Common scams
Photo: Justraveling.com, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
There are common scams that occur in many places that the traveller should be aware of. These are designed to get your money or business from you under false pretenses. They fall into three categories: overcharging you, deceiving you or coercing you into paying for a service you don't want, and outright theft.
A scam is not necessarily a crime, and police might not have the will or legal ability to help out victims. In the worst case they may even be in on it and some ways of local law enforcement may indeed work with various forms of entrapment or trickery that might fall into a moral category not all that unlike some scams on this list.
Prevention is based on knowledge: researching your destination will both alert you in advance to scams in the area and let you know what the usual prices and truly good sights are so you will be less reliant on the approaches of helpful individuals when you're vulnerable.
At the same time, if you do get stung, don't be too hard on yourself: you were dealing with people who knew the location a lot better than you and with people who were out to deceive you. In some cases, you were dealing with hardened criminals. If you think what happened to you was illegal and the police are trustworthy, report it; otherwise, just chalk it up to experience. If you wish to make a theft-related claim against an insurance policy, you will generally need to make a police report within 24 hours and keep a copy for your insurance company. You will also need a police report to replace some stolen identity documents, such as passports.
The US State Department has a page warning of scams practised on travellers.
Avoiding scamsFool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
"Helpful" localsThese scams are based upon the idea of offering you help or advice that is actually deceptive, trusting that you will rely on the scammer's "local knowledge".
Locals in needPanhandling, the act of begging for money, is sometimes linked with scams that prey on tourists' emotions.
OverchargingThese scams are based on your ignorance of the area and rely on getting you to pay well over the market rate for goods or services.
CoercionThese scams rely on trapping you in a bad situation and forcing you to pay money to get out of it.
TheftSee the main articles on pickpockets and theft.
Taxi scamsAirports, stations and other places where people arrive in a new city and places with many tourists are favorite places for all kinds of touts offering their (often overpriced) services.
Food and beverage scamsFrom the barkeeper who charges full price for watered-down drinks to the restaurateurs who give themselves generous tips using their diner's payment cards, there are various schemes in which travellers are overcharged…
Lodging scamsIndependent hotels and franchises of large hotel companies have engaged in unscrupulous practices. Most hotels are honest, and you may never encounter these problems.
Employment and charity scamsWorking abroad, engaging in volunteer travel or maybe teaching English in some faraway land can be a rewarding way to experience another culture.
Dating scamsDating and romance scams are possible for any combination of genders and in any location. In the U.S., in 2019, more dollars were lost to romance scams than to any other category of fraud.
See also
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Common scams" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: Justraveling.com, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons