Common travel scams while on holiday
The excitement of being on holiday sometimes helps us lose our common sense and as a tourist they are many people who want to take advantage that you are in an unfamiliar location. In 2003, I visited Kuala Lumpur and I was approached by a man as I walked down the street.
Vulnerable solo traveller
He chatted to me and then invited me for a drink to welcome me to the city. As I was a solo traveller, prior to my holiday I read a number of forums and a few mentioned about a scam trick where someone appears friendly, takes you to a local bar or restaurant and then robs you.
This local man could have genuinely wanted to be welcoming, but, I wasn’t going to risk it. I was obviously vulnerable because I was travelling alone, in a country that I had never visited before and well I often look lost. I found the locals to be incredibly friendly though.
Here are a few other common holiday scams.
Taxi pricing scam
I very rarely use a taxi abroad and if I do then I make sure to ask and agree to the price of the journey before stepping inside the cab. I’ve read a story of travellers using non official taxi’s and being ripped off, robbed or left in the middle of nowhere.
Using a taxi abroad could make you a scam victim. I read a story where a tourist gave the driver a large note, so he quickly exchanged it for a lower value note and told the tourist that he had not given him enough money. Make sure you keep the local police telephone number just in case.
Money exchange scam
On a few occasions I have been approached by people in the streets offering to exchange my money to their local currency. I was wise to this scam but what they do is offer you either counterfeit money, the wrong currency or confuse you on the exchange rate and you end up getting less for your money.
The simple solution for this is take your debit or credit card and use ATM’s, or exchange some of the money back home. If you do have to exchange money abroad, use official money exchange shops, but make sure you check the rate in the window before purchasing.
Tourist trip scam
A while back I went to Tenerife with a group of friends and what spoilt the holiday for me was the continuous stream of people coming up to you to try and sell you timeshare, counterfeit goods and party trips. One group we met paid £40 each for a party on a boat trip, the boat never arrived.
Another popular scam is ticket touts outside popular tourist attractions that will try and sell you a ticket for less than the official price. When you arrive at the entrance you’re turned away because the ticket is fake. Always purchase tickets from the official ticket office and not from touts.
Your travel scam experiences
These are just three scams that I have come across recently but feel free to add your own experiences with travel scams; what other scams have you read about, and what advice would you give to other travellers to make sure that they are not a victim of a travel scam.
This post was syndicated from the Travel Rants Blog.
Common travel scams while on holiday
