A Little from Everyone
This could well be the motto of those who fleece tourists little by little. First, there are the helpers – the “good fellows” who strive to offer any service: carry luggage, show the way, help find a hotel. Sometimes such a helper intercepts travelers on the way to some attraction and announces that it is closed, but for a certain fee he is ready to show even more interesting places. Some, especially persistent ones, may continue to accompany the tourist for a long time. It doesn’t matter that such a “helper” simply walked alongside and pestered them. At the end of the journey, he will still demand money for the “work” and will swear and shout that they are trying to cheat him and leave him unpaid. Many prefer to give a little money to get rid of this noisy adhesive.
Dealing with taxi drivers causes a lot of trouble. Among their main tricks: taking a tourist unfamiliar with the city the longest route, switching the meter to the night rate instead of the daytime one, forgetting to reset the meter after the previous customer. Even if you agree on a fixed price with the taxi driver, he may drive halfway and, stopping in a deserted place, declare that it’s far to go further and expensive, or take you somewhere else and claim that the clients specified exactly that area (and to another area he will take you, naturally, only for an additional fee).
If for the tourist time is not more valuable than money, the best thing in such situations is to stand your ground to the end, argue, make a scene, threaten to call the police, say you won’t get out of the car: let him take you either in the desired direction or back (but then he gets nothing). The deceiver must understand that he will not only not get more money from such an obstinate client but will also lose time during which he could have “conned” another couple of people.
Bar and restaurant employees are no less enterprising. They use fake menus with prices inflated several times over or prices in a different, more expensive currency (for example, a tourist may initially see a list of dishes with prices in local money, but upon payment it turns out they were euros – the corresponding menu will be shown to him). Sometimes an overconfident traveler even forgets to look at the price list, thinking it’s impossible to go broke by drinking a single mug of beer. And then the cashier may put any amount on the bill (up to hundreds and thousands of dollars). Taking advantage of ignorance of local cuisine, restaurant staff may serve cheaper dishes instead of expensive ones, not forgetting to put on the bill exactly what the tourist ordered.
There is another “helper-restaurant” type of scam: foreigners are lured into some establishment for an unusual show that will start “in a few minutes.” Moreover, the show is absolutely free, but you need to order drinks. Usually after two or three paid cocktails and forty minutes of waiting, tourists realize the show isn’t coming and they’ve simply been tricked.
High-Stakes Game
Among the fraudsters, there are those who prefer to play only for high stakes. And primarily at risk are tourists who themselves break local laws.
An age-old trick: a traveler is drawn to the exotic and decides to spend the night with a local beauty. People forget that in many countries prostitution is officially forbidden and punishment may apply not only to the lady of easy virtue but also to her client. Or it may not, but a thug dressed in a police uniform will present it exactly that way. However, trouble can be avoided if the traveler agrees to donate “for the needs of the police station” a certain sum, quite small given the circumstances, of several thousand dollars. The tourist will be thoroughly described all the “delights” of being in local prisons and advised to settle the matter peacefully. No money? There are money transfer services: friends and relatives will not wish upon the poor soul a fate you wouldn’t wish on your enemy. Everything gets worse if the girl also says she still has a whole year before reaching the age of majority. For corrupting a minor, the sentence is much longer, and therefore the ransom is higher.
By the way, not only a local priestess of love but also a perfectly respectable female compatriot from the next room can be declared a call girl, unfortunately deciding to have a pleasant time in a country where such behavior is not welcomed. So perhaps both will have to pay.
A similar situation can arise with drugs. The seller’s buddies will act as police, and any similar powder will serve as the drug (the victim simply won’t have time to try it before it is “confiscated”).
Even the most law-abiding people, not indulging in “bad excesses”, have plenty of chances to part with a tidy sum. Setups happen not only on our roads and not only with car enthusiasts. With a rental car, especially if taken from a respectable company, it’s harder to pull off (you have to deal with insurers), but with, say, a scooter or ATV, it’s quite possible. As a rule, no special contracts or insurance are made when renting such vehicles.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, another scooter crashes into the tourist, and guess who will be blamed for the accident (especially if the scammers have promised in advance to give a cut of the profit to the policeman and “witnesses”)? Next, the foreigner will be offered to pay a very large bill for himself and that “injured” guy. Serious psychological work will be done on the foreign citizen: essentially, they will take him hostage and explain clearly that he will not be allowed to leave the country until he pays. Unsurprisingly, after some time he “cracks” and parts with the money.
What can be advised in such serious cases? In a foreign country, a person who does not know the language and laws, and has no relatives or friends, is defenseless. If it hasn't come to arrest, you need to demand documents, try to photograph all participants of the incident and record everything in writing, call on compatriots for help and ask them to be witnesses, show as much activity as possible. Whether the person broke the law or not, it is worth denying everything and demanding representatives of the authorities and your consulate, try to create as much noise around the incident as possible. Scammers do not like it when attention is drawn to their persons, and therefore may try to slip into the shadows.
Unfortunately, in a number of countries the level of corruption is so high that entire police departments may be involved in deceiving tourists, and then the traveler's fate is unenviable: all hope is that friends will raise the alarm. And before leaving for an unfamiliar and not entirely prosperous country, you need to learn at least a little about local laws and where to turn in emergencies.
Anastasia GVENDYAEVA.
Turist.ru