As a network marketer, I do a bit of travelling for conferences and such. While I’m very careful to keep an eye on my bags at all times, I realize there are many cunning con artists out there. I thought it might be worth checking it out and came across the following list of tips on www.virtualtourist.com. This is their list of the top 10 tactics theives use to scam tourists.
“While we’ve pinpointed the countries where these crimes seem to pop up most frequently,” says Giampiero Ambrosiany, Virtual-Tourist website general manager, “one of them could happen just about anywhere.”
Keep that in mind as you set forth on your travels, wherever they may take you.
1. Fools Gold – France
If you’re walking on the streets of paris and someone appears to have found a gold ring at your feet, congratulate them and then keep on walking. The ring is a plant and the person who pretends to have found it will use just about any sob story to get you to buy it off them.
2. Monkey Business – Bali, Indonesia
The monkeys at Bali’s Uluwatu Temple are notorious for swiping everything from sunglasses to cameras off tourists and then running off into the nearby bushes. Seconds later, their coniving trainer dressed as a temple official, appears to report that if given a few rupiah to buy bananas, he can coerse the monkeys into giving back the booty.
3. Automatic Theft Machine – Tridad and Tobago
Using x-ray film, thieves in trinidad construct a pocket that slips into the cardslot of an ATM, holding it hostage. A helpful, and observant, bystander then miraculously appears to suggest that typing in a pin backwards will release the card. When the bystander later retrieves the pocket, the victim’s money will be released as well.
4. Postcards from the Edge – Italy
Kids outside the Stazione Termini have been known to thrust pen and postcard into the hands of tourists and ask for help writing a letter “home.” They then dictate a story of poverty and hunger so disturbing that said tourist is often guilted into handing over some cash.
5. At Your Service – USA
Room service charges should always go on the credit card the hotel already has on file. If the waiter or waitress who delivers your food demands cash or a card, the egg on your plate will soon end up on your face.
6. A Crappy Thing To Do – Argentina
Should someone on the streets of Buenos Aires try to help wipe non-existent bird droppings from the back of your shirt, chances are that’s not all their wiping off you. Teams working in pairs use this technique to rob distracted, and disgusted victims. A messier French version of this trick involves real mustard.
7. Customer Surprise – Bali, Indonesia
Another in a seemingly endless array of ATM scams, this one involves a false “customer service” phone number posted on a card-swallowing machine. When the victim calls it, he or she is asked for the card’s pin number, hotel and contact information, and is assured the card will be returned soon after.
8. Funny Money – China
Although efforts are being made to solve this problem, the Chinese money supply has as significant amount of fake currency in circulation with much of it ending up in the hands of clueless tourists. Short of carrying around a counterfeit detector, the best way to avoid this is to either refuse 50s or 100s altogether, or accept them only from banks.
9. The Exchange Game – Zimbabwe
Street scammers here offer tourists incredible exchange rates provided the transaction takes place in a secluded cafe. At the cafe, the money is counted out on top of the table but rolled up into a rubber band under it, the explaination being that police may be watching. The tourists later discover a large discrepancy between the amount counted and the amount given.
10. Front Desk Phonies – USA
In this simple but highly destructive scam, sleepy hotel guests are awakened by very early morning or very late night calls from the front desk asking for credit card information. It’s not until much later when they realize that “front desk” was actually a front for something else.
~Reuters
Please be sure to leave your comments if you’ve had a bad travel scam experience – the more we know, the safer we’ll all be.
Be safe my friends,
Share
