the driver and told him to pull over. He nodded at us with an angry face and pointed at the large roundabout that we had to cross before he could pull over. The cheeky bugger did a full rotation around the roundabout, which was completely unnecessary. That extra loop around the intersection cost us an extra $10!!
The real problem – this guy was a giant and he looked mean. We paid the money, cursed his behaviour and left with $30 less in our wallet – and we only traveled about 1 kilometre!
10. The Expensive Lunch Scam
Michael Hodson from Go See Write paid the price for an unwanted feast in the streets of Cairo. Although his meal was delicious and the experience was harmless, there’s nothing more annoying than knowing you’re being ripped off and still feeling obligated to pay the hefty toll. Read his full story here.
We had just finished a good, filling meal. The cost was 2 Egyptian pounds total. That’s less than fifty cents.
We got up and wandered around Cairo some more, walking by another guy cooking some falafel. We were pretty stuffed, but the guy got Dave to stop and try a free sample of the falafel. He loved it. I tried it. It was the best I’ve ever had.
The guy asked if we wanted to get some. Absolutely. I tried to order a half dozen of the falafel balls. And then everything went downhill.
The guy waved us off and essentially said, don’t worry. I will bring you food. He set up a table specially for us, right across from his little shop, in the alley. He then proceeded to bring out a feast of food — considering we’d eaten, there was no way at all we were going to be able to finish it.
The major problem was that we never asked how much it was.
Maybe we were still thinking about the two pound meal. Maybe the heat had gotten to the both of us. Maybe we were just on one of those traveler’s highs, because people had been so friendly the last couple days. Maybe we were smitten by the falafel.
I don’t know, but you never, never, ever get anything without asking the cost. We should have known better.
I have written about crime and safety in travel — this was entirely different — just a flat out scam, more like the Zanzibar ferry scam experience. I had heard about Cairo scams before… I should have known better.
In the end, we ate about a third of the food, somehow. He wanted 110 Egyptian pounds for it. More than the dinner we had in a nice place the night before. We got him down to 90, which was at least triple what a moderately reasonable price would have been, paid it and walked away pissed off at ourselves.
11. The Shoe Shine Scam
When we visited the magnificent Amber Fort near Jaipur we witnessed a crafty Indian boy at work. We were sitting in the shade under a tree, about 20 meters away from ‘the incident’.
The pint-sized hustler spit out one-liners at passing tourists. “Excuse me please. Mister. You’re feet are very dirty. I can make them beautiful again”. Nobody stopped. Most of the tourists wore sandals and flip flops, hardly the target market for a shoe shiner.
But then he found a live one. The German tourist clearly had trouble understanding the shouting boy, so he stopped to listen to his obnoxious demands. The boy jumped into action and within 10 seconds the German tourist was at his mercy.
Then he it happened. We witnessed it with our very own eyes. The sneaky boy pulled out a small pocket knife and cut the German tourist’s laces when he wasn’t looking!
“Your shoes are broken mister. I can fix for you. 10 more rupees. Let me fix your shoes so they are beautiful again mister”. The man knew something was up. He stood up and cursed at the boy.
The boy’s demeanor instantly changed from friendly servant to angry tax man. “Give me my money. You owe me 10 rupees!”
He yelled and threw his arms in the air, clearly trying to cause a scene. The disciplined German tourist didn’t take the bait. He laughed it off and walked away. Albeit, with one less shoe lace.
12. The “Your Hotel is Closed” Scam
Sticking with India, when we arrived in Mumbai after a 20-hour train ride from Udaipur, all we wanted to do was find our hotel and go to sleep.
Our friend told us about a common scam in India that goes something like this – you get in taxi, driver asks “where are you going”, you reply with the hotel name, driver looks shocked and says “but sir, that hotel is closed. There was a fire… or construction”… or it’s “full”, then driver offers to take you to a different hotel, driver gets a commission from hotel owner. You get the idea.
There are a number of variations, but the idea is to get the tourist to a different hotel and earn a commission.
When we got into the rusty black and yellow taxi at the Mumbai train station our driver asked where we wanted to go. We had decided on a budget hotel in the Colaba area. “No sir, that hotel is under construction right now,” said the driver. Oh boy, here we go.
Right out of the gates, I get defensive and tell him we are not interested in his game. “Take us there anyways”, I demanded. There were lots of hotels in the area, so we could always walk around and find an alternative.
We laughed at the situation. “Who does this guy think he is?”
Well, we didn’t end up getting scammed because the hotel WAS under construction. Ooops. That’ll teach us! We felt bad. The driver was legit. He wasn’t lying. But this scam does happen all the time. So consider yourself warned.
13. The Lost Ring Scam
This one is a Parisian classic. We almost forgot about this one until Mark posted about his experience on our Facebook page. We have actually been exposed to this scam twice, on two separate trips to Paris.
The first time it happened was near the Louvre Museum. We noticed a woman wandering around, acting somewhat suspicious. I remember making a comment about her behaviour to Nicole.
