You've been to more countries than I (about twice as many), but I've never been scammed, either.

I haven't been to Russia. However, I found Morocco pretty much scam-free. The only problem we had there was with an over-persistent "guide" (no official badge) who wouldn't take no for an answer and got a little abusive when I responded to him in French that we weren't interested.

We spent a couple of weeks traveling around Rajasthan and experienced no scams whatsoever. We found the people in India to be warm and welcoming and quite honest.

We're probably what you would consider "more obvious/valuable targets." We're middle-aged, I carry around an expensive camcorder, etc. We've really never been troubled very much at all. Perhaps the assumption is that someone under 30 with a backpack is a less experienced traveler and therefore more likely to fall prey to a scam?

I find this almost impossible to believe. Perhaps it depends on what you consider being scammed, I guess. Does the taxi driver who charges you a flat $15, instead of a fare that should be $10, scam you. Of course.

And in most scammers eyes, the best scams are the ones that people don't even realize.

I've been to 50+ countries, and most of the rip offs are taxi related. I've had taxi meters which run twice as fast as normal, switching out real money for counterfeit. Lots of other little rip offs, but I either ignore them, or figure some way around them 99% of the time.

Some that people think are scams, such as the table charge for bread and snacks, are just the norm in certain countries.

In my opinion, even things like a hotel offering to charge your bill in US dollars, which ends up in a double conversion rate, at bad terms, is a scam.

More taxi related scams. In China make sure to give taxi drivers small change or read out the serial number of 100RMB notes you hand over. What some of them will do is switch out your real currency for a counterfeit and ask you for another note. Rinse and repeat until all your notes have been switched.

In Singapore some taxis especially the Mercedes limousine ones will hang out at popular drinking holes and then quote you a fixed price to your destination. Never accept the price they give. All taxis regardless of make and model charge by the meter in Singapore.

If you go to Little India there are certain restaurants that will place dishes you didn't order on your table to bait you. If you didn't order those ask them to remove it otherwise you will be charged for anything you eat regardless of what you ordered.

And another scam that is related to eateries are those commonly reported on local newspapers. The seafood eateries are the most common culprits. They will see a Caucasian and inflate the bill by several hundreds because they know tourists won't know the difference. So the trick is to always ask for the prices before buying any seafood. Then make a mental note of what you ordered and make sure the total bill doesn't differ by too much. There are other extra charges like hand towels and 7% GST at certain places but those are normal.

I do enough research before traveling to know whether and what an appropriate flat fee from an airport would be. Otherwise, I'm on the meter (and know the appropriate rates).

Sure, but that's like asking someone to prove a negative. I've never been scammed as far as I know, but I also have a pretty good idea when I would be scammed.

There are ways to avoid them, as well.

Cuperto isn't a scam -- just a custom.

And I've never had a hotel offer to do that. I would have known right away that was a scam.

Better still, just make sure you always have plenty of small bills (10s and 20s) as well as 1 RMB coins, and just use those.

A good rule of thumb is to ALWAYS travel in a licensed and metered cab. There are gypsy cabs all over the world. That doesn't mean you have to take them.

My policy: anyone approaching me with an offer doesn't have my best interests in mind.

The Mercedes Limousines are licensed cabs. They even have the signs attached on the roof that says so. It's just that due to the fact they are a more expensive model than other Toyota cabs some people assume that a fixed charge is okay when it really is not.

It's even more complicated than that. If you take a limo from the airport, or order a limo in advance, it is fixed charge -- during the day, a flat $35 to anywhere in Singapore, to be precise. The only times when a limo has to use the meter are when they're in a taxi queue or taking fares off the street.

DCC has recently started picking up steam in China; I'd be surprised if you don't encounter it during 2010.

Did some research on that and I guess you're partly correct. The flat rates are time based and have risen abit to be from $45-$55, more info at this website. And if you take the limo cab from the airport while waiting in a normal queue (happens quite frequently) they have to charge you by meter rates.

I was just there (multiple hotels in Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Suzhou). I was paying particular attention after having read about it here on FT. Though 3 or 4 hotels is hardly a representative sample, none of them tried it. As I said, even without having read about this practice, it would have struck me as obviously wrong -- I would have wondered what exchange rate would have been used.

I frequently stay in Shenzhen hotels and sometimes they try to charge me in SGD because my credit card is issued in SG. I guess if you're using a US CC they might try to charge you in USD but I wouldn't consider it a scam.

I would consider it a scam. What they usually do is double convert you. So say they give your rate in RMB of say 1000 and will convert it at a bad rate, say 3-5% less. Then, it often happens that your credit card may access foreign transaction fees on it too.

Some of the worst cases are when the rates are in USD (outside the US). They convert USD>Local>USD. I've had hits of up to 10% using these methods.

This is not new. I've had it happen in restaurants in the UK a few years ago, and in hotels and hospitals in BKK and other Asian countries.

Good idea. When I flew in and out of EWR and landed after international flights, the baggage carousel areas were clogged with touts offering "taxis". They were there to a lesser extent in the other terminals, too, of course, but I think they figured they could hit on people who weren't familiar with the laws. There are even signs and announcements warning people about them. I'd just look them in the eye when they offered me a ride and say, "you're not supposed to be here."

I do wonder at the people who claim never to have been scammed. Perhaps they've just never noticed that they've been scammed. It's rife. It's unavoidable. Anyone, for example, who claims always to have had a metered taxi ride on arrival at an airport has simply not travelled much. There are plenty of places where you cannot - absolutely cannot - get a taxi to use a meter. Never heard of anyone offering to convert a credit card bill into another currency? It happens all the time, has done for years, and in a variety of different types of shop, hotel or restaurant. Never been quoted prices in one currency and the bill comes in a different one? Really? Never been handed the wrong change - or just never counted it?