Common Travel Scams And Tips To Avoid Them
Travelers are the easy prey for scammers or thieves and the most vulnerable option for scam.
Most of the scammers always act like they are helping you. But in real, they cheat money out of you in such a way that
you can't realize at that time.
Let's know about the most common scams and some
tips to avoid them.
Transportation scams :-
Taxi driver scams are very common near the railway station or airport. E.g. When you get into the taxi,
the driver will tell you that meter is broken.
If you start a negotiation, it will end badly as the person will charge you a ridiculous amount after reaching.
So when you face these kind of issues, just walk away and find another taxi.
When you travel in bus, there will be some scammers who pretend to help you with your luggage. But at times
when you get a little inattentive, they will steal your belongings and leave the place in no time.
To avoid these type of issues, make sure to never keep your bags out of your sight or never allow a stranger to
touch your bags.
Bump & grab scam in metros
The common metro travel scam where thieves distract you by bumping others on you and in mean time they will collect your
valuables and leave the place immediately.
You can avoid these type of scams by simply keeping your valuables in different secure places and not putting any
valuable things in your back pocket.
Sometimes some fake officials ask the tourists to show the documents and when you handover, they will ask money to
give the document back.
Fake officials in trains:-
When you face these type of situations, ask them to take you to the police station or their official base where you will
handover the document to them.
In some places first a person will approach the
tourist with an offer of drugs or other elicit
products.
Street Crime
Then the fake police will appear from nowhere and ask you to bribe them or they will take your documents and certain
jail terms for the misconduct.
In this type of situation, ask them to take you to their office or first avoid the stranger and walk off without listening to
them.
Sometimes tourists are distracted by the music shows or magic shows that happens on road side and in
mean while they become the victim of pick pocket.
In some streets, the passerby throw gunk on you and the other passerby come to you and offer to clean your clothes
while took off with your valuables.
Some innocent looking caring locals also warn you to check your wallet and phones
whether its pick pocketed, but it's not warning rather its an invitation to them to
know where exactly you've kept your belongings.
ATM scams :-
There are scammers who approach to help you out from the local bank fees for travelers. They just need your card to scan and take your pin while you're entering so that they can use
your card later.
To avoid these type of scams, make sure to use reputed banks' ATM center where the officials will help you out if
any issue happens.
A common tip :- Never let anyone near you while making any transaction or cover the pad with one hand while you entering
the pin.
Smart Local Scammers
Sometimes when you look for a famous dining place or hotel, a smart local will approach you and tell you that place
is closed today. If you want he can take you other place with same facility
where you will be paying extra if you follow him.
Just avoid these smart scammers and walk
to the address to discover whether it's
close or open.
In some restaurants, when you hand over the bill, the shopkeeper return it to you with the excuse of counterfeit
money and ask you to pay in other means.
When you pay by your card, they will scan the details and use it later.
So always be careful while dealing with card payment and also be familiar
with the country's currency.
Sometimes the shopkeeper will also ask you to give the exact change as he doesn't have.
So to avoid this situation and getting less money return instead of actually amount, make sure to have change with
you.
Group photo offer :-
While you hanging out alone or friends and family, some generous looking people will ask you if they can take a group photo for you that the exact thing you might be
looking for .
As the person looks generous, you will give your camera and while arranging with friends to take photo, that person will go
invisible with your valuable camera in seconds.
So just avoid these scams by asking a nearby tourist to take photo of you as you will easily
guess who is tourist or local from their gesture.