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Original_Z
Jun 14, 2005
Z so good
In the normal Ask/Tell there's a thread about common scams, and a lot of them are those that target tourists in foreign countries. I think it might actually be useful to have a thread which talks about such scams, either those that we've experienced or that we've heard of. I know that I've protected myself in the past by being aware of these things, and tourists can be vulnerable by not wanting to appear rude or assuming to just be experiencing the culture.



In the Philippines, there was a huge racket uncovered last year where airport personnel would put bullets into a traveler's suitcase, tell the traveler that they're in deep poo poo, and demand a bribe to make it go away. If you didn't pay it, they'd simply arrest you for transporting illegal items, and good luck pleading your case. Terrible embarrassment for the country and they cracked down hard on it, but it's still best to wrap your luggage when traveling through the country.

Also in the Philippines, everyone you meet will be friendly and helpful, and then stick their hand out after they've helped you. Even in places like bathrooms there will be people who give you towels to dry your hands and then expect a tip afterwards. It might be a bit jarring to those not experienced.

When I flew into Los Angeles I experienced a similar thing. The airport was confusing to navigate and I had to get to a different gate, a friendly stranger walked up to me and asked me if I needed help, and then gave me excellent directions on how to get to where I needed to go. I was actually really impressed by the service, but then as I was on my way he mentioned that he's here for a charity and asked if I would donate to his cause, I told him that I didn't have any American currency but he gladly accepted any kind of foreign money. I guess not a scam, but it did catch me off guard since I didn't really expect that in the States.

NYC, and probably other American tourist cities have no end of people trying to scam you out of your hard-earned cash. One of the more depressing ones is where black youths will try to peddle their homemade hip-hop CDs to you, even forcing them into your hand and then demanding a donation to support their efforts. If you refuse it, then they get all tough and prey on fears that tourists have of NYC African youths, even being blatant like "are you sure you want to argue with a black man like me?" Great job enforcing the stereotype, guys! I've heard that these days those CDs are loaded with viruses and ransomware anyway so the scam continues when you put it in your PC.

In Times Square, Hollywood, and probably other places you also see people in costume posing for pictures. Obviously you're expected to tip, but you may be surprised at the amount the person asks for. I saw someone get quoted like $20, I'm sure you can negotiate or whatever but I'm sure most people just pay it to not appear rude.

Also bad in the Times Square area are electronic shops with insane markup, selling goods of questionable quality with pushy salespeople and a no-refund policy. poo poo like this:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d1734028-Reviews-47th_Digital-New_York_City_New_York.html

In China I've heard that random Chinese girls will come up to westerners in tourist attractions and say how they're studying English in college and how they'd like to practice with you. Everything seems innocent enough, they might show you around the site, and then suggest a place to go for lunch, or a place to drink good Chinese tea or some poo poo. You go there and end up with an insane bill and are "pressured" into playing it. I think the scammer also pretends to be shocked but say they don't have much money on them and oh no what should they do? This scam is especially cruel because it's actually not uncommon for people to want to talk to westerners, especially schoolkids from the countryside who are visiting and never see foreigners in their town. During my travels in Asia I've also had random people come up to me and offer to show me around or just want to talk to me with no scam involved, so you have to be really careful. I could have easily seen myself fall for this if it had happened to me and I wasn't aware of it.

Also in China, you can book tours for fairly reasonable rates, which include dining. The catch is that during the tour, they take you to special "government shops" where they talk about how it's only open for tourists and have special deals that locals wish they could get. You usually go to jewelry or jade shops where they may give you a demonstration of how to find "authentic" gems and of course everything in the shop is top quality. All the shop staff is quite friendly and will be all too helpful to suggest things, even if you're a male who doesn't have an interest in jewelry they'll make plenty of suggestions for your wife or girlfriend. All of the stuff is just above costume jewelry and overpriced, needless to say the reason they don't sell to locals is that they'd go out of business as it's possible to get the same or far better-quality stuff for much cheaper in the country. The tour company and guides get a kickback on the sales so it's like the razor model in which you offer the tour for low rates and make it up in commissions. Even knowing that all the stuff in those shops aren't worth buying, they do such a good job presenting everything that I almost felt compelled to buy some crap. They did get me at the tea shop though, but the samples of tea were quite good and I could justify paying the prices, although a teacup I bought with it ended up breaking after just a few months after use.

