The holidays are in full swing, and that means sun, sea, sand and… scams.
Even the well-travelled and cautious can be caught off-guard by a clever ruse. And they often happen when least expected.
Want to avoid being swindled? Tourists have shared some common scams to watch out for on Reddit.
User ‘pelican678’ started the discussion on the ‘Travel’ forum when they asked: ‘What’s the worst scam you’ve fallen for while travelling?’
From tourists being handed fake notes as a distraction to seemingly sweet boat-tour operators running a racket, read on for the lowdown on deceptions around the world…
The taxi scam
Want to avoid being swindled? Tourists have shared some common scams to watch out for on Reddit. One of the most common hustles is taxi drivers lying about having a ‘broken meter’ and then overcharging for the ride
Perhaps one of the most common scams travellers fall victim to is overcharging taxis – with many Redditors warning tourists to never pay at the end of a ride.
‘User ‘countlesskillalot’ claimed many taxi drivers in Morocco will ‘tell you their meter is broken and charge you a hefty fee’. They added: ‘I’ve literally gotten out of taxis because of that because they would always overcharge.’
User ‘pelican678’ wrote: ‘Taxis in foreign countries can be a huge scam, especially once they clock you’re a tourist. Uber has hugely helped things, at least they have a good customer support service and means of disrupting charges.’
‘SquareVehicle’ agreed: ‘Uber and other ride-sharing were absolutely game-changing when they appeared.’
The two-bill scam
Scammers may try to deceive tourists by pretending they’ve given them a note that is too low in value
Tourists should keep a close eye on their cash, especially in countries where they aren’t familiar with the currency, as some scammers may try to deceive them.
User ‘Harperfin’ experienced this in Morocco, where he pointed out the purple 20 Moroccan Dirham (£1.60/$2) note looks similar to the blue 200 Dirham note (£15.90/$20.40). They explained: ‘A waiter in a restaurant scammed me by taking my money, then running back out and insisting I’d mistakenly given him a smaller value bill. He distracted me by waving the money all around and talking rapidly.’
‘NoStructure371’ added: ‘A similar thing happened to me in Amsterdam. A beer was eight euros and I gave him 50 euros and the bartender gave me back a two euro coin like no big deal, shortchanging me by 40 euros thinking I wouldn’t say anything.’
User ‘Angle_Of_The_Sangle’ dubbed it a ‘classic’ scam. They wrote: ‘When I was trained as a cashier, they taught us that when the customer hands you a bill, you lay that across the till while you make the change. You don’t accept their $20 and put it away in the cash drawer because they could claim they handed you $100.’
The handwritten note scam
Travellers should be cautious of anyone approaching them with a handwritten note, as many Redditors warn that it could be a distraction tactic used by scammers to steal valuables, including phones.
User ‘GooeyPig’ almost fell victim to the trick at a McDonald’s in Paris, where a man approached their table and placed down a handwritten note. They explained: ‘I leaned in to try read it but he kept sliding it towards him, so I grabbed it off the table, told him I couldn’t read it and handed it back. He walked off.’
The user claimed their friend narrowly avoided a phone theft, he explained: ‘[The scammer] had put the note directly on top of my friend’s phone and had been sliding it all towards him. Couldn’t hide the phone once I took the note.’
User ‘angry_llana_pants’, who had a similar experience, responded: ‘Happened to a friend of mine at a cafe in Athens. A woman came up shaking a note over the top of the table while speaking rapid Greek. My friend had her phone on the table, the scammer distracted her enough and stole the phone.’
The bracelet scam
Redditors claim many scammers will insist on giving tourists bracelets – and then demand payment after strapping it on
Travellers should not just watch their wallets, but their wrists too, according to Redditors who claim many scammers will insist on giving tourists bracelets and then demand payment.
User ‘not_cthulhu’ recalled a trip to Japan where a man dressed as a monk approached them, gave them a bracelet and said ‘some nice affirming words’ before demanding a ‘ludicrous donation’.
User ‘kummer5peck’ experienced something similar in Athens. They wrote: ‘People aggressively try to give you these bracelets saying they are performing an African dance later. I’m not sure if it is so much a scam as much as it is annoying people until they give them money to be left alone. Either way, it worked on me. I gave the five euros.’
The ‘baby needs food’ scam
Many scammers will try to play on people’s heartstrings, according to Redditors who pointed out a common scam involving baby formula.
User ‘ph_gwailo’ dubbed it the ‘my baby needs food scam’, after falling victim to the hustle in Havana, Cuba. They wrote: ‘You are lured into a general store with a pity story – a man’s baby can’t eat because the government won’t sell him enough baby formula. You then buy it for him, only for him to return it to the store later for cash.’
‘SundayRed’ described the scam as ‘pretty mild in the overall scheme of things’. They wrote: ‘My wife fell for the “please help me buy baby formula” in Mumbai. Ended up going into the shop and buying a s***load of groceries for a woman who I’m 99 per cent sure was on the store’s payroll.
‘Still, very inexpensive with no repercussion and ultimately helping someone, even if slightly dubious.’
The boat tour scam
Redditor ‘loosey_goosey175’ revealed how they were scammed by a seemingly innocent elderly boat-tour operator in Thailand
Be careful who you book a tour with.
Redditor ‘loosey_goosey175’ revealed how they were scammed by a seemingly innocent elderly boat-tour operator.
They revealed: ‘Me and my partner went to Thailand and we really wanted to go on a boat tour around some islands. I remember I was thinking “be careful, there are a lot of scammers who will tell me a random price”, [so] I chose this elderly man who looked really innocent and sweet.
‘We decided on a tour and asked for a price. He said that the price of this tour for the two of us would be around £130, which sounds pretty fair for a whole day’s tour with lunch and a few snorkelling stops along the way. We reserved our seats, paid everything and patiently waited for tomorrow.
‘As tomorrow comes we go to the “meeting point”. Eventually, after waiting more than 1.5 hours… we went looking for that man, thinking “oh, maybe he forgot about us”. [But] his “place” was empty and locked, so naturally we asked other sellers where that man was. One said: “Sadly [he] passed away late last night.”
‘Now the best part of the story. Three days after that “passing away” news, we were walking around that same spot and we see him there! I couldn’t believe my eyes. So moral of the story, don’t trust anyone – even sweet-looking elders.
‘We were left without the refund because he said: “I’ve never seen you before in my life.” (Even though we showed him our tickets that he gave us that day.)’