Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Travel&Dining > TravelBuzz
Reload this Page >

Just Fell Victim to a Scam in Istanbul -- God Do I feel Like an Idiot!

Just Fell Victim to a Scam in Istanbul -- God Do I feel Like an Idiot!

Old Dec 10, 2015, 1:17 pm
  #496  
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Programs: Air Krapistan Poop Points "Scooper Level"
Posts: 248
The easy solution to taxi scams. UBER.
nydave11 is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2015, 1:18 pm
  #497  
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Australia
Programs: SQ & QF
Posts: 1,302
Originally Posted by DrDiarrhea
You can also speak gibberish and they will just assume it's language they don't understand. It's over before it begins.
I do this frequently when people are trying to sell me things on the street. Works really well!
FN-GM is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2015, 1:42 pm
  #498  
 
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Maastricht, unless I'm out.
Programs: BAEC, Flying Blue, Eurostar, Miles&Smiles
Posts: 320
Phnom Penh has some famous scammers, but during my time living there I managed to avoid them. Bar one. My apartment was in a residential district that was slightly sub optimal. It was quite respectable in some respects, but there were high walls and not much lighting. On one particular corner there was a known Nigerian drugs racket but as long as you didn't go up their street at the wrong time they left you alone.

Normally I rode my motorbike, but it was a friend's leaving party one night so I took a Motodop (taxi service where you ride pillion) home. I get to my street and then offer to walk the rest. I don't like them knowing where the white guy lives, for various reasons. So I hopped off at the junction at the end of the road. Just as I was reaching for my wallet I could see him eying the larger bills in there (we had been at a western places so I needed bigger denominations to afford it). He was reaching for it, when out of nowhere, large bodies surrounded him and proceeded to deal with him.

Day to day I made sure to stop and talk to the Tuk Tuk drivers who sat at this junction every day. They lived locally and weren't always so interested in working. I often had to persuade them to put the cards down and take me somewhere. But we chatted every day and they taught me some of the language. On hot evenings I would go to one of the ladies with an icebox up the road and pick up $2 worth of beer and share it with them. Bond sealed for life.

These same guys then dealt with the guy when I needed help.

So my lesson is I suppose, make friends with the locals with isn't predicated on paying them. It helps in the long run.
maastrichtmouse is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2015, 7:36 pm
  #499  
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Durham, NC (RDU/GSO/CLT)
Programs: AA EXP/MM, DL GM, UA Platinum, HH DIA, Hyatt Explorist, IHG Platinum, Marriott Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 33,857
Originally Posted by nydave11
The easy solution to taxi scams. UBER.
Of course that presupposes the place you're in has Uber, that your phone has Data, that Uber can pick you up at the airport etc. etc.
CMK10 is offline  
Old Jan 9, 2016, 1:51 pm
  #500  
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 370
It's the same story in Hamburg, West Germany. When I was young and stupid, the
bar played the same trick on me. A beautiful woman came to my table and sat down.
She suggested a bottle of champagne. We talked for about half an hour. She gave me this
story about being dumped by her boyfriend and was sad or something.... then one thing
led to another, we we were making out for like 20 minutes(only tongue) and at the same
time, she gave me a hand job with her hands in my pants. When she was done, she left
the table and told me she had to go wash the stuff off her hands. She never returned and
I sat there for an hour, expecting her to return.

Finally, the manager came over and said I had to leave, unless I wanted to order more
drinks. I said no.. He gave me the bill. It was 800 Marks. I had no idea how much
that was in USD$, but I knew it was a ton of money.. and that champagne didn't cost
that much. I didn't have a credit card because I was only a poor college kid. All I had
was $200 in AmEx Traveler's Cheques. They took it all and made me sign it. They also
took my passport and wrote down my info.

When I went back to my hotel, I told the front desk guy about this. He told me that I
was conned, but at least I got something out of it. I didn't think so.... she got my
virginity(kind of) and took my money!

