World's Worst Travel Scams

Where: Rome

The Scam: A group of gypsy children surrounds you, waving newspapers in your face. The papers are merely to confuse you and block your view as the youths reach into your pocket and grab your bag—or anything else they can get their hands on.

Advice: Firmly brush past them and move away quickly—and shout for help if you need it.

Where: Bangkok

The Scam: As has been reported in the press recently, this crime involves a traveler who is arrested for handling merchandise in the airport duty-free shop. Once in custody, the victim is introduced to a middleman who says he can gain the traveler’s freedom—for a fee. The police, in on the deal, split the payment.

Advice: Don’t touch items in duty-free shops unless you intend to buy them.

Where: Airports

The Scam: The perp “accidentally” squirts mustard on you while eating a hot dog (it’s really a tube of mustard in a bun). Full of apologies, he clumsily tries to help clean up the mess while an accomplice walks off with your carry-ons.

Advice: Always place your bags between your legs in a public setting, whether you’re sitting or standing.

Where: Paris

The Scam: A passerby finds a gold ring on the sidewalk near you and agrees to sell it to you for a ridiculously low sum. You soon discover that the buy of a lifetime is made of brass.

Advice: There are no lost gold rings on the streets of Paris or anywhere else. Just say non.

Where: Rome and Paris

The Scam: “Someone, usually quite charming, comes up to you offering directions or sightseeing advice. Suddenly, the person ties a woven bracelet around your wrist in a double knot, then demands payment. If you refuse, he screams that you’re stealing the bracelet,” says Karen Schaler, author of Travel Therapy. Victims are often so unnerved that they end up paying the handful of euros.

Advice: Beware of overly friendly people who approach you on the street offering courtesies you neither want nor need.

Where: East Africa

The Scam: You drive into a small town, and a helpful bystander points out that your wheel bearing is hemorrhaging oil. “In fact,” says Lonely Planet Publications cofounder Tony Wheeler, “the bystander has just sloshed a cup of oil onto your wheel, and tells you there’s a garage around the corner that’ll fix your problem.” The garage owner is in on the con, charges an inflated rate, and splits the take with the bystander.

Advice: Be wary of someone who points out a problem you didn’t know you had, then offers to help you get it fixed.

Where: Beijing and Shanghai

The Scam: Young and convincing “art students” befriend you on the street and persuade you to visit their school’s gallery, where you find yourself getting a high-pressure sales pitch to buy overpriced, third-rate work being passed off as art.

Advice: Steer clear of anyone in China inviting you to an art show.

Where: Cities

The Scam: Two male travelers in an unfamiliar city meet two pretty young women who invite them to a private room in a bar. When the bill comes, it is hugely inflated. The bartender demands cash (no credit cards, of course), and the doormen tell the travelers to pay up and leave.

Advice: Beware complete strangers who offer to take you to a bar or nightclub.

Where: London but could happen anywhere.

The Scam: “If there’s a commotion, assume it’s a fake to distract the victim of a pickpocketing or purse snatching,” says travel guru Rick Steves of Ricksteves.com. “For example, someone, usually an elderly looking woman, ‘falls’ down an escalator in the London Underground.”

Advice: “Step back,” says Steves, “and watch your valuables.”

Where: Italy, Eastern Europe

The Scam: Here’s a variation of the Newspaper Attack, as told by Peter Greenberg, travel editor of CBS News: the victim—usually a single female traveler—is approached by a gypsy woman carrying a baby in a blanket, who tosses the child into the arms of the victim. Cohorts grab the victim’s purse, wallet, camera, and anything else they can snatch amid the confusion. After the crooks run away, the victim discovers that the “baby” is nothing more than a doll.

Advice: Avoid gypsies and beggars on the street, and move away if they try to approach you.

Where: Rome

The Scam: Bus 64 passes many of Rome’s most famous historic sights, so it’s hugely popular with tourists—and pickpockets. Working in teams of three or four, the thieves go after wallets, cameras, and other small valuables, usually by causing a disturbance that takes your attention off your belongings.

Advice: Always secure your property and keep it close, especially when traveling on crowded buses and trains.

Where: Barcelona

The Scam: As travelers with suitcases wait for a cab, a man rides by on a bicycle, slices the strap of a seemingly random woman’s purse, and rides off with it. As the sympathetic travelers drop their bags to give chase, an accomplice swoops in and attempts to make off with the abandoned booty.

Advice: Hide your valuables—money, passport, and credit cards—in your inner pockets, in a money belt, or anyplace else where they are difficult to grab.

Where: Moscow

The Scam: A pedestrian bumps against you and drops something. “If you pick it up and attempt to return it, you’ll find you’ve got a bagful of banknotes and a bagful of trouble,” says Tony Wheeler. “That’s when the careless cash-dropper accuses you of removing some of the money.” Of course, the bad guy turns out to be willing to forget the whole incident in exchange for a fistful of rubles.

Advice: Don’t be afraid to call someone a crook, loudly, and walk away. Often the last thing they want is for the police to become involved, because the police know about most of these scams already.

Where: Istanbul

The Scam: You’re paying a fare with a 50-lira note. The driver drops it on the floor and switches it to a 5-lira bill, which looks very similar. He then argues with you that you’ve shortchanged him.

Advice: If this happens to you, call the police by dialing 0090155 from your U.S. cell phone or 155 from a Turkish phone. The police know this old trick, and the driver stands to lose his license.

Where: Bangkok

The Scam: Official-looking guides approach travelers in the streets surrounding Bangkok’s Grand Palace, away from the main entrance. They’ll tell you, convincingly, that the palace is closed to visitors that morning, but that they’d be happy to take you on a “private tour.”

Advice: Ignore them, and check for yourself at the main gate. “In many countries,” says Anthony Dennis, editor of Travel + Leisure Australia, “it’s usually best to arrange for a certified guide through your hotel.”

Where: Airports

The Scam: Before you walk through the metal detector at airport security, a person from behind cuts ahead of you. As he tries to walk through the metal scanner, the alarm rings and the line comes to a halt; it turns out he has “forgotten” to remove his keys and loose change. “Meantime,” says Peter Greenberg, “his accomplice has gone through ahead of you and is picking up all your stuff from the conveyor belt and leaving with it.”

Advice: Avoid placing your tray of valuables on the X-ray machine conveyor belt until you are ready to walk through the metal detector, and keep an eye on your belongings as they come out the other side.