In the Forbidden City we were able to enter a part of the palace where locals aren't allowed to go, the private quarters of some relative of the last emperor, who is a master of calligraphy. Oh, how lucky that today he happens to be in practicing! For a tidy sum, he'll write your name or whatever in his beautiful script! Really, the way they present these things in a way that we're so fortunate to have the opportunity to buy things in itself is quite impressive.

I had a mate who was on a group where no one bought anything and the guide apparently complained to the members about it, that must have been a sight. I've also seen similar things in Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, so it's probably a common thing around the world, or at least in Asia. Also, never go with a tour company that also caters to Japanese, they have a big culture of buying souvenirs. I guess it might not be easy to research that, but I once ended up on a tour bus with a large number of Japanese and half of the drat tour was going to souvenir shops.

In Japan there are several bars or clubs where touts will invite you with promises of cheap drinks and girls (or you may just wander in on your own), and you'll end up walking out with a sizable bill with lots of additional charges. One of my mates got taken for this, he should have known better but I guess his guard was down or something. He went to the police and they told him there was nothing they could do since the bar had an itemized list of the costs (albeit with completely unreasonable charges like a "$1000 table seating charge"). He ended up just negotiating a lower (still sizable) payout and got the hell out of there. Some places are worse and will have cell phone blockers and tough guys blocking the door so there's no real way to get help. Apparently the police keep saying they're going to crack down on this scam, especially with the Olympics looming, but there doesn't seem to be any progress and these scam bars are thriving.

In India you can probably assume that everyone's trying to scam you, but it's up to you whether or not it's worth fighting over like 10 cents. Also be prepared to pay bribes to get any kind of service.

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EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
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Similar to the Chinese girl cafe scam you mentioned, there's one in Turkey called the 'single male' scam or close. Except rather than a Chinese girl it's a Turkish dude who'll befriend and you convince you to go to a bar or club that charges you $00/000s.

All the examples I've read from first hand experience all seem to want to remain anonymous and even with the mention of strippers the whole thing screams of it being a sexual thing, but it's never mentioned. Maybe having dealt with and finding Turkish men an absolute pain in the rear end has soured me, but the last thing I'd want to do is go clubbing with some random dude off the street in Istanbul.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
A good friend of my brother's had that happen to him in Ankara, maybe 10 years ago. Burly men took him to the ATM and made him drain it for 2k or whatever his daily maximum was. Nothijg sexually related (well, I wasn't there, but according to his friends telling of it).

MagicCube
May 25, 2004

Here's a good guide I've kept on hand, the thrown baby one is my favourite:

http://imgur.com/gallery/IZPo0vY

I've only had the charity one happen to me, near the Eiffel Tower. Naive trusting me thought signing a petition for deaf kids was a good idea and then I saw they had donation amount listed. I handed it back to them and I saw about 5-6 kids coming towards me so I just walked away. Didn't have anything in my pockets either so nothing bad happened.

Luckily, I'm a not an easy target than most so pickpockets avoid me. I did have a nice conversation, in perfect English, with some Moroccan pickpockets on the Circumvesuviana who were clearly casing the train the entire time we were talking.

flynt
Dec 30, 2006
Triggerhappy and gunshy
Yeah, I signed a charity notebook/petition before noticing the section for donation amount too. I was in Hue, Vietnam and while I was signing the notebook he starts talking about making a donation to the Red Cross and getting tooth picks in return. I was confused by the tooth pick angle and just gave him back his notebook. I looked it up online later and saw people had been busted for the same scam in Hanoi before. http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/society/73779/couple-arrested-for-charity-scam-against-foreign-visitors.html

Mr. Nemo
Feb 4, 2016

I wish I had a sister like my big strong Daddy :(

Saladman posted:

A good friend of my brother's had that happen to him in Ankara, maybe 10 years ago. Burly men took him to the ATM and made him drain it for 2k or whatever his daily maximum was. Nothijg sexually related (well, I wasn't there, but according to his friends telling of it).

