TRAVEL

Rip off tip offs

Owen Adams
Pickpocket
It doesn't happen only to innocents abroad — skilled con artists on foreign soil can fool even the most suave and streetwise traveller. The best overseas thieves stay abreast of the smoothest sleazy vanishing tricks, determined to ruin as many people's holidays as they can. Companies of such scam-merchants could be competing for industry awards, were there an ounce of honour among them. But there isn't, and so we have elected to keep you up to date with the cutting edge travel dodges doing the rounds.

Roman Holiday

Phew, you made it to your Rome hotel safely, you checked in and are just freshening up when a man with a clipboard knocks on the door — he needs to do an inventory of your room and to determine that every appliance is working properly. He will probably ask you for a hand in checking the taps in the bathroom for leaks — but he has deftly left your door off the latch and, while you're busy in the bathroom, his accomplices will have swarmed in and fled with your belongings.

Single ladies

You are a footloose and fancy free chap — why not enjoy the company of a single girl in a bar? She has approached you in the street, a bit lost in the city herself, and after a while suggests a drink to calm down. More likely than not, the bar she's selected will turn out to be without windows and be guarded at the exit by hefty doormen. It goes without saying that you will be practically bankrupted by the bill for both of your drinks. Istanbul, Moscow and Soho in London are among such honey entrapment blackspots.

Crying thief

A commotion is the last thing most pickpockets want to cause. Unless, that is, they are staging a piece of theatre with a faux tourist loudly accusing someone of robbing him. Reports of a more elaborate scam based on the same principle at the Leaning Tower of Pisa sound like something out of a Carry On film — a buxom lady accused of fencing stolen goods in her underwear does a striptease and gawping spectators are too transfixed to notice they're being felt.

Good Samaritan?

Particularly prevalent around Paris Metro ticket machines, where a friendly local in the queue offers to help you obtain your seven day pass. He gets the right option up on the screen, but your card mysteriously won't work. No matter, he will use his and you can pay him back in cash. So much for unfriendly Parisians — this guy's a Samaritan! Only after performing the transaction and watching him speed off down an escalator do you realise you have paid him 77 euro for a single use ticket.

Contact sport

The old bump, while still employed, pales in comparison with some of the more ingenious speed thieving tricks. Ketchup in Ecuador or apparent bird faeces in Barcelona lands on your back. A couple of people rush up and, tut tutting, clean it off with tissues. They also clean your pockets out while your eyes are directed to the sky or in search of your condiment squirting assailant. In Bologna, hoodlum kids throw cardbox in your direction to distract you, while in Barcelona or Rome you might find a passing street football scrum leaves you lighter.

TATty trick

In Thai airports and in the street, backpackers will often be approached by uniformed TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) officers, with official looking badges and access to a fancy agency office where you can book tours and guesthouses. It's an elaborate con. These "official" guides will take you to select "government" gem shops for plastic jewels. They might even try to force you to book accommodation upfront at inflated prices for seven nights minimum, claiming it is the law. TAT exists, but not as an agency or booker — it merely promotes tourism.

Tyre trouble

You didn't spot the sly criminals eyeing you and your possessions as you filled in the form at the hire car stand. A few miles down the road, just after you've stopped at a red light, your tyre bursts. Generously, the motorcyclists that were alongside your vehicle at the lights offer their aid in changing the slashed tyre — and snatch all your belongings while you're struggling with the jack. Most common in the touristy parts of Spain, but it also occurs in Thailand.

Shoeshine shuffle

A trick employed in souks and markets everywhere is to thrust apparent samples, or surpluses, of sweets, fabric or tobacco at you and then claim you misunderstood the transaction and you have to pay, over the odds, for the 'gift'. A variant of the same that seems to have wandered beyond the bazaar is that of the 'grateful shoeshiner'. You pick up a shoeshiner's brush that he dropped in the road, and he is so grateful you have saved his livelihood he insists on shining your shoes — for free, of course, you think. Wrongly. When your shoes are gleaming — as you are, at the freebie — he will demand grossly inflated payment. Fellow shoeshiners soon appear to help to reinforce his claim. This routine has reached virtual plague proportions in Istanbul.

Currency trading

US dollar and euro notes are the same size whatever the denomination. In the uncertain light of a cab an unscrupulous driver can easily switch your 20 in either currency for a fiver. Ensure you learn your numbers in the appropriate language and, if in doubt, loudly and slowly count the amount as you pay the potential scammer. Sometimes, as a tourist, you just have to be annoying.

Rolled over

The arrival of a couple of rolls unbidden at your French restaurant table causes you no stomach tremors: you would expect such free sundries when dining out at home. But what's this on the bill? A single stale bap, which you didn't touch, for the equivalent of $6 — and $4 for the butter? Heaven help you if you assumed those other plates of nibbles were included in the price. Such creeping additions to the bill are common in Portugal, for example, but if you don't touch the dishes, or wave them away when they arrive, you won't be charged.
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User comments
In Dubai, despite putting up do not disturb signs, my room has been robbed. The safe was rifled through, and my medications stolen. In Italy my money in my pockets of discarded clothes taken. This was a usual , not uncommon experience for my tour mates.
Very useful and has given me something to think about whilst travelling through Europe.
We wer booked into a very upmarket hotel in Bangkok. They offered us an upgrade for an extra price each day. Better floor and view. We accepted. The counter staff talked on Thai and laughed. Wondering at that time had we been done. We were taken directly to the new room, at which I found a note that had been pushed under the door from a friend in bangkok dated 2 days earlier.Try to get some on to talk English after that ... no one knew a thing.... told the Australian tour agency and New Scam they said. Look at both rooms first...
EGYPT~~ mother of all scam artists. i can't begin 2 list all the things that happened 2 me there ,,, & I SPEAK ARABIC!! JUST B CAREFUL oh & the tour guides take u 2 over priced areas that they know and take commission from the stuff u buy at that place then ask for a tip at the end of the day. You notice it when the store manager follows u 2 ur cab n0tices the trunk which MIRACULOUSLY seems to be open (eve tho u hear the driver pullin the latch). the store manager says ... " hey ur trunks open" & chucks in the $$. TIPS ALL ROUND you have 2 tip every1 otherwise they'll follow u..if some1 says "godmorning sir"... thats a que 2 tip him. another biggie was telephone scams.. u get a phone line.. and u get mysterious calls..they figure out whether ur a girl or a guy & if ur a girl.. random men start chattin u up in the wee hours of the night...so u can buy more credit. money exchange thing is always a problem u got 2 b reali careful .find some1 reliable and ask them where 2 go
Will do as a 'gift' on one side of your hands to welcome you to their country & ask if you like the other side done also & then ask for money. We told her she said it was a gift & then she gives you her sad story & will follow until you give her that money.
Great article, thanks for these really useful travel tips. There were a heap of scams going on when I was in Vietnam and I wished I had known about them before I left Australia on holiday. Having a story like this is useful and informative.
Shoe shiners in Vietnam will offer you a price to clean your shoes. When finished you offer the amount quoted only to be told that was the price for one shoe not two. Check first
Uh, how about the rest of Asia, and all of Africa and South America?! This is an extremely limited, narrow-minded article. How disappointing.
be a rude tourist to these scammers - ignore these people, push rudely past them, keep your daypack in front not on your back, don't keep your wallet in your pockets, refuse to go with the "TAT" con artists to any shops in bangkok - these tricks have also been tried on me in greece - esp the "free extras" on the table. beware the "tours" in Bangkok where you sit in traffic all day. Beware of going on any "adventure tours" that may not be included in your travel insurance & probably don't have safety procedures.

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