As we walked past her, she said something to us. We couldn’t understand what she said but stopped and turned around anyways. As we did, she reached to the ground and picked something up.
She handed the object to us. It was a gold ring. It looked like a man’s wedding ring.
She said we dropped the ring and pointed to me. “It’s not mine”, I said. Her English was bad. She shrugged her shoulders and handed it to me anyways. “You keep,” she said.
Then she made the sign for ‘give me money’. She wanted a “reward” for finding our lost ring. Yea, right.
Then, in broken English, she asked for money. “You keep. Give me little money. For helping.”
The other time this happened, the scam artist said she found a ring on the ground but didn’t know what to do with it. She wanted us to buy the ring from her for only a few Euros. “Maybe you want this ring? It’s real gold. You can sell it or keep it?” Wait a sec, how do you know it’s real gold if you just found it on the ground?
So, if someone approaches you with a shiny object and says “look what I found”, run the other way.
14. The Expensive Bar Tab Scam
A few Facebook and Google+ readers commented on the “expensive bar tab” scam that seems to happen a lot in Eastern Europe, though I’m sure it happens everywhere.
This scam is mostly geared towards men, because they are easily manipulated by sexy ladies with hungry eyes. It hasn’t happened to us, primarily because we always travel together and this one is geared towards the solo traveler.
Here’s what happens.
Man has a random encounter with a friendly woman (guys – this is your first warning sign). After some pleasantries, woman wants to grab a drink. Man obliges, thinking he’s just found a stroke of good luck. Remember what mom said, “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is…”
One drink turns into two. Woman says, “let’s head over to this bar, it’s so much fun”. Man agrees. Could this night get any better?!
Drinks start flowing. One after the other. Then, the bill comes. Man looks at bill, man almost has heart attack. Man says, “I’m not paying THAT bill, surely there’s a mistake.” No mistake. You’ve just been bamboozled!
Big, mean bouncer approaches the table. “Do we have a problem?”
~~~~~~~~
Your turn! Have you been scammed? Do you know someone who has been scammed?
Share your experience in the comments section below. If you’ve read or written about a travel scam, leave a link below, we’d love to read about it.
Literally almost every single one of these has happened to me! Funny how they’re so universal.
With all of us sharing our scamming experiences on social media, the jig will soon be up and the scammers will have to come up with even more creative ways to part us from our money!
This is true! It is funny how universal these scams are. Yet, we all fall victim at one time or another. All it takes is a few moments to let down your guard…
ha ha almost every of this has also happened to me. blogs post like these will help other travelers being scammed in future.
Thanks for an entertaining article – it is amazing how many different ways the scammers have to get our money!
In my travels I have had items stolen, however so far I have avoided the ones you mention…
We had fun putting the article together and reading the experiences of other travel bloggers.
The good news is that all of these scams are only after petty cash… nothing too serious. And they make for great travel stories!
These scammer at times starts from the airport when they notice a traveler. They will claim to be of assistance and end up scamming the travelers.
ha ha Henry its so true. Scammer everywhere.
Great post! I found this really interesting, I’d heard about most of them before (the laptop story had me laughing so much, it’s amazing) but have managed to avoid being scammed too much, besides the occasional overcharging taxi. God I hate taxi drivers.
The only really bad experience I’ve had (so far) was when I nearly got scammed crossing over the Cambodian border. The minibus drivers tried to force us to buy unnecessary and hugely overpriced visas by essentially holding us hostage in a random cafe miles from the border and taking our passports. Some absolute mountains of Argentinian men threatened them into taking us to the border and giving us our passports back. I dread to think how out of pocket I would have ended up if they hadn’t been with us.
I wrote a blog about it here: http://gallivantinggeorgia.com/2013/01/16/avoiding-visa-scams-at-the-cambodian-border/
Sorry if you don’t accept links in comments, feel free to remove it!
Georgia
Thanks for sharing your story Georgia. We are fine with links in the comments, provided they are not spammy, so it’s all good!
We had a similar experience in Cambodia. I remember we had to wait a long time and it cost us enough money for us to feel like we were getting ripped off, but I don’t remember the details.
I love the concept for this post and I really appreciate being asked to contribute. When you’re in the midst of a scam it surely is frustrating, but it’s often these kinds of events that make for great stories worth telling in the future.
So true. When I got robbed in Bangkok I was so pissed. But I’ve told the story hundreds of times, so it was worth the $75 I lost at the time. All a matter of perspective!
Great post! So many close scam encounters for me, but thankfully nothing bigger than paying a bit more for a taxi.
#4 is interesting though- as an ex-resident of Chiang Mai there are certain times of the year when the buses, planes and trains do sell out (songkran & loi krathong) and I got stuck on a stinky expensive tourist bus one year when I didn’t take heed of our Thai friends warning! Whoops!
Thanks – glad you enjoyed the post!
