The World's Worst Travel Disasters

Scam Artists

The Scenario: From the Parisian “gold ring scam” (in which you shell out handsomely for a ring that turns out to be brass) to the Chinese “tea ceremony” (which begins when you agree to help a Beijinger with English and ends with a hefty charge to your credit card), con artists all around the world are ready to take your money and sour your vacation memories.

The Location: Heavily touristed areas in major cities worldwide.

The Information: Before your trip, run a search on a travelers’ web community like tripadvisor.com, frommers.com, or lonelyplanet.com for “Rome con artists” or “Shanghai travel scams.” It won’t take long for you to find posts by other travelers who’ve been taken advantage of—and learn from their mistakes. When on the ground and in doubt, a good rule of thumb is that if an eager stranger offers you something that sounds too good to be true or makes no financial sense, just say “no!” and walk away.