Last edited by weltfrieden; Jan 9, 2016 at 2:13 pm
weltfrieden is offline  
Old Jan 15, 2016, 4:21 pm
  #501  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: OMA
Programs: UA 1K MM
Posts: 75
Had the same experience in Istanbul years ago but I had a better outcome. I was already in the bar (alone) and a guy comes up and sits next to me and then a couple "working" girls join us. I figured "what the heck", I can buy a round of drinks, a round of shots and some appetizers knowing it'd be 1 round and then head back to the hotel.

I got the bill for $900. The other guys said he'd split it with me and not wanting to start an international incident, I agreed. I gave the waiter my ATM card (with a $300/day limit) and he came back after 20 minutes saying the card would not work in the ATM outside the bar since he didn't have the pin code. I had figured he'd run it thru the credit card machine as usual but he was actually trying different pin codes in an ATM and after several tries, the card cancelled.

I told them I'd go to the ATM and get cash instead and so I walked outside and kept walking. A few minutes later the guy came running after me begging me to come back. All of a sudden I didn't speak or understand English....funny how that works. I ended up drinking for free that night.

Don't ask me about my experience with the father and son giving camel rides at the pyramids in Cairo. There are talented scammers everywhere obviously.
PenaltyBox is offline  
Old Jan 15, 2016, 9:41 pm
  #502  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: BR
Programs: TudoAzul Diamante, Smiles Diamante, Latam Gold
Posts: 101
Originally Posted by jpdx
I don't quite follow this one. I give him a $20 with a black X, he swaps it out for a $5 with no X. How would I get him to produce the $20 with the X, short of wrestling him to the ground or calling the cops?
When I went to Buenos Aires people told me to stamp or write something on the money because there is a lot of taxi drivers that exchange your original money to fake. Example, you give 100 pesos bill to taxi driver and he gives you back a fake 100 pesos bill saying: this is fake! So you could check the stamp to see if is the same 100 pesos you gave to him before..
In the case that he gave the wrong change, I don't think you could prove that you gave another amount of money unless calling the police and saying the driver have one of your stamped notes inside his wallet.
psbaj is offline  
Old Jan 16, 2016, 4:11 am
  #503  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Sydney Australia
Programs: No programs & No Points!!!
Posts: 14,203
My husband is a pickpockets dream. I am always telling him not to walk about with it hanging out the back pocket. I tell him to get an empty wallet and leave it in his back pocket and see how long it lasts. He always says I am stupid and it will be fine. I am dying for that empty wallet to disappear in 2 minutes on a crowded street.
Annalisa12 is offline  
Old Jan 16, 2016, 4:37 am
  #504  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: England
Posts: 1,359
Originally Posted by DrDiarrhea
Don't talk to strangers who approach you. Seeming rude should be the least of your worries.

YOU pick who you engage with.
I have sympathy for the author of this topic, but I feel it would be a shame if the outcome of it was to follow what you've said above. I've met some truly wonderful people in my travels who have approached me. Just as a few examples (I realise they all involve being at a bar, but I really don't spend my life at one!)

* When staying at the MO in San Francisco about 4 years ago, I was by myself and a couple approached me at the bar, spoke to me for about an hour and then invited me around their house - which was in the middle of nowhere - for Christmas day. Of course, I decided to go and they treated me like their family and I had a great time. I won't pretend that traveling for an hour to a house in the woods by myself didn't cross my mind as the kind of thing you will see in a horror film.
* At the bar in the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando I was, once again, approached at the bar by a couple. One was a Miami police detective and his wife was Miami CSI. Sounding too much like a TV show, it indeed was true and I've become great friends with them and see them at least once a year.
* At the bar at the MO in London, I had a guy approach me and under circumstances very similar to the author, he offered to pay for some drinks. I ended up paying for them at the MO and a taxi to go elsewhere, under which he said he would then cover the bill. We ended up going to a load of bars and he then paid for everything. My only expense for the night was the cost of getting home, as I left him to it after his attempts to chat-up any woman he could find finally worked.