The ring trick has spread, it’s not just in Paris anymore, had heard about it from Gothenburg, Sweden and from London and a few other places but observed it in Paris a few weeks ago. Happened to spot the woman and startéd to discretly observe her. She didn’tmanage to fool anyone while I was watching but it was quite interesting to see how she picked her victims and how she was working. She never noticed me until I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. They are scaringly skilled. I’m lucky, rarely have had scammers try their tricks on me and even less have I fallen for the tricks but yes, it happens to all sooner or later. Awareness is important so thanks for posting!
They are certainly crafty! I’m sure this scam can be found in any tourist spot.
Awesome read, guys! I just got scammed the other day in China, but it was only for 20 yuan, about 3 dollars. I was angry, but no biggie.
Yea, it totally sucks when it happens. It’s not so much the money, as it is the feeling of being cheated. Nobody likes that feeling. But, at least it was only a couple bucks
I think I’ve only been seriously scammed once. I’ve had a few minor taxi rip-offs, dicky meters etc, but the only time I think I was really ripped off was on the train from Sapa back to Hanoi. A “helpful” person took my ticket off me to “help” me find my train compartment and then proceeded to give me back a ticket that wasn’t mine. He’d scammed me out of my soft sleeper into a hard seat! I protested for a good amount of time and finally got him to give me back “a” sleeper ticket, just not the one I’ve paid top dollar for. I was pretty angry and very upset at the thought of having to sit all night on a hard bench on a bumpy train… but it all worked out OK-ish in the end.
Oh, that does suck! And sneaky!
Well, at least it makes for an interesting travel story. 😉
Informative post! It’s pretty common to get ripped off on the little things like taxi drivers, hotel touts, etc. But on my first trip to Thailand I was ripped off for $3000 with the gem scam. I’m still embarrassed about it. But the amazing thing is that I was scammed by a fellow tourist. So it’s not just locals you have to keep an eye out for: http://bbqboy.net/falling-for-the-bangkok-gem-scam/
Frank (bbqboy)
Great point Frank. There are a lot of other “tourists” that are in on the scams.
Sorry to hear you fell victim to the gem scam. For what it’s worth, I have a friend who imports gems from Thailand, and he took a chance with one of these stores. Now, everything has worked out fine with this relationship, but the point is that not everyone is bad. I guess you just got unlucky.
If you are gullible enough to believe anyone is ticketed for littering in bangkok you deserve to lose your money.
Well, I think that’s a crappy way to look at things Colin. I don’t think anyone deserves to be scammed. You will get fined for littering in Canada… so I fail to see your logic.
Better not to smoke in the first place, eh?!
Very true Linda.
I didn’t get taken, but while in Paris, I saw an old, bent over woman with her hand out begging for coins. I looked at her hands and she couldn’t have been over 18!
That’s sad to here.
I hadn’t heard of some of these, good to know for the future!
There are some that I hadn’t heard either. Always good to be educated on the tactics of these tricksters!
There are some really interesting scam stories out there. I’ve heard of some of these, but not of them. Good information to know for my future travels.
Glad you found the post helpful Alouise. Have you ever been scammed on a trip?
Fantastic post. I appreciate the tips and clues while I haven’t been scammed (knocks on wood quickly) by strangers while traveling – as far as I know. I can empathize though with those who have and thank them all for not remaining silent about it. Kudos guys!
We’re glad you found the post helpful Maria!
Oh I’ve had a great laugh over this article. There were a few new ones I hadn’t heard of before. We pretty much avoided all scams on our year of travel except the shopping tour of Bangkok – we are pretty sure that’s because there were 5 of us (practically 4 adults and a child) which possibly kept the scammers at bay. 5 sets of eyes was pretty handy when things seemed fishy!
We were 4 people when we took the “tuk tuk tour” in Bangkok. We had heard that there was scams, so we were on high alert. BUT, we were also on a backpacker budget, so we entertained the driver and visited a few locations. Nobody purchased anything, so we got a free city tour out of it. Our driver was pretty comical too, so it all worked out
Great post, guys – so educational! Will be sharing…
Thanks – we’re glad you found it interesting.
Great stories! In a way, (little) scams make interesting memories… I travelled once through Morocco with a Moroccan friend who’s been raised in France. He was so obsessed about possible scams that he systematically refused all invitations to a cup of tea. He was speaking the local language and could engage in friendly conversations. I felt that the invitations were sincere and that he was actually being rude. Be cautious, but not obsessed…
Totally agree with you Joelle. I was the same way in Ecuador. I was so worried about getting scammed or robbed that I couldn’t enjoy the experience. We’ve been scammed a few times, but each time has made for a fun story, so in the end it’s not a big deal
I was scammed at Sacré-Cœur in Paris. A guy came up to a friend and me and started talking to us. Then he and his friend grabbed our wrists and started to make floss bracelets. They then tied the bracelets and demanded money. We argued with them for about 5 minutes before paying for the memory.
There are tourist destinations that this occurs at besides Sacré-Cœur, but this is the one that I got tricked.
I’ve heard of that one before. It sounds like an awkward encounter
I had the exact same experience at the Sacré-Cœur this summer. However, I told the guy from the moment he started talking that I had no money, that I had given all of my money at the church (not true, but anyway.) He kept saying “No, no, it’s free for you because you’re so pretty” but of course I knew what was coming. He was very charming and slick, and kept assuring me it was free because he liked me, saying he couldn’t believe a gorgeous girl like me was alone in Paris without a boyfriend (barf!) Then of course, once done, he asked just for a little change, whatever I could spare. His friend, who had been hanging back, then came in and got a little bossy, telling me his friend had done such a nice thing and a couple euros was the least I could offer. I got very snotty with them and asked, “What part of I HAVE NO MONEY did you not understand? You shouldn’t have wasted your time if getting paid was all you wanted! I told you I gave all my money at the church and I meant it!” and walked away, both of them scoffing at me like I was the jerk. I couldn’t get that stupid bracelet off quickly enough, it made me queasy just to look at it. All in all a rather icky experience, but I felt proud of myself for standing my ground.
Well done Willow. It’s a crappy position to be put in, but I guess it comes with the territory.
Great post guys. I’ve been done over a couple of times. When I arrived in Bangkok I was told the bus didn’t run to the hotel I was staying at by a man wearing what looked like an official airport lanyard. He suggested I get a taxi and offered to get me one, when I took me to the car park and tried to get me in a normal car I wasn’t having none of it. I ended up getting in a real taxi but the guy handed cash to the taxi driver, who then took me to my hotel without the meter and I was charged more than double the going rate. I also nearly got myself in lots of trouble in a gambling scam in Kuala Lumpur, which I wrote a post about http://www.thehumbletourist.co.uk/2012/08/Kuala-Lumpur-traveller-scam.html
Also, I got caught out with the bracelet scam outside the Sacre-Coeur too just like Angela above!
Think I’m too trusting? Or perhaps just too British to be rude…
Thanks for sharing your stories Rachel. We’ll head over to your site to check out the KL story. Cheers!
What a great topic! Awesome read.
Thanks Dan – I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
Some of these stories seem rather confronting when you are a visitor to a destination hoping to have a pleasant holiday. What I suggest is to correspondence and lots of information on the holiday accommodation and your relevant bookings. Not only we search and looking at images on the web, but give a call to discuss and make an assessment.
Indeed, it’s always best to arrive with an awareness of potential scams.
By reading this article my memories flashed back to me when I used to be regularly ripped off by taxi drivers on business trips. I recently got fooled in Australia by an “apparently” famous backpacker hostel which sold me a single room which turned out to be a noisy, old storage room rather than a bedroom. After arriving 3am in the night I could not do anything than wait till the early morning to run away. I thought Australia was immune from scams but no, not everything that shines is Gold. Everything happens with a message, teaching us how to be aware and handle future situations.
It was a very interesting read. Thanks for sharing this article.
Thanks! Yes, it doesn’t matter where you are. We’ve been almost pick pocketed here in BC too!
The lost ring scam happened to my brother. Haha
As a teenager, I got tricked into buying a bottle of whisky at the Belize City bus terminal. Whisky is expensive in Belize and this dude supposedly didn’t drink alcohol and wanted to get rid of it. It was too cheap not to buy. When I got home and opened it, it was filled with water instead, how he did that without breaking the seal still puzzles me. Amazing.
Thanks Lorenzo. They can be really sneaky! You just never know.
We’ve encountered a number of these: the tuk tuk taking you to the shops happens so much (Bangkok, Vietnam, India, etc.) we usually start repeating “No shops” before getting in. We got hit by the fast taxi meter in Hanoi, but the driver did pull over when we demanded. Anyone experienced the tea ceremony scam in Shanghai? We were approached for that one, but had heard of it and knew better. The second half of the post below was certainly a scam, though I suppose we asked for it. The first half may have been as well, since it sounds much like your #10! http://turtlestravel.com/lost-in-translation/
Thanks for sharing your story Tamara. We haven’t heard of the tea ceremony scam in Shanghai, we’ll check out the link and read up on it
Thanks Cam and Nicole for sharing these stories to us. I’ll keep these in mind and read them over again when I’ll go to these places in my future travels.
Glad you found the post helpful Noel!
This was a fun read. It also reminded me how much I hate taking taxi’s while traveling.
Hah, yes, taxi’s can be frustrating!
Thanks for sharing these scams. I’d heard of some of them, but I’ve rarely been the victim of scams when I travel. The closest I’ve ever had was taxi drivers refusing to start the meter, in which case I just get out.