Haha, just today I discovered a National Geographic show on Netflix that showed just this. I don't know the name in english but it shows exactly what the OP asked for, scams in different cities. Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Prague, Rome, etc. Watched two episodes (Ist. and Vegas) and it was fun. A bit too melodramatic. Basically, don't pay up front for mysterious services, and if anyone seems to friendly it's probably a scam. Like, in Istanbul there were picking people up right from Taksim square and taking them to random bars. I was there last year and I would've never done something like that. You have to be quite dense to fall for it, especially when a random local girl sits on your table and asks you for a drink.

Also had the charity donation thing done to me in Berlin. Signed something and the little girl asked for 10 euros, I gave her 50 cents and she kept pointing to the part where it said "10 euro donation", I just said sorry and walked away.

Pieces
Jan 25, 2011

Mr. Nemo posted:

Haha, just today I discovered a National Geographic show on Netflix that showed just this. I don't know the name in english but it shows exactly what the OP asked for, scams in different cities. Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Prague, Rome, etc. Watched two episodes (Ist. and Vegas) and it was fun. A bit too melodramatic. Basically, don't pay up front for mysterious services, and if anyone seems to friendly it's probably a scam. Like, in Istanbul there were picking people up right from Taksim square and taking them to random bars. I was there last year and I would've never done something like that. You have to be quite dense to fall for it, especially when a random local girl sits on your table and asks you for a drink.

That show is called Scam City. Entertaining but most of the stuff is staged / fake (to the point where the city of Amsterdam complained about it portraying it as being dangerous).

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Mr. Nemo posted:

Haha, just today I discovered a National Geographic show on Netflix that showed just this. I don't know the name in english but it shows exactly what the OP asked for, scams in different cities. Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Prague, Rome, etc. Watched two episodes (Ist. and Vegas) and it was fun. A bit too melodramatic. Basically, don't pay up front for mysterious services, and if anyone seems to friendly it's probably a scam. Like, in Istanbul there were picking people up right from Taksim square and taking them to random bars. I was there last year and I would've never done something like that. You have to be quite dense to fall for it, especially when a random local girl sits on your table and asks you for a drink.

Also had the charity donation thing done to me in Berlin. Signed something and the little girl asked for 10 euros, I gave her 50 cents and she kept pointing to the part where it said "10 euro donation", I just said sorry and walked away.

My brother's (straight male) friend got picked up for that scam by some local guy in Ankara while he was doing a solo RTW trip for like 6 months. I think he was just at a café or something too before they went around Ankara like all day before going to the bar. It's not always so obvious as "pretty girl sits down next to solo male traveler and asks for a drink". I could definitely see getting lonely on a trip like that and just being down to go out with whoever speaks the same language you do and seems reasonably interesting to talk to.

But yeah, a lot of times you have to be kind of retarded or gullible to fall for it like the "deaf kids" petition. I didn't even know they sometimes had pickpockets; I've seen it a ton of times in Europe (inc. Switzerland) and every time it's just been some lone 10-15 year old with a sign, usually a girl. I've watched people sign it and never seen anyone get felt up by a pickpocket... so I guess it still is a scam, but not quite the same way. I'm not really sure why anyone would sign it and not give money (if they thought it was legitimate)—what is signing a letter to help deaf people possibly going to do? I guess that will defeat inequality right after terrorism is defeated by adding the French flag to people's facebook profiles.

