Common Tourist Scams

Scams work on structure rather than on gullibility, which is why intelligent, careful people fall for them. Nearly all of them do one of three things: create urgency, manufacture obligation, or move you somewhere of the other person’s choosing. Learn the three shapes and the individual variations stop mattering, because you will recognize a new one you have never heard of.

What You Need to Know

Urgency

Something must be decided immediately: the attraction is closing, the last bus is leaving, the rate expires today, the officer needs the fine paid now. Urgency exists to prevent you checking, and checking is the whole defense. Nothing legitimate collapses because you took two minutes.

Obligation

Something is given so that something is owed. A bracelet tied to your wrist, a sprig of herbs pressed into your hand, a photograph taken with a costumed figure, a drink bought before you noticed. The debt is manufactured and it is not real, but it is socially awkward to refuse, which is precisely the mechanism. Do not accept an object being handed to you, and if one has been, put it down and walk on.

Relocation

The most serious shape. The restaurant is closed, but there is a better one; the ticket office has moved; the driver knows a shop with better prices. Moving you serves the other person, whether the destination is an overpriced bar or somewhere worse. Decline, and go where you were going.

The common variations

• Distraction theft. Spilled liquid, a dropped item, a jostle, a petition on a clipboard. One person creates the moment and another takes the bag.
• The broken taxi meter, or a meter that runs unusually fast. Agree the fare first or insist on the meter before departure.
• Card skimming and dynamic conversion at ATMs and terminals. 23 of the 211 destinations describe card or ATM fraud specifically.
• The friendly local with excellent English who happens to be going the same way and has a cousin with a shop.
• Fake officials asking to inspect your wallet or documents in the street. Ask for identification and offer to walk to a police station.

What to Do Before Your Trip

• Read the safety section of your destination’s country information page for named local scams.
• Learn the going rate for a taxi from the airport before you land.
• Know how the local taxis and rideshares work, and which are licensed.
• Decide in advance that you will not be moved.
• Carry small notes, so you are not handing over a large one for change.

Important Considerations

Being scammed is not a character failure and the shame around it does real damage, because it stops people reporting and stops them warning others. If it happens, tell the police, tell your card issuer, tell your group. The person who ran it does this daily against people from everywhere.

At the same time, most people in every destination are not running a scam, and treating every friendly stranger as an operator costs you the trip. The two ideas coexist comfortably: be warm, and still decline to be moved.

Note that some of what looks like a scam is a legitimate local practice you do not recognize, such as a service charge, a tourist tax at a hotel desk, or a two-tier admission price for residents and visitors. Asking is reasonable; assuming is not.

Tips for Group Travelers

• Brief the three shapes on day one. Specific scams are forgotten; shapes are not.
• Agree that nobody separates from the group to look at a shop.
• Watch the bags of whoever is dealing with a distraction.
• Agree taxi fares before departure, out loud, in the local currency.
• Say what to do about fake officials before anyone meets one.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Accepting something free.
• Being walked to a better place.
• Deciding under time pressure.
• Getting into a taxi without an agreed fare or a running meter.
• Being too embarrassed to report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most common scam abroad?

It varies by destination, which is why reading your own country’s page is worth more than a general list: 110 of the 211 destinations the State Department covers describe a scam specific to that country. Structurally, distraction theft and the overpriced taxi are the two most travelers encounter.

Someone tied a bracelet on my wrist and now wants money.

That is the obligation shape. The debt is manufactured. Remove it, put it down, decline clearly and walk on. It is uncomfortable and it works, and it is far better than the alternative of paying an unspecified amount to end the encounter.

How do I tell a real official from a fake one?

Real officials generally do not need to inspect your wallet in the street. Ask for identification, and offer to accompany them to a police station or to call the police yourself. A genuine officer will accept both; someone running the scam will usually lose interest.

What do I do if I have already been scammed?

Report it to the local police and get a written report, which insurers require. If a card was involved, call the issuer immediately using the number from your stored copy. Then tell the rest of your group, since the same operation will usually try again nearby.

Related Travel Tips

• Safety and security, the section this guide belongs to.
• Credit Card Security Abroad. Skimming and what to do first.
• Using ATMs Abroad. Which machine, and declining conversion.
• Hotel Safety Abroad. The scams that begin at a hotel.

Plan Your Trip With LABUSA Travel

Knowing the going rate for an airport taxi, and which local operators are licensed, removes the two commonest scams before they start. LABUSA Travel arranges the arrival rather than leaving it to the curb.

Talk with a LABUSA Travel advisor about a trip you are considering, or browse our destination guides for a specific country.

Verify Before You Travel

Named local scams and crime patterns are published per destination by the U.S. Department of State, and independently by the U.K. FCDO and Global Affairs Canada.