I’ve been teaching in Asia for about eight years now. Ironically, it was my new hometown of Taipei where I got ripped off. I should have known better. A friend-of-a-friend gave me a sob story about how he lost his bag. Phone, keys, and wallet all gone. He couldn’t get in touch with anyone. So I “lent” him money for a hotel. That would have been dumb enough, but he tried to con me out of more. Several hundred dollars. At that point, though, I had begun to smell something fishy and didn’t let the money out of my sight. As for the guy, he vanished when he went to use the bathroom while we were waiting for someone to come and exchange money for me.
I felt – and still feel – incredibly stupid.
Thanks for sharing your story. It never feels good, but at least you can learn from it. It sucks that there are people out there that take advantage of another person’s kindness.
Nice stories!
One hapened to me in Spain on cordoba. I Was walking with my friend near the cathedral and women in long dress were walking around with grass or little flowers in their hands. The moment we looked at them, we were then both having our palms read and given a little flower…. And then they asked for money. When i refuse to pay more, she shouted at me really bad…
I’ll bet you were feeling quite awkward at that moment!
Did you end up paying? Or just walk away?
I bet a lot of people bookmarked this one. 😉 Some of these are quite scary! I’ve had a few instances where I ended up paying extra money, but nothing that actually scared me. And I once saw a family wait an extra two hours at a crossing (don’t ask how I know, as logically, I would have been two hours on my way by the time they got through…) because they “knew” they didn’t have to do what was being asked. That is too scary for me!
Border crossings can be quite intimidating. We had another incident crossing from Cambodia to Thailand. Not the popular crossing, the one near the Gulf of Thailand. We ended up waiting 2 hours because we needed to find transportation from the border to the nearby bus station. The taxis and moto-takis wanted to charge us a stupid rate – something like $20 – and we knew the bus station wasn’t too far. So we waited for other travellers to pass through the border to team up – but nobody came (it was a small, lesser known crossing).
Eventually we gave in and took the taxi. It ended up being less than 1 km away – for $20!!! We could have walked and it would have taken 15 minutes, but we didn’t know any better. It pissed me off. I gave him an earful but he didn’t care – he suckered the stupid tourists and made a big fare.
faced quite a few of these scams myself, particularly the ring scam in Paris you have listed and a very elaborate gem scam in Jaipur.
The gem scams seem to be quite popular in third world countries. Did you end up getting scammed? Or did you sniff it out before the damage was done?
Luckily I haven’t been scammed like big time (knock on wood). I’ve paid too much for a taxi once, but I knew I was and I was ok with it (I was moving houses, by train).
Here in Beijing there are a few scams that a very common. I expected to see them in this post actually. There is the tea house scam and the art scam that are very often succesfully used as well as the very cheap tours that take you to the Great Wall.
Thanks for your feedback Yvon. Can you share the details to the Tea House scam and the Art Scam in Beijing? We’d love to read about (and I’m sure our readers would too!)
Good to know all these scams before visiting the places mentioned. I would add one, from my personal experience: a dinner near Piazza Navona in Rome. The price at the end of the evening was unbelievable.
There was a huge scandal with the Italian restaurants couple of years ago when Japanese tourists were charged like 800EUR for a dinner and they refused to pay. My advice is this: avoid touristic places. If you really need to eat your dinner in a famous spot read the menu carefully first and don’t agree for any additional things, like bruschetta that you haven’t ordered.
And good luck with your travels everybody!
Wow – 800 Euros for dinner! Yikes, that’s steap!
Agreed – it’s always a good practice to carefully read the menu first.
Very useful to know about these. I must say I have been very lucky so far.
However there was one time I left my guard down for a moment in Morocco an ended up paying way too much for a bottle of Coke.
I double checked the price of a meal before ordering and it was really cheap. Unfortunately I ordered a small bottle of Coke later on and forgot to ask about the price.
I just figured it couldn’t be a big deal since everything was really cheap. In the end I ended up paying more for that drink than for everything else.
You are welcome to check out my blog for some useful vacation ideas and travel advice.
Thanks for sharing your story. Overcharging seems to be a common practice, especially in tourist zones
It’s pretty sad that you have to be distrustful of everyone when you travel nowadays. Assume that everyone is trying to screw you over and you are less likely to get scammed.
It is sad, but unfortunately true. You hope the interactions with people are genuine, but too often there’s a different motive for the conversation.
Always best to play it safe, even if it means keeping your guard up.
I’ve had lots of similar little scams mainly buying ‘nice’ bus tickets and being plonked on a chicken bus – I failed to see the humour at the time but they certainly make great stories now! One that hasn’t come up here is in east Africa street sellers will give you a bracelet as a ‘present’. Seeing through it I said no and she literally started lashing it to my arm! So then I said it wasn’t fair for me to take a present off her and managed to pry it away and walk off… Several of my fellow overlanders hadn’t been so lucky and were sporting new bracelets on the bus. Naturally they were all coerced into paying soon after – well all except one girl who was truly so naive she walked off pleased as punch with her gift Haha!
