Originally Posted by scubadiver

A friend travelling in China, a bit of a coin collector, found an antique American coin in a market. He bought. Suddenly vendors showed from the woodwork with more antique American coins. He bought and brought. Taken to a Stateside coin dealer, he found they were all counterfet.

Some time later, another friend bragged to me of the internet deal he'd gotten in antique American coins from a dealer in Bejing. I said, "I have a tale to tell you, and you are not going to like the ending."

Originally Posted by Gynob001

To ddutil:
Please see-http://www.funnyandjokes.com/wal-mart-scam.html
Your post appears to be written by the staff of the above website.

Originally Posted by ddutil

I was quite sure that anybody reading to the end would understand this was a joke, I certainly didn't mean to assert that I had actually been robbed by the same 2 people a dozen or so times.

Originally Posted by Gynob001

To ddutil:
Please see-http://www.funnyandjokes.com/wal-mart-scam.html
Your post appears to be written by the staff of the above website.

Originally Posted by mlasser

In Beijing I negotiated a taxi for a day and spelled out exactly where I wanted to go, how much was to be paid and no shopping. The guy I negotiated with sent another car for me and my friend. Took us first to a crappy jade shop where he insisted we stay for 30 minutes. Then took us to a part of the Great Wall that was different than what we requested. We climbed a section and found a metered taxi when we came down and just bailed on the scammers. BTW, I never, ever pay in advance for these types of things.

Originally Posted by mlasser

In situations where they want a deposit, I'll rip half a large banknote and hand it to them. They get the other half when they've fulfilled their promise. At least if I get screwed so do they.

I also ALWAYS take pictures of license plates and drivers telling them it helps us find them when we exit attractions, museums, restaurants, etc. Truth is that is 50% of why I take the pictures. It also doesn't hurt that they know they can be identified later if the needs presents itself due to a scam.

Originally Posted by Palal

London (Quiet Sunday Morning, March 2006):
I'm walking from my hotel to Victoria Station. My trip is nearing its end and I'm finishing up the sightseing that I haven't done during the past week.

As I'm walking from my hotel towards Victoria Station, a guy pulls up in a nice-looking BMW. Something didn't look right. I later realized it was the steering wheel, which was on the left, so he was next to the curb (or "kerb" if you want to sound British ). The guy opens his window and asks me to come over. He's holding a map, so my guess is that he wants directions.

Sure, being in the city for a week, and usually knowing my way around places I haven't been to, I approach him. He then starts telling me about how my face looks Italian. I tell him in my American accent, that I'm not Italian.

Abridged version of the conversation:
Him: "Where are you from"
Me: "SFO"
Him: "Oh SFO, yeah San Mateo, Redwood City, I've been there. I'm a sales manager for Giorgio Armani..." [basically tells me how important he is.
Me: "ok."
Him: "Since you look like you're Italian, I want to give you these two leather jackets. I was at a trade show and these are just samples. They may have some minor problems with them, but for the most part are good. My card is in there - just let me know if you need anything else - give me a call and I'll help you out."
Me [looks at the jackets which are in the bag]: "I can't take this, thank you."
Him: "Take them, I don't need them, they're just extra luggage for me."
Me [thinking if this guy's crazy or if he's up to something]: "Ok."

He then starts telling me this story of how he was at a casino last night and he was playing and lost all his money and maxed out his only credit card (he shows me his wallet and it only has his passport - which seems to be from Italy, according to the cover - and ONE credit card. NOTHING ELSE.) He shows me his near-empty gas tank and tells me he needs two tanks of petrol to get to the Continent. He says because it's Sunday, he can't get money from a bank, because the banks are closed, and his Credit card had been maxed out the previous day.

I play dumb, his English wasn't perfect, so I decide to see where this goes. At this point I still hadn't realized what he wanted and what the deal was. He wants two tanks of petrol. I make it a point of not understanding petrol, and not understanding why he would need two gas tanks of petrol (with British petrol prices, the sum turns out to be pretty hefty ~$200-300 as I later calculated.). I tell him I didn't have this kind of money (well, I did, actually, but it was in USD). After a bit of back and forth on this, he takes his jackets and off he goes with a sour face.

Why was this a scam, you ask?

1. His wallet didn't have anything but his passport and a single credit card.
2. I made it a point of asking for his business card several times. He said it was in the bag with the jackets.
3. If you were at a casino last night, what would you be doing early Sunday morning in the middle of London? Do they even have casinos in the UK? I know they have slot machines IN London, but what about "full-service casinos."
4. He didn't let me see the jackets. Maybe they were good quality leather jackets, but were they really Armani?
5. Finally, a friend later told me that he had a similar thing happen to him near Times Square in NYC on his way home from work.

The biggest things that stopped me:

1. It sounded too good to be true.
2. I didn't have the $$ in GBP.
3. What would I do with three leather jackets in SF (I was wearing one from Costco as it was pretty cold, which I had torn - just a bit - the day before when it got caught on an Underground fare gate, so in the beginning this sounded like a good thing - hey a free replacement jacket!)
4. If they were Armani, would I have problems with bringing this back into the US if the customs people checked me.
5. Where would I put the jackets, I already got a lot of transportation-related souveniers from the Tube staff (the effort to get a photo permit paid off ) so room in my luggage was limited.
6. Why would someone who drives such a car would only have one credit card? Maybe this is just the American in me showing up.


The guy was Italian (or was faking it pretty darn well) and was in a car from the continent (I don't remember where his plates were from) with a left-hand-side steering wheel. His passport was Italian, but in the end it didn't add up.

Originally Posted by PTravel

I would go further and recommend extreme caution buying any antiques in China. Though fake antiques are, generally, easy to identify in China, the counterfeiters in China are extremely sophisticated and even relatively informed antiques aficionados may be fooled. Even the government stores that offer "antiques" with authenticity seals on them are selling mostly reproductions.

As with any purchase when traveling anywhere, unless you are an expert, you should not buy anything as an investment based on its represented value but, rather, based solely on its personal value to you, i.e. if you like it enough to pay the purchase price, get it. If you don't like it in proportion to its cost, but think its valuable and you'll be able to turn it around, pass on it and wait until you can make your investment with a source that (1) you know you can trust, and (2) against whom you have legal recourse in the event of fraud or mistake.

Finally, note that almost all countries, including China, have serious restrictions on the export of authentic antiquities. The odds that what you are buying is actually antique AND valuable (unless from a reputable art dealer who can provide provenance and guarantees) are less than the odds of winning the lottery. This is not to say that you can't pick up the occasional piece that is genuine (though of lower value) but, again, your touchstone should be the personal value to you, rather than the potential market value as an investment.