I've "fallen" for the scam in Italian train stations where some guy comes up to you at the ticket machine and helps you buy tickets. The one time it happened I was glad the dude was there and gave him €2 for helping us buy four tickets, because wherever it was (Termini?) had an absolutely garbage automated system and the teller queue was like 50 people deep. Some of these similar "scams" I actually find almost more like "unofficial services". Third world tour guides at famous locations also usually/always fall into this category.

The only time I've ever had an attempted pickpocket attempt was in a busy Cusco market, where someone behind or above me dumped some sort of dirt/powder on me and someone in front of me bent down to pick something up. My hands immediately went into my pockets and I sort of shoved my way through the crowd of people. It was definitely worth knowing about that type of scam or I probably would've tried brushing myself off while someone stole everything in my pockets.

Fleta Mcgurn
Oct 5, 2003

Porpoise noise continues.
At temples in Cambodia, a random man might ask you to donate to the temple after a few minutes of chit-chat. Don't. Put money in the locked donation boxes, if you like. Furthermore, don't buy baby formula for beggar women- they'll ask you to buy the most expensive brand, then return it to the shop and either keep the profits or split them with the shopkeeper.

Another Cambodia tip; don't go on an "orphanage tour." 75% of children you see in most "orphanages" have at least one living parent and take home a small cut of the money you give. The fake orphanage schemes in Cambodia are a huge problem and locals will likely be the first to warn you about it.

In Ueno Park in Tokyo, there are men standing there with a sign claiming that they are Buddhist monks who live on donations. They're not.

The scams described in the OP as happening in China and Japan are common throughout East and Southeast Asia, so keep an eye out. However, a lot of the situations described in the OP are also ones you can walk away from; too loving bad if the guide/local doesn't like it and gets aggressive. They're probably not going to pop you.

Don't give to children begging in the street...like, anywhere. They usually give the money over to a tout/gangster who's higher up on the food chain than they are.

Another popular scam in China is the "art scam" where a young person approaches you, offers to guide you around for free so they can practice their English, and then asks you to visit their art student gallery. This isn't actually much of a scam because you can actually buy some interesting stuff, but there is the potential for people to get aggressive. That said, I have bought some really beautiful stuff from these guys in the past, so who cares?


and never go to Times Square anyways lol

why

Kopijeger
Feb 14, 2010
In Rome, there was this one thing I experienced that might have been an attempted scam, so I was hoping someone might be able to shed some light on it. Outside the Vatican Museum, there were these stands selling kitschy tourist trinkets on the curb opposite the entrance to the museum. I got there shortly after it had opened and walked straight past the already very long queue (having preordered a ticket online). As I was doing that some woman (obviously non-Italian, probably from some SE Asian country) by the stands suddenly uttered "You have a ticket sir? in English. Thing is, I have no idea what she was hoping to accomplish. Is it some kind of scalping thing where they attempt to sell tickets to the museum at an inflated price?

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
Yeah, most likely she was legitimate. She was probably one of those 'tour guides' who pre-buys tickets and then sells the ticket + tour at an inflated price to guide you and like 10 other people around. There might be scammers in the same place doing the same thing, but I doubt it. I imagine the legitimate ones would kill anyone scamming people using the same tactic on their turf.

ReindeerF
Apr 20, 2002

Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

MagicCube posted:

Here's a good guide I've kept on hand, the thrown baby one is my favourite:

http://imgur.com/gallery/IZPo0vY
That's a good list, looks pretty European. Here are some that roll around SE Asia regularly:

  • The blackjack scam where the Filipino befriends you, takes you home for dinner to meet [family member] and ends up teaching you blackjack - downhill from there. [Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines]
  • Drugging your drink on the bus and stealing your poo poo.
  • The scam bus from A to B that accidentally always takes too long and will only drop you at a lovely out of town guesthouse. [Bangkok-Cambodia mostly, but happens elsewhere]
  • Today Buddha holiday, internationally famous tourist attraction closed, but let me take you on a tour. [Mekong region].
  • Purchasing any kind of real estate, basically, but especially condos near a beach.
  • Anything a foreigner of your own cultural background offers or tries to "help" you with.
  • Comedy sick buffalo option.

