Travelling is one of the best experiences in life. However, you are visiting a foreign country, you will usually fall victim to at least several tourist scams. Since most of these are old tourist scams, you can use a few travel tips to reduce your chances of getting scammed. Here are a few scams you should look out for, along with some travel tips to keep you safe:
Counterfeit Currency
This happens while exchanging money in currency exchange booths, and the attendant gives you counterfeit notes. Another common scam concerning counterfeit currency is in restaurants and in taxis, where a taxi driver or a waitress switches your real money to fake notes and claims you paid with counterfeit money. They will then ask you to pay with a different method.
Fraudulent Currency Exchange
This happens when currency exchange agencies claim that they do not take a commission on exchanges, but inflate the rates since the tourists are not aware of what the current exchange rate is.
Fake Tickets
While travelling, people will offer to sell you train, bus, or plane tickets at a discount, mostly to avoid paying high rates or long queues. These tickets are usually fake or invalid. By the time you notice while boarding your means of transport, the scammers are long gone with your money.
Bus Scam
Travelling via bus is not only cheap. In fact, it may be quite expensive, putting you at risk of losing some of your valuables. Sleeping on the bus is a crucial factor: you could wake up and find your belongings stolen.
Fake Police
This is a typical scam where travellers often fall for fake authorities. Their intention is to make easy money. For example, they will approach you pretending to search your wallet for counterfeit money, and while doing this, they will be stealing your money. Another way is that they ask you to hand over your passport, and at the same time, they might use another person to try and offer you actionable items and request cash to hand it back.
Broken Taxi Meter
Cab drivers are known to execute this scam near airports and stations. They will generally inform you that the meter is broken when you get into the taxi. After the ride, you end up being charged ridiculous prices. Some also alter the meter, increasing the fare at a faster rate than usual. As a traveller without enough knowledge of the area, the cab drivers might also use the longest routes and those that are full of traffic, making it very expensive for the tourist.
Closed Attraction Site
A friendly passerby, local or your taxi driver, will approach you and inform you that the attraction site you are visiting is closed by giving you a reasonable but untruthful reason. They will come later to offer to guide you to another location where you will be pressured to pay a lot of money for an entry.
Rental Scam
This is a scam whereby a traveller is asked or demanded to pay existing damage on items like a car, scooter, or motorbike when returning the hired item. Your passport may be held until you pay for the damage.
Bar Scam
Enjoying the nightlife while travelling can attract locals who join in and strike friendly conversations. At the same time, you will take lots of expensive drinks, and with an overpriced high bill, the local disappear, leaving you to pay the enormous bill. Your wallet may as well be stoles in these bars.
Tour Scam
Travelling with a tour guide is an excellent way of ensuring you get to see all the attraction sites. But there are so many fake tours which will charge so much money without delivering a useful service.
Spill on Your Clothing
In crowded areas, a stranger may approach you and try to clean a spill or some dirt on your clothes. After cleaning, they may demand payment. You may also find that you are missing your bag or your wallet at the end of it all.
Free Bracelet
A person will come up to you and tie a bracelet on your wrist and will explain that it is a form of welcoming you to the country. Once it cannot be removed, the friendly man will demand payment for the free gift that you can’t remove or hand back. Thus you end up paying more money than the items worth.
Incorrect Change
As a traveler, you may not understand the currency so well. Therefore, while purchasing an item or in taxis, the attendants will take advantage of your lack of knowledge and refund you less money.
Closed Hotel Scam
Most taxi drivers trick travelers by telling you that the hotel you had booked is closed or is fully booked. They then take you to another hotel which is way expensive so that they can get a good commission.
Child Beggars
In most countries, mothers and begging gangs use their children to borrow money in the streets. Most of these kids are either injured or disabled. It is tough to say no to them, but the problem is when the people with the kids see where your wallet is and try to steal it.
Group Photo Offer
In a busy tourist location, a local will offer to take a group photo of you and your friends. While you are busy getting ready for the shot, you realize your photographer has disappeared with your expensive camera.
Fake WIFI Spots
This is commonly used by hackers who set up free unlocked Wi-Fi connections that will tempt you to log in. It is an unsecured hotspot. The thief can access your computer, passwords, and online accounts.
Flirty Woman
As a lone male traveller, a beautiful woman will approach and flirt with you. She might ask for a night out in a local bar, and as the night gets wild, you will end up with high bills or get drugged. Usually, you will wake up to discover that all your belongings are gone.
The Souvenir Switch
Shopping is one of many favourite things to do while travelling. Be careful though, most sellers tend to wrap you the wrong item which may either be defective or way cheaper compared to what you had paid for.
Fake Petition
Not all the petitions have noble purposes! Women and kids often pretending to be deaf will have you sign a petition, and later, they demand a donation. They come into a group, so if you argue with them, they tend to begin fights that can lead to you being pickpocketed.
Found Ring
A person will collect a ring claiming you dropped it, and after you confirm it’s not yours, they will go ahead and show you its real gold. They will then offer to sell it at a low price. At this point, you will buy thinking it’s a great deal only to find out later it is fake.
Street Games
Beyond the fact that it’s illegal in several countries, it’s not unusual to find game stations while strolling along the streets of cities. Playing cards and hiding the ball under a cup for someone to guess where the ball is to win money are the most common street games. Be careful, when you decide to play, you will win at first and start losing a lot of your money later.
Fake Front Desk Call
Do not trust front desk calls if they ask your sensitive data! Scammers will call faking that they are your receptionist in your hotel, trying to confirm your credit card. With your details, they make a copy of your card and drain your account.
Over Charge Scam
In a new country where you are a tourist and you are not conversant with the currency, you probably will encounter many overcharges before you understand the value of the local currency.
The Swarm
Bus stations, subways, or tourist attraction sites get so crowded, and when you are trying to move around to secure some space, some people might be searching through your pockets and take what they want after they distract you.