Tiojelly

In Paris last month we were walking across a bridge and someone picked up a gold (colored) ring in front of us -- I thought quickly to the scams where someone finds something of value, and suggests that you give them money while they have it appraised prior to both people hitting it big, or you give them money and get to keep the valuable find.

Just ignored them and kept walking. My wife was pretty sure I was reading the situation incorrectly, until at the other end of the bridge the same thing happened with a less slick younger girl threw the ring down for us all to discover together.

Not sure if they were hoping we would stop for a pick pocketing opportunity, or the other stated scam -- I would be curious if anyone here new what this was about.

Tiojelly

Oh... Another one last week in Vegas.

Was walking to the Bellagio through the Ballys driveway and an older man (70ish) pulled up as if he need directions. Being on foot and away from Vegas for years, I just waived him off figuring valet could help better. He was pretty persistent, so I walked to the passenger window. As he started to say something I noticed 30 or so watches sitting on his front seat. Decided to say c'ya and walked away. I am guessing he was going to offer me a great deal on a Rolecks or Goochee

Not any different from other street vendors I suppose, but a novel and lazy way to find business.

jpdx

Actually, the weekend ticket is (or at least used to be when I lived there) quite legitimate, and sharing it is legal and a great way to save some money. So I'd say, this was not a scam, even though €10 wouldn't have been a significant savings for Augsburg-Munich.

secretbunnyboy

1) Documents checks are legal in Russia, but often a pretext to extortion for spurious infractions. You can generally avoid paying out by remaining calm and making it clear that you're not going to pay up, and they're wasting their time. You can't really avoid the checks if you're going to walk the street, though.

2) It's not really a trick in London (generally). Junkies/crackheads hang around tube stations and ask people for their one day travelcards (where you pay for unlimited travel for a day) at the end of the day. Then they hang around the ticket machines and sell them for GBP1 (when a normal ticket costs GBP2ish, usually). The junkie gets a pound, the second user gets a pound off the ticket.

etch5895

I agree. My bone of contention came in with the sudden change of plans by the person I would have been paying. It just seemed a little shady to me. Maybe he was just out to make an easy 10 euros. If he had been travelling on that same ticket, I'd have probably gone with it, but his last minute change of plans smelled like a fish to me.

ntamayo

Almost fell prey about 6 yrs ago at a gas station in Italy on the way to MXP. Attendant fills my tank to the effect of 32000 lira. As I reached for my wallet, I mentioned out loud "trenta-due-cento lira," just as the price display goes blank for like 5 seconds then reappears as 60000 L. Of course it's the wrong price, as I mentioned in my broken Italian that it should only be 32k. After a brief exchange, I put the exact change in his hand while I was in the car and immediately drove off.

outoftown

In Barcelona, a man approached Mrs. Outoftown and myself asking in Spanish where is the Cortes Ingles? Being obviously a tourist with a Nikon around my neck, I figured he was up to no good. I pretended not to understand and ignored him. He repeated the question. Suddenly, two other middle age guys jumped out and accosted the three of us, showing official looking ID and demanding in English to see passports. I explain I don't have it with me and they are persistent on ID. The guy that asked us directions hands over his whole wallet. I guess they expected the same of me. I carefully removed and showed my NC Drivers License. They examine it and then explain the guy asking directions is a thief and they need to see if he passed us any counterfeit money (while showing me fake looking bills from the thief's wallet). For a moment, I thought about offering the three of them some money to let me pose with them as Mrs. Outoftown took a picture of all of us...I wanted to show the folks back home some scam artists we met, after all, I knew it would be a topic of conversation back home. But common sense kicked in and I decided to just leave. I tell Mrs. Outoftown to just start walking to the metro. At the metro, she is about 10 yards in front of me and starts on the down escalator, when a teenage guy runs at me and jumps on the down escalator in front of me. My guess (and Mrs. Outoftown sees him and thinks also) he must be in a hurry. She moves to one side but he stands still on the step directly in front of me. I look behind me and see two other teens walk down and stop behind me. I know what is going to happen. I prepare by bracing one knee two inches from the guys butt in front of me. Sure enough, he drops something at the bottom of the escalator. I don't even look to see what it is (Mrs. Outoftown later tells me it is an asthma inhaler), I knee him so hard he goes flat on the ground. I then step over him and pretend to apologize (while trying to keep from laughing). His friends take off running.