It's hard to remember them all, because once you're not on the tourist trail long enough, they become sort of invisible. Still, these happen often enough that I've read someone mentioning them in the last year.

The best advice over here in Warm Asia is to smile, put some earbuds in and don't talk to anyone who approaches you anywhere you spot a single other foreigner. Learn the local phrase for "no thanks" in every language and practice it to fluency, it's an excellent repellent. Wearing fisherman pants, a backpack and carrying a map is pretty much chumming the water and makes for entertaining results for the rest of us, though. That said, the most common, and biggest scams are always foreigner on foreigner and people who speak your language and look like they might be one of you are your biggest enemy as a newly arrived foreigner - something that's true all over the world.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

ReindeerF posted:

That said, the most common, and biggest scams are always foreigner on foreigner and people who speak your language and look like they might be one of you are your biggest enemy as a newly arrived foreigner - something that's true all over the world.

Foreigner on foreigner? Maybe those are the biggest scams by dollar value, like for fake investments or something. But most common? Absolutely not.. Locals are always the biggest propagators of scams wherever you go. In America, Americans are the scammers. In Thailand the Thais. The only remotely possible exception I could think of to this might be in Japan or South Korea.

Who's more likely to be a scammer in Cambodia: the Swiss guy who comes up to you and speaks in Swiss German, or the Cambodian who comes up and talks to you in English? I would literally bet my life on the second. Even for more common languages like French or English you're still way safer following your countryman than following some local who speaks your language.

Maybe this is some SEA speciality but I've never even heard a single anecdote in person of someone getting scammed by someone posing as a fellow tourist. I've read online stories but very rarely and its almost entirely expat on expat (see: investment fraud) and not tourists.

ReindeerF
Apr 20, 2002

Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro
I grew up in a community in rural Texas that was half Latin American - notarios, coyotes, slum lords, you name it. This is something I knew long before moving to Southeast Asia.

Abugadu
Jul 12, 2004

1st Sgt. Matthews and the men have Procured for me a cummerbund from a traveling gypsy, who screeched Victory shall come at a Terrible price. i am Honored.

ReindeerF posted:

That's a good list, looks pretty European. Here are some that roll around SE Asia regularly:

  • The blackjack scam where the Filipino befriends you, takes you home for dinner to meet [family member] and ends up teaching you blackjack - downhill from there. [Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines]
  • Drugging your drink on the bus and stealing your poo poo.
  • The scam bus from A to B that accidentally always takes too long and will only drop you at a lovely out of town guesthouse. [Bangkok-Cambodia mostly, but happens elsewhere]
  • Today Buddha holiday, internationally famous tourist attraction closed, but let me take you on a tour. [Mekong region].
  • Purchasing any kind of real estate, basically, but especially condos near a beach.
  • Anything a foreigner of your own cultural background offers or tries to "help" you with.
  • Comedy sick buffalo option.

It's hard to remember them all, because once you're not on the tourist trail long enough, they become sort of invisible. Still, these happen often enough that I've read someone mentioning them in the last year.

The best advice over here in Warm Asia is to smile, put some earbuds in and don't talk to anyone who approaches you anywhere you spot a single other foreigner. Learn the local phrase for "no thanks" in every language and practice it to fluency, it's an excellent repellent. Wearing fisherman pants, a backpack and carrying a map is pretty much chumming the water and makes for entertaining results for the rest of us, though. That said, the most common, and biggest scams are always foreigner on foreigner and people who speak your language and look like they might be one of you are your biggest enemy as a newly arrived foreigner - something that's true all over the world.