Having said all this I still travel with a trusting mind in the hope that people are good and overall my positive experiences from saying ‘yes’ and interacting with locals far outweighs my negative – both financially and emotionally. I once even treated my tuktuk driver to a massive banana split sundae in Sumatra to say thanks for being such a friendly, informative and honest guide for the day -his smile was worth triple the price and we had an amazing chat about his life and how he survived the 2004 tsunami. It is a lovely memory that I will cherish.
Maybe I’m naive and probably I’ll get scammed much worse in the future but I won’t regret my decision to travel and trust in people and, for now at least, I’m having a great time anyway!
Great attitude Emily. I guess, on some level, getting scammed or overcharged is just the cost of traveling.
The “dirt on your shirt” robberies are quite common in South America, it’s not a scam really, it’s plain and simple robbery with distraction. I had people try this with me at a bus station in Peru. but I was not falling for it.
Another one I encountered in Peru – a man walking in front of you drops what appears to be a wad of cash. A second man appears and says “shh! don’t tell him, let’s split the money” and then leads you down an alleyway. You can guess the rest. Someone tried that with me too. I shouted “POLICIA!” and the 2 of them ran off.
“Litter scam” in Bangkok. The amount they ask as a “fine” is ridiculous, but … Hey, don’t drop litter!
Sure, I agree that many of the scams are actually robbery. And I also agree that you shouldn’t litter. You’ll get a pretty hefty fine here in Canada if found littering, but it’s a legit fine – not discriminatory and in the pockets of sketchy dudes looking for unsuspecting tourists.
Great post and I’d read a few of these stories before on their respective blogs. Oddly I havent been scammed by many of these on my travels to date. Im a cheapskate tight ass which probably explains why. I avoid taxis like the plague unless its the ONLY way to get from A to B. And if I get a bill that is overcharged and they refuse to change it – i just walk out. Simple as. Great list and safe travels. Jonny
Thanks for your feedback Jonny. It sounds like your vigilance has paid off for you! Hopefully this trend will continue on your future travels 😉
Fantastic collaboration. I hereby consider myself schooled!
Excellent – mission accomplished!
Great write up. Unfortunately I’ve been robbed before, but not scammed 🙂
That’s never a fun experience. Hopefully everything worked out okay in the end.
Wow, phenomenal tips and so awesome of you to include these other experiences. As I am about to embark on my first ever trip to Southeast Asia, this has given me a HUGE insight as to what to watch out for. So far, I’ve considered myself a pretty cautious traveler because I’m so new at it, but these are some pretty genius scams.
When I was in Haiti, a little girl walked up and pretended to pose for photos. Sure, I took photos and laughed. She laughed, then asked for money. My Haitian friend had all the money so I had none to even give or take. She ran off pissed.
Then, as I am recording more footage, a large Haitian guy approaches and taps me on the shoulder. He starts throwing karate kicks and telling me to photograph him, so I humor him with an impromptu photo shoot. Then he asks for money. I say I don’t have any and his demeanor changes. He poofs his chest out and approaches asking for money again. And then my Viking sized videographer partner and my Haitian friend join me, and he walks off.
Thanks for stopping by Ryan. I hope you have a great time in SE Asia!
Thanks for sharing your story, I’m glad nothing bad became of it.
Nice tips! I was in Jordan, Petra and pregnant and one of the popular scams there is to make pregnant ladies feel they need to buy postcards or a charm for “good luck” for the baby. One woman ran up to me and said, it’s a tradition, you need to buy postcards and charms for the baby for good luck…they’ll get you any way they can!
Hah! That’s an interesting approach. Those touts can be quite crafty!
Thanks for the information. I travel too much so I was needed this kind of information. Once I was scammed, I was sitting in a bank of river suddenly a person came with beer can in hand and opened it in front of me and asked me to have it, after a while he was asking for money of that beer can whose price was too high than the existing price.I was astonished by seeing this. At last I paid for it to avoid any chaos.
Thanks for sharing your story Shepon 🙂
Fantastic blog! Although India is a wonderful country, beware of common travel scams. To avoid New Dheli’s crushing heat & confusion (not to mention jetlag), we decided to book our train tickets, through the Golden Triangle and to the Nepalese border, with the supposedly certified travel agency at our hotel. There, the friendy assistant told us that all trains were fully and scammed us into booked a private driver. How naive! In the end, after taking really good care of us through the Golden Triangle, the ‘friendly’ driver refused to drive us all the way to the border and told us he knew someone who worked for the railway and who would put us on priority list for last minute cancelled tickets which we ended up paying 10 times price! It did cause great amount of stress, not to mention we had to expand our budget even before arriving in Nepal. Lastly, before crossing the border to Nepal, my friend disappeared. I started to panick until I saw my friend running back out of a shop after a while. Turns out an shop assistant snatched my friend while I wasn’t looking and dragged her to his shop for a last chance to buy souvenirs. After all this, we couldn’t wait and ran to the border relieved to finally arrive in Nepal where my paranoia was so strong that, in Kathmandu, everytime a friendly local wanted to practice his English I would be very rude thinking that there was a scam behind his friendliness. It is great to share stories so travellers can be aware and not let their holidays being ruined like ours. I still have mixed feelings and doubt that I will ever go back to India
Not sure if anybody else mentioned this or not- but we ran into the “ping pong show” scam in Bangkok.
