5 Scams Foolish Tourists Always Fall For

[tonado]

http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/5-tourist-scams.htm

 

5 Scams Foolish Tourists Always Fall For

[Jaseball]

Depending on how realistic the uniform looks, I could possibly be fooled with that one.

[JonathanM]

I wonder how many western men fall for the scam at Tiananmen Square. Chinese woman says "hi" and if you responed, she engages into a conversation about where you are from and if your in china for business or just traveling. Of course she would like to walk with you and talk about her and your culture, learning more english along the way. Then she suggests that the two or sometimes three of you sitdown at a restaurant for a drink. If you comply, she takes you to a tea house (forget the name of the street, along side Tiananmen) and orders from a very expensive menu. 40rmb coke and 1200rmb wine, etc.. I can buy the same coke at Tesco for 2yuan and 4 jiao. When me and the wife visit Tiananmen with friends, we always see this sort of thing going on, woman staking out the place for western men.

[Kyle]

The last time I was in Beijing, I had a lot of women come up to me, wanting to know if I wanted to go to an art gallery. This was near ³¤°²½Ö. Counterfeit money is a big problem, and often taxi drivers where I'm at, try to pass them off.

[bokiwen]

Some things I've noticed:

 

I've been asked in Tiananmen square to see the "art show" from local students. Basically they approach, ask where you are from, then say they are practicing English, and ask if you want to go to see their gallery. I was asked to go to a tea house too, but I have a friend who owns a tea house in Beijing so I declined.

 

The other "overly" helpful thing is people at an airport trying to help. At the old Beijing airport, some people approached me and asked where my next flight was, claiming "you won't have time to make your flight" or "your bags are overweight", blah, blah, blah. Of course they do this for money.

 

Another Tianamen square scheme I saw was while I was waiting in Line to see Chairman Mao. I had my camera with me, and I was asked if I wanted someone to hold my camera for me because you would not be allowed to take it inside. Of course they were telling the truth, but I'm sure they would have run away with my camera. I took my camera to a locker rental place nearby.

 

I fell for the "unlicensed taxi" scheme myself in Beijing. I had to get from the airport to a hotel on Wangfujing street. When leaving the airport, I was approached and said it would cost like 400RMB to go by taxi, but they would take me for 350RMB. Of course, I negotiated, and got them down to 250 (thinking I was making a good deal). On my return trip back to the airport, I found it cost a little over 100 RMB and I had been ripped off by the jitney driver.

 

 

Some other things I noticed - not necessarily scams:

 

A hotel also double charged me for a room (thinking this was an honest mistake though). I had to settle the matter with AMEX before I would remit payment.

 

One of my colleagues was a victim of fake money. I think it was the 100RMB bills, but I wasn't so sure. The restaurant we went to wouldn't take his money (The Greenery Cafe in Taiyuan), so he refused to go back. He pawned the bill off on someone else though.

[Guest Pommey]

ever been a tourist in NYC ?

 

the most scams and rip offs anywhere in the world

[JonathanM]

Some things I've noticed:

 

 

I fell for the "unlicensed taxi" scheme myself in Beijing. I had to get from the airport to a hotel on Wangfujing street. When leaving the airport, I was approached and said it would cost like 400RMB to go by taxi, but they would take me for 350RMB. Of course, I negotiated, and got them down to 250 (thinking I was making a good deal). On my return trip back to the airport, I found it cost a little over 100 RMB and I had been ripped off by the jitney driver.

 

 

These taxi drivers are all over Beijing. Most taxi drivers in Beijing are dishonest, jut my experiences compared to other cities like Tianjin. Another scam I always come across is the woman and child "who just come to Beijing and need some money". Always hang out near the major hotels or malls. I followed one woman after slipping her a 10 bill and she met up with her husband and took off in a taxi. I have been asked by teenagers with school back packs and most recently a woman drinking a starbucks coffee. Also be careful of the woman who supposedly had her purse snatched and cries her eyes out until she has made a reasonable amount of money from strangers or until the police come. (I see this one in guangzhou) One scam I'm not sure of, is the women who stake out the malls in Beijing. I always see these woman in groups of two looking for western men who are alone. I'm always with the wife, but it's very obvious to see. I'm sure scams are all over china, but in Beijing I see more of them.

 

There are many things that happen in China just like in the states and because of the amount of people, there is more of it. Being married to a chinese woman I get to see, hear and do many things that a normal tourist would never experience in china.

Edited September 24, 2009 by JonathanM (see edit history)

[bokiwen]

 

 

These taxi drivers are all over Beijing. Most taxi drivers in Beijing are dishonest, jut my experiences compared to other cities like Tianjin. Another scam I always come across is the woman and child "who just come to Beijing and need some money". Always hang out near the major hotels or malls. I followed one woman after slipping her a 10 bill and she met up with her husband and took off in a taxi. I have been asked by teenagers with school back packs and most recently a woman drinking a starbucks coffee. Also be careful of the woman who supposedly had her purse snatched and cries her eyes out until she has made a reasonable amount of money from strangers or until the police come. (I see this one in guangzhou) One scam I'm not sure of, is the women who stake out the malls in Beijing. I always see these woman in groups of two looking for western men who are alone. I'm always with the wife, but it's very obvious to see. I'm sure scams are all over china, but in Beijing I see more of them.

 

There are many things that happen in China just like in the states and because of the amount of people, there is more of it. Being married to a chinese woman I get to see, hear and do many things that a normal tourist would never experience in china