Another one on the Bangkok-Cambodia route is the fake government office near the Poipet border crossing. Bus gets you to the station right near the border, Tuk-tuk drivers appear to be taking people to the crossing, but a few veer off to a building with uniformed people who appear to be official, providing you the forms needed to get across and selling transportation on the other side of the border because oh don't you see the Cambodians can't be trusted. We'll even send this guy with you, so you feel confident. You pay, you go across, guy disappears.

I had a friend fall for the drugging the drink thing too, in Manila, was offered a complimentary limo ride. Said the can of OJ didn't look open or tampered with, but then woke up in a ditch outside the city.

Blinkman987
Jul 10, 2008

Gender roles guilt me into being fat.
In New Delhi, some unsuspecting Dutch dudes I roomed with not only got the "your hostel is closed for holiday," they got shown a bootleg Lonely Planet book that had a phone number listed for their booked hostel that called a different number with a guy on the other end who was in on the scam. Impressive.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Blinkman987 posted:

In New Delhi, some unsuspecting Dutch dudes I roomed with not only got the "your hostel is closed for holiday," they got shown a bootleg Lonely Planet book that had a phone number listed for their booked hostel that called a different number with a guy on the other end who was in on the scam. Impressive.

What actually happens in this scam? Do you just stay in a lovely and overpriced hotel, or do you wake up without your kidneys?

It seems to be incredibly pervasive in India too, I think everyone I know whose traveled around India has had a tuktuk driver bullshit them with this.

Blinkman987
Jul 10, 2008

Gender roles guilt me into being fat.

Saladman posted:

What actually happens in this scam? Do you just stay in a lovely and overpriced hotel, or do you wake up without your kidneys?

It seems to be incredibly pervasive in India too, I think everyone I know whose traveled around India has had a tuktuk driver bullshit them with this.

Not sure. I can only say what those guys told me in that the scammers overcharge you by a ton with the hotel and keep bilking you with other scams. If the mark is willing to fall for one... The Dutch were taken to a money exchange place that tried to gouge them, but they knew what the rate should be and that's finally when they knew they were getting scammed. They bailed one way or another, wandered around for some time, and eventually stumbled across a cafe that had WiFi.

rhombus
Apr 20, 2002

bringmyfishback posted:

In Ueno Park in Tokyo, there are men standing there with a sign claiming that they are Buddhist monks who live on donations. They're not.

I didn't see these guys when I was there in December. I really loved Tokyo for it's lack of scams/touts/hawkers. It was the first major international city I visited where I felt really safe and didn't worry about being harassed.

zmcnulty
Jul 26, 2003

It's kind of stretching the definition of the word "scam" anyway. Those guys literally just stand there, say nothing, and hope you approach them to give them money.

Fleta Mcgurn
Oct 5, 2003

Porpoise noise continues.
Sorry? I still think it's good to be aware of it. FWIW I've only seen them on weekends.

Also, anything where you lie to strangers to get money is pretty much a scam. :confused:

zmcnulty
Jul 26, 2003

That's why I used the word stretching. Yes it contains deception and strangers and money. But it's not like those guys are smooth talking their way into your trip or trying to sell you fake camera lenses. There are actual monks that do that too, nationwide. Did you ask for his monk begging license or what?

Fleta Mcgurn
Oct 5, 2003

Porpoise noise continues.

zmcnulty posted:

That's why I used the word stretching. Yes it contains deception and strangers and money. But it's not like those guys are smooth talking their way into your trip or trying to sell you fake camera lenses. There are actual monks that do that too, nationwide. Did you ask for his monk begging license or what?

No, but you can do that anytime you think the monk in question is not-a-monk.

Stretching must have different meanings to different people. Since the definition of a scam, according to Google, is "a dishonest scheme; a fraud," I don't consider my example "stretching." I don't see why I should be getting poo poo for posting it, either, especially since as a former Tokyo resident I knew quite a few naive tourists/new English teachers who fell for it. But hey, whatever, man.

zmcnulty
Jul 26, 2003

your scam is not scammy enough for a thread about scams, sorry

greazeball
Feb 4, 2003



When we were in Istanbul, my wife noticed the taxi drivers would give half-drunk bottles of water or half-eaten packs of cookies to the kids begging in traffic. If you want to give something to kids who are begging, it seems like something they can't really do anything with other than eat/drink it.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

greazeball posted:

When we were in Istanbul, my wife noticed the taxi drivers would give half-drunk bottles of water or half-eaten packs of cookies to the kids begging in traffic. If you want to give something to kids who are begging, it seems like something they can't really do anything with other than eat/drink it.

