anacapamalibu

A friend just returned from a month long trip to China. He had been there
a half dozen times before and spent a few months living in Tianjin.

He said his recent trip was great, traveled to 5 cities,...but the sore spot was
Beijing. As soon he said, this girl came up and said she was an english teacher, I said "tea scam". He got duped out of 200USD on the scam. I would have thought traveling to China in the past, he would have been aware of the scam.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

this could actually be a very valuable programme for travelers! while I cannot speak directly on this, because it happened to a friend rather than me... if you google 'Japanese scam in vietnam' there are many reports about the elaborate (sometimes many hours long) scams targeting Japanese tourists in people's homes (where they have been invited for a friendly dinner which then turns ugly).

KLflyerRalph

The ring scam in Paris.

Being lead to a "government initiative to show young artists' paintings" in Yogyakarta which of course was a try to sell us these paintings in a scary alleyway. (This was very organized by maybe 5 or 6 people)

A driver of whom we thought was our reserved driver in Bali waited for us and said he was XXXXX and was our driver for that day. After a while we figured out and confronted him. His reaction after a brief period of silence: "You want photostop?".

bankops

nobody mentioned the classic ex-CIS scam of Guy1 drops money in front of you. Guy2 picks it up and will split it with you. You give him $100 and he gives you the wad (of paper with one counterfeit bill on top). Streets of Kiev, Moscow Metro, Minsk, Almaty, etc

You meet a girl in a café who invites you someplace else. On the way out the door, she asks you to hold her hand rolled cig. while she digs in her purse. Accomplice posing as policeman shows up and claims the cig. is drugs and unless you pay him off it is off to jail for you.

You cab is stopped by a policeman (can be real or posing as) for a violation. Until you pay the fine for the cabbie, you cannot leave and you will miss your flight.

stifle

Perhaps, but you can get a chargeback if DCC is applied without your permission.

anacapamalibu

Here's a link to an unusual scam in China
involving a taxi to the airport.

Well unusual in the way it turned out. Probably not too unusual
about the fake airport tax receipts.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/17171593-post48.html

Ancien Maestro

Welcome to FT!

This certainly will be an interesting topic.. I've been involved with a few I did not buy, but certainly saw the warning signs..

Good luck on getting hard done by participants

birdseye

We were in line at the Colliseum in Rome early one morning taking pictures. Three men in gladiator costumes came over and insisted on taking our picture together with them. Then they demanded ten euros, even said they took credit cards. I had no small bills, but they were so insistent, I reluctantly handed over a twenty and they gave me a ten back. Later I read in my Rick Steves guide, beware of the gladiators at the Colliseum and make sure you negotiate the fee before you let them take your picture!

HawaiiTrvlr

I saw the ring scam twice in Paris (once on the bridge to Notre Dame and the other one a few days later near the Eiffel Tower). One by a women and the other by a man. I wonder how many people actually fall for it?

Fornebufox

A woman tried the ring scam on me in Paris.

A Parisian friend, a classical musician, experienced an interesting scam. His agent followed up an invitation and arranged a small group performing tour in an African country, X number of concerts, stay at Y hotel, other arrangements -- until the last minute, when local contact had to pay for hotel etc., he was out of the country, had a problem with credit card, could the musicians pay for the hotel and get reimbursed? @:-) Friend did some research and learned that it's a known scam that targets musicians! Not the most lucrative of victims, but I guess anyone's a target.

baby_tux

You were lucky! I heard that sometimes they won't give back change. In my case I gave €0.50, when I was looking for coins in my money belt, the guy asked for €5. I said to myself "F--- it this is too much" and I left. However with a group of them I admit this is a little difficult. Some tours of the Coliseum will include pictures with the gladiators.


In a year, I encountered the ring scam in Paris only once, at the beginning of my stay. It was so poorly executed ("hhmmmm... pure gold". Why speaking in English? How can you say after a quick look it's 24K gold?). Other scams I saw are the Africans at Montmartre and the deaf gypsies at CDG asking you for a signature and money. There are also the "Speak English?" gypsies one will see numerous times while traveling in Western Europe. The first time I encountered them I was told to ignore them so I can't speak on this.

I once saw a show many years ago part of a small documentary about pickpocketing and other forms of theft in Vegas. This is what I remember. Maybe this could help you for your series if you can track it back.

Ancien Maestro

So what happens if you refuse to pay for the photo shoot with the Gladiators?

RichardInSF

I ran into this in Verona about 6 months ago. I didn't refuse, but I gave the two guys there just E1 each. They wanted more so they .....ed but eventually gave up and went after other suckers. I guess the coliseum in Verona isn't important enough to have gladiators that are as aggressive as in Rome!

As I keep hearing of things I encountered on this thread, I am beginning to wonder why I run into so many scams, do I look that gullible?

millburnmike

The scam in the link for Istanbul is a very common one around the world. As a man travelling for business I have had people try this on me on nearly every continent. As a former cop, I have a natural distrust of people and have luckily avoided them - in fact the last time was in Istanbul! I know a lot of people that have fallen prey to it though and have lost hundreds of dollars and have been in fear of their lives as they try to extricate themselves from the situation. This would be a worthy scam for your show and it would be interesting to see how it varies country to country (or doesn't). Good luck.

SanDiego1K

I don't think anyone has mentioned the mustard on your back scam. One gorgeous Friday afternoon, I had finished work early and was walking from my hotel to one of Madrid's squares. Suddenly I'm approached by two people who are brushing at my back with great concern. They tell me I have stuff (bird poop? who knows) on my back. They are trying with significant effort to unsnap my bum bag. I'm holding it firmly and insisting that they not. They finally gave up, and I needed to return to my hotel to clean up. A hundred yards up the street, I met an accomplice who tried more of the same. I got away unscathed. At my very high end hotel, there was no concern at all. This was simply too common to note. I had mustard from my shoulder blades down to my butt.