My point is, of course there will be people out there trying to scam you, but I'm not going to approach it that everyone I met has some hidden motive.
MacMyDay is offline  
Old Jan 16, 2016, 9:16 am
  #505  
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Virginia City Highlands
Programs: Nothing anymore after 20 years
Posts: 6,887
One note - if you do not go to bars or places where alcohol is involved, your chances getting scammed/get into trouble significantly decreases.
invisible is offline  
Old Jan 16, 2016, 12:25 pm
  #506  
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 370
Originally Posted by Annalisa12
My husband is a pickpockets dream. I am always telling him not to walk about with it hanging out the back pocket. I tell him to get an empty wallet and leave it in his back pocket and see how long it lasts. He always says I am stupid and it will be fine. I am dying for that empty wallet to disappear in 2 minutes on a crowded street.
London(the one in England) seems to have a lot of Eastern European
pickpockets. I learned the hard way once. When I travel to London
these days, I keep a spare wallet in my back pocket. There's nothing
inside except a $0 balance used Walmart gift card and a few index
cards. On the top of the gift card and index cards, I used markers
and wrote big "F*** You" just to p*ss off pickpockets.

My paper money is kept in my money belt and my IDs and credit cards
are in another wallet which is chained to the inside of my pants(or
sometimes in the inside zippered pocket of my leather jacket)
Boraxo likes this.
weltfrieden is offline  
Old Jan 16, 2016, 9:43 pm
  #507  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Sydney Australia
Programs: No programs & No Points!!!
Posts: 14,203
Originally Posted by weltfrieden
London(the one in England) seems to have a lot of Eastern European
pickpockets. I learned the hard way once. When I travel to London
these days, I keep a spare wallet in my back pocket. There's nothing
inside except a $0 balance used Walmart gift card and a few index
cards. On the top of the gift card and index cards, I used markers
and wrote big "F*** You" just to p*ss off pickpockets.

My paper money is kept in my money belt and my IDs and credit cards
are in another wallet which is chained to the inside of my pants(or
sometimes in the inside zippered pocket of my leather jacket)
Good job!!!!
Annalisa12 is offline  
Old Apr 6, 2016, 4:50 am
  #508  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ord/bkk based
Posts: 171
right there with you fellas... my last few days have been interesting.

found the place i had this money taken from after a few days, with a local was able to go the cops and eventually negotiate with these guys in the basement to get a lot of my money back. interesting adventure...

http://www.igobyplane.com/2016/04/05...hat-robbed-me/

also approached all the time, as i was in istanbul 41 nights. virtually guaranteed:

wednesday night walk from tunel to taksim on istaklal, look like a dumb american and pull out your phone once in a while, soooomeone is gonna hit you up.

i intervened once when i overheard some guys running game on an argentine. the one was actually on his phone, the other was pissssssed when i was telling the argentine guy it was a scam, how it worked, etc. "who are you to insult my honor? where you from?" etc. as we turned to walk away, he spat at my back, which is better than a knife i suppose.
Boraxo likes this.

Last edited by sickmint79; May 16, 2016 at 10:53 am
sickmint79 is offline  
Old Apr 6, 2016, 1:35 pm
  #509  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,808
I just got the chance to try out the gibberish thing in Barcelona a few months back. Standing outside the train station and approached by one of the ever-present gypsy beggars. I start speaking a few gibberish lines of German and Danish words, mixed in with some phonetic nonsense...he said "English??"..I said "Ne" and he moved on in a huff.
Boraxo likes this.
Proudelitist is offline  
Old Mar 8, 2019, 4:58 pm
  #510  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: LAX
Programs: Hyatt, AA
Posts: 182
Just wanted to say thanks for posting OP, you very likely saved at least one person (me) from a similar fate. When I went to Istanbul, I was approached by two gentlemen with good English, who claimed to be visiting from Cyprus and staying at the same hotel as I was. I smelt a rat (thanks to this and related posts on FT) and declined their invitation to go to a "party". Saw the same guys some time later, on the same street, loitering. I guess the "party" was delayed .
Boraxo and kaffir76 like this.
mad1 is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.