All news
Beware of travel scams
12/7/2010 9:12:55 AM
While you are often safer overseas than you are in your
hometown, a few scams seem to pop up all over the world. Repeat the
mantra: if it looks too good to be true, it must be too good to be true…
1. Fake police
Though sometimes this happens
with the real police, these scam artists will demand to see your
passport and find something wrong with your visa, but then suggest your
troubles will all be over if you pay a fine. To them. In cash. Right
now. Standing your ground and offering to accompany them to the station
will usually see the error "excused".
2. Gem or carpet deals
On entry into a store, often prompted by an enthusiastic taxi or
rickshaw driver, you will be offered a deal so preposterously lucrative
that refusing it seems unthinkable. Think again - those gems are going
to be worthless and the carpet you buy may not make it home at all.
There are legitimate traders selling both jewels and rugs, and they do
not act like this.
3. Airport taxis
Drivers
taking you into town might try every trick in the book, from asking you
for an inflated fare to driving around the streets to raise the price
higher. This is usually harmless, but you should only travel with
licensed taxis. If you cannot pay in advance, agree on a fee before
starting out and do not pay until you get where you want to be.
4. Timeshares
You are approached by an extremely genial young man who offers you a
scratch card, no strings attached. He is friendly, so you accept the
scratch card and, lo and behold, you have won some sort of prize, which
could be anything from a t-shirt and cash to a holiday. What is the
catch? The local insists you must accompany him to a hotel (which might
be an hour's drive away) to collect your prize. If you have not smelled a
rat by now, you need your senses tested.
The penny drops, you
start staring at the ground and shifting your feet uncomfortably, the
seemingly-genuine local says that if you don't come with him, then he
will not get paid for his job. However, if you do end up going with him,
on arriving at the hotel you will be shuffled into a room with a bunch
of other tourists and forced into watching an hour-long presentation
about timeshare apartments, which you are pressured into buying at a
very special discounted price by slick Westerners. At best you come out
of it with your wallet intact, at worst you would have wasted an entire
afternoon you could have spent lying on the beach.
5. "This is closed"
In some countries everyone from touts to taxi drivers will try to tell
you that your chosen hotel, restaurant or shop is closed...but there is
another, even better one you should visit - where they can pick up a
commission. This is more annoying than harmful, but always insist on
having a look for yourself.
6. Motorbike scam #1
Living out your dream of riding a scooter for a day around the
countryside quickly turns into a nightmare when the bike you are riding
breaks down or you have an accident. The owner of the motorbike is quick
to escort you and your damaged bike (which does not look in that bad a
state) to the repair joint of their choice, where the mechanic makes a
grossly overinflated estimate of the damage costs. The owner of the
motorbike insists you cover the costs, otherwise no customers will want
to rent his bike. You shell out hundreds of dollars to cover the costs
of the damage you possibly made, plus cosmetic improvements to the bike
that you have now also covered for the owner.
More than likely,
you have just lined their pockets with more cash than the locals would
earn in a month. Take photographs of the bike before you start riding,
preferably with the renter in them, so they cannot blame you for
imaginary damage costs to the vehicle. And do not rent from companies
that are attached to hotels or guest houses.
7. Motorbike scam #2
The motorbike you have hired comes with a lock and two keys: you have
one, and your rental company has the other. When you park the scooter
and wander off, an enterprising person from the rental company arrives
and "steals" your scooter, thus later requesting you pay a large sum of
money to replace the "stolen" scooter. As you handed them your passport
and you signed a contract, you are obligated to pay for it. Carry your
own lock and key and an old passport to avoid getting sucked into this
scam.
8. Helpful pick-pockets
Someone
"accidentally" spills mustard or other condiments on you and suddenly a
stranger appears to towels you down. In the confusion, valuables are
removed from your person, never to be seen again.
9. Bar/tea shop scam
Notoriously aimed at male travellers, young local girls approach a
tourist and, after gaining trust with some idle chit-chat, you agree to
accompany them to a local bar/tea shop. Thrilled at the opportunity to
converse with a couple of local lasses, you offer to buy them a drink.
On receipt of the bill, the girls are gone, and all you are left with is
a massive shock when you glimpse the sum total, which can amount to
hundreds of dollars.
10. Hotel scams
As you
hop off the train or bus into a strange town and into a waiting taxi,
you ask them to take you to a specific hotel. You are dropped off, hand
over the money for several night's worth of accommodation, you are
persuaded to sign up for a number of day tours then escorted to your
hotel room. The hotel is unusually quiet and it does not seem like the
advertised atmosphere. Alarm bells ring: you have been duped by the
friendly local who talked to you on the bus, and the quick phone call he
had to make was to the awaiting taxi, whose driver was very quick to
escort you to the hotel of their choice.
Like a
well-oiled machine, they worked together to ensure you handed over all
your cash immediately, and fleeced you for a couple of tours while they
were at it. Many hotels trade on the names of popular hotels and are
rarely of the same standard, so make sure you check the name and address
of the place before you are shuffled in to sign your life away.
Lonely Planet
UK travel insurance