We were out and about exploring Bangkok’s beautiful temples when we were told that they were all closed that day due to the King’s upcoming birthday celebrations.
This seemed odd, but we totally believed him as the King’s birthday was coming up in the next week.
The ‘kind’ gentleman went on to say that they would be re-opening later that afternoon and that he would be happy to help us occupy our time until they re-opened.
Now this is where things started to get, ummm salty?
I won’t use his exact words- but they were something to do with a Ping Pong Show. Who goes to Ping Pong show at 10 in the morning?
That’s when we knew something was off and we got the hellll out of there!
Fun post guys!
Well, getting scammed always leaves a mark though. My bags were packed to leave for Bhutan the next morning. I was in Mumbai. I had just finished a wedding shoot the same night, picked up my ruck sack from a friend’s place and took a Rickshaw and went to another friend’s place so that we could take the train in the morning.
The driver looked drunk and he was driving carelessly. I wasn’t in hurry at all but he didn’t even look at the signals and signs on the road. I just wanted to get out of the vehicle. I reached the building and while I was taking the sack out. The scammer flew away with my Camera bag inside. My first ever owned DSLR was stolen. I followed him on a bike with someone but he disappeared. I could not even take down the number.
However, my Bhutan trip was made beautiful with awesome friends who made me get over the theft. A very dear friend lend me another camera too. I learned a lesson though. Now, I hardly carry separate bags. My rucksack has enough space for my equipments.
Hello there!
Thank you very much for sharing your experiences. I totally agree with you. Thieves live everywhere, and they love distracted tourists.
-Abby
Amazing
I think that all travelers should read this post. It is necessary to be aware of what is out there. Taxis are the most annoying in my opinion. I really don’t like taking them ever. I have seen the shoe-shine one in Istanbul also.
Thank you very much for all these suggestions. I would never think that it is such things.
One of the best scams of Jordan, especially in and around Petra (Wadi Musa, Uhm Sayhoun) is hidden behind the hospitality of the Jordanians.
Those who have visited are charmed by the friendly and helpful bedouins who approach you with a smile, drink tea with you, invite you to meet their family, join a barbeque dinner under the moon and the stars. All very nice.
But their aim is the female traveller who they approach extremely tactfully to form a bond with her, build her trust. The female traveller believes she has befriended a really kind bedouin, who guids her and shows her around, inviting her for teas and meals with friends and family.
Towards the end of her visit, they exchange mail adress and/or phone no. Shortly after she returns home, the nice bedouin will initiate contact with the female, telling her that he misses her companionship and that he had such a great time with her etc.
The money extortion trick will slowly begin. And at this point the female actually thinks she has a real friendship with a local from Jordan. He contacts her regularly.
Then one day his mother is sick and he needs money for her hospital bills or he is hurt and cannot work or his friend or another member of his family is hurt and needs money for hospital bills. He always promises to pay the money back.
But of course never does.
He uses the money to pull in new female tourists. And the trick starts all over again.
Also, he will have several close friends,brothers and cousins who usually all operate separately themselves, who he can rely upon to assist him in his landing of a new tourist.
His mother and sisters will also be a part of his support network. They will act genuinely pleased to meet her. Of course, it is all an act. A new tourist is brought home every week and the family gets to enjoy the money the bedouin is getting from all of his victims.
They are professionals and once in a their grip, a naive or not naive female tourist doesn’t stand a chance.
Sure, this happens in many heavy tourist areas all over the world. But who knew this happens in Jordan all day every day? Supporting the local economy?
It’s very amazing.
Thanks for sharing this blog with us.
Some of these make you never want to travel. There is also the petition scam – saw that one in Italy/Greece. They want you to sign a petition but then demand money. I was warned about that one during a guided tour so at least I was prepared. I’m usually super paranoid with strangers but these people are skilled and easier to pay to avoid a scene. This is a good list – best to keep these in mind just in case!
Thanks very much for compiling the scam stories here.
I’ve almost got scammed too in Bangkok but thankfully I’ve read a lot of articles like this so I knew when and how to depart from the situation.
All in all, I don’t think these scam stories should prevent people from traveling. We just need to be extra careful.
What an awesome post! I’ve been had by a few of these scams, they actually make me smile thinking back to them. 2 that i’ve had happen to me but didn’t feature.
1 one I was in Beijing where there are a bunch of chinese students who offer to take you to a great teahouse they know to try all their special teas so they can practice their English and you get a bit more of a feel for Chinese culture. They told it was free because it was around the time of Chinese New Year. Yep, you guessed it, they stung us for a bill of $130 (which is big money over there)which was in the guise of speciality gift teas to take away.