Haven't noticed that but that's a good idea. There are a depressing number of Syrian children alone by themselves on the street here.

I LIKE COOKIE
Dec 12, 2010

bringmyfishback posted:

No, but you can do that anytime you think the monk in question is not-a-monk.

Stretching must have different meanings to different people. Since the definition of a scam, according to Google, is "a dishonest scheme; a fraud," I don't consider my example "stretching." I don't see why I should be getting poo poo for posting it, either, especially since as a former Tokyo resident I knew quite a few naive tourists/new English teachers who fell for it. But hey, whatever, man.

Lol. Just lol.

Thesaurus
Oct 3, 2004


I've just become super suspicious and distrustful of anyone who attempts to talk to me while traveling anywhere... ESPECIALLY if they start speaking English.

It's kind of sad to get that jaded, but thems the breaks.

It's tough to learn what's normal friendliness for a culture until you've been there a while. I was in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic and Dominicans are legitimately very open and friendly people, who will totally offer you drinks, food, etc. However, in the resort areas you'd have to be on alert. Sometimes Haitian kids would start shining your shoes without you even asking and then demand money. Fortunately it was culturally acceptable to cuss out kids...

I guess it's not a scam, per se, but getting ripped off as a foreigner is pretty annoying and harder to avoid.

lampey
Mar 27, 2012

In San Francisco and Oakland there will be people asking for money on Bart. Sometimes they dance or bring there kids and sing, tell you the brother was killed by a drunk driver, don't have enough money to get off bart, car broke down. All scams, same people every day. Fake monks with fancy gold pamphlet, asking for donations. Very pushy. Anything sold in a stand on the sidewalk is overpriced crap from China. At every highway ramp from 6 am to 8pm there will be a beggar. They don't even try. A young person smoking with there dog holding a sign that says anything helps. If anyone talks to you near bart it is probably a scam. "I'm not selling anything, would you like to buy this Italian watch?" A food truck should have a health paper from the city.

Shibawanko
Feb 13, 2013

rhombus posted:

I didn't see these guys when I was there in December. I really loved Tokyo for it's lack of scams/touts/hawkers. It was the first major international city I visited where I felt really safe and didn't worry about being harassed.

I'm not sure if it's a scam but around Asakusa there are still people collecting money for the 2011 earthquake. When I was there with two visiting friends they asked them for cash but they looked kind of dodgy and it seemed like they were only going after tourists. They might also have been from some horrible cult or something using the earthquake as a pretext to raise money mostly for themselves.

Original_Z
Jun 14, 2005
Z so good
Yeah, right after the earthquake happened a lot of people were on the streets taking donations, and a news report aired about how a number of them were scammers who were just pocketing the cash. Absolutely deplorable. Needless to say people were less giving with their donations after that, although I'd like to think that they still donated, just at official collection points.

Probably the same thing happening with the Kumamoto earthquake now.

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I like turtles
Aug 6, 2009

I've known someone that had a classic eastern european scam attempted on her.
The setup:
Team of two or three scammers, one walking in front of you, two others in "official" uniforms (though honestly in some places they might actually be official...)
The one in front drops their wallet.
You grab it and try to catch up to them to return it.
In the meantime, the "officials" come up and suggest that you've stolen the wallet and are going to be arrested and charged
That is, unless you want to pay the fine now...


Luckily she was aware of the scam - so she just crossed the street and kept walking. She said that a friend behind her saw the "officials" waiting to pounce, but not the wallet dropper

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