In Rome, on the bus coming from the Flea Market, I grabbed the pickpocket's arm when his hand was in my front pocket. Nothing was in my pocket, but I felt violated. I shoved him off the bus while concurring with an older lady Si, al ladro! I wish now I would have bent his fingers back and broke them. He exited with a smirk that still irritated me. I thought about jumping off the bus and whaling on him.

In Mexico, I have been a victim of taxi fraud, but I knew before getting in the cab that the driver would not have change. My bad for not getting change first. It would have been the tip anyway. At the Mexico City airport, the chorus of Taxi! died down when I bought my ticket at the taxi stand outside the airport, but the frigging driver took me to the wrong hotel and demanded more money to go to the correct hotel. The conceirge at the first hotel got rid of the driver and gave me a ride to the other hotel in their shuttle.

I haven't been a victim of junk on the shoe, but I will be in India again in 3 weeks, so maybe it will happen there. I wore sandals there last time, so maybe that or as another poster stated, being a mean looking 6'3" and 250lbs may be a deterrent.

I was thinking maybe the scams are why naive travelers (like some Japanese tourists) always travel in groups? I remember reading a while back about discovering a Rolex was fake when trying to get it repaired made newspaper headlines in Japan.

-outoftown

htb

The plan was probably quite obvious for the locals: that guy arrived on the weekend ticket and was now looking for the maximum number of people allowed going the same way to get the maximum amount of money out of it, while he stays in Augsburg.

HTB.

Palal

I did get my jacket at Costco . and they don't have a time limit on their return policy, but the tear is not significant enough to return the jacket. I glued it up when I got home.

Peter4

Smart advice, and worth repeating, (even if it is reposted from some other thread).

In all my experiences, plus listening to other's stories and reading about travel troubles,
50% of all problems could be avoided by following that advice above.

-- Peter
.

Peter4

Ojala is 180 degrees off course with this comment.
Ojala might find it "rude and selfish", but most people in most countries would be very grateful.

US Dollars are accepted in almost every country in the world.
And, in most countries, US Dollars are preferred over the local currency.
(But maybe not in France.)

- Peter
.

Jaimito Cartero

Technically they have a 1 year return policy (for all things except computers, which is 6 months). If they're still selling it, you can either buy a new one and take back the old one, or just try and take it back and get a refund. I think only some Kirkland branded stuff has a longer "warranty".

happytravelling

In China last month, I was given counterfeit currency 3 times, once in a major department store. Two times they were successful and I lost out on 100 Yuen, aobut $12. The department store attempt surprised me, since I didn't expect it at a large store. The lady flipped through a large wad of bills to give me change, which my friend recognized as fake. I didn't get taken at the department store because I had already fallen for it twice. Some of the bills look quite good, so be sure to look for the watermarks.

moondog

Can you explain a little more (maybe even name the department store)?

The fake100 deal I've heard of is the Guangzhou taxi swap (driver takes real money, replaces it with fake money, tells you it's fake).

Since 100s never get given out in change, other types of scams are quite rare tmk.

A friend of mine received a fake 50 (in change from cabbie) here in Beijing several weeks ago, which looked really fake. Fortunately, she saved the receipt and is currently in discussions with the taxi authority.

htb

I can assure you that US$ are not welcome in Germany (and probably the rest of the Euro-Zone) and Japan either.

There are countries whose citizens prefer the US$ over their own currency, but that is usually because their currency has some issues, like not being freely convertible, having a high inflation etc. I don't think your generalisation will hold.

HTB.