The 2nd happened a while back when I lived in Paris and generally happens around the bottom of the steps at the Sacre Coeur, Montmartre. There congregate a whole bunch of big African fellas who come talking nicely to you and ask you to point with one finger, they then quickly wrap some threads around your finger and start making a wrist band by entwining the various colours attached to your finger and talking to you the whole time. It is then tied around your wrist, and the cost, anywhere between 10 and 30 euros!
Hi, dear travelers!
This piece of information comes a bit late, should you have already suffered damages from a scam. But it helps you to avoid such problems in the future!
If your rights as a touristic consumer have been infringed while you were traveling through Latin America and you had to face the problem being completely on your own (you were made to pay a price which was higher than had been agreed, you were sold faked goods, you were a victim of fraud etc.), you might like to know what legistravel.com/en can do for you next time – go and check our website!
However, you can take a few appropriate precautions yourself: we recommend you to make an on-line research before making any payment to book flights, hotel rooms etc. to check, whether the travel agency, which offers the product, has a good reputation. And if you are still not sure, try to buy products, which are offered by travel agencies with a quality award or another quality assurance.
DO NOT GIVE UP YOUR RIGHTS EVER! It is your money after all, and there is no reason why you should give it to people, who have absolutely no right to get it!
Thanks.
Thanks for your feedback Dairo. We do not endorse your website, but we will allow your comment/link in the event someone feels compelled to use your services.
It’s quite embarrassing to get scammed so it’s reassuring that it has happened to even these very experienced travelers!!
In Cambodia and other developing tourist countries there’s the powder milk scam which consists of little children begging tourists to buy overpriced powder milk and then re-selling the milk at the store once the tourist leaves.
Wow.You really need to be careful i thought the scams in Istanbul were dangerous.But obviously you can not compare.
Read about Istanbul Scams Here
I can relate to Amman taxi scam, had a similar experience, but luckily our driver got scared when my friend lost his temper after he wanted more money. We just left the taxi and walked away.
I would love to hear a scammer’s point of view on what they do. Are there any interviews out there with people who admit to living this lifestyle? I am fascinated by the cruelty of it all.
Wadi Rum, Petra scam, guides frauders in Jordan FB stop scamming in Wadi Rum
FB stop the Petra bedouin women scammers
Please share and warn tourist .
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Nice Post!
Thanks to share this story.
http://www.aspenadventures.in/river-rafting.htm
Nice post. So far I have traveled no big things happened to me. The only incident I can mention that happened in Sidon, Lebanon. We entered into a very basic restaurant. checked the menu which I always do before placing any order. The price in the menu seems very reasonable but unfortunately there was no fish item in it. However plenty of fresh catch was just waiting at the entrance of the restaurant. We forgot to ask for the fish price since we already checked price for other items in the menu and all those prices were reasonable. We ordered 2 medium size ( not more than 400 gm each) fishes to grill with some salads and one plate of rice. The price should never be more than $20. When the bill finally came it was $100 which even expensive than a fine dining meal in Beirut. We tried to negotiate but failed and had to pay the entire amount.
Here is another one if you want to be in Australia, Qualify Me is a SCAM. Do not waste your hard earned savings on Qualify Me, qualifymefast, qualifymeow, qualifyme.edu.au. They offer e-learning and short courses for Career Development, Professional Development, How to get a job promotion, Corporate Training,Recognition of prior learning,
Trade skills recognition to move industry in Australia. The catch here is that they are overpriced and will take a lot of money from their customers. They charge for issuing certificates which are not honored as valid working documents so why pay for it? Of course it is worth mentioning that they have an AWFUL track record of not processing the documents if you do not pay the hidden charges. It is also worth mentioning that it is their common practice to take money from foreigners who did not make it past immigration. Why do they do that since a person can not study or work in Australia if it is not possible to get there.
Such an awesome giveaway! Excited and fingers crossed!
A guy tried the bracelet one by the Coloseum in Rome, I took it off and gave it back. I eventually gave him about $2 and kept the bracelet. I as a rule don’t let people touch me, I get real belligerent. So far, I haven’t been scammed much, but most times when theres’ more money asked, I act like I don’t understand any language and act like I don’t have anymore money either. I also usually say I have to go to the bathroom and sneak out. I’m not above screaming like I’m being attacked tho.
Very educating! Luckily I haven’t encountered one of these yet, but I’ll keep my eyes open.
This is really one of travel issues. You would never prevent a scam since you can’t know when and where and how you will get scammed. But you can always find a story to tell hehehe..
Amazing article again and thanks for sharing..
Keep up the great work guys!!
Be suspicious of anyone approaching you speaking English. Personally, I also regard Thai tuk tuk drivers as I would a recently released felon.
I guess hiring a local guide can help at times. Though you can never the sure the guide won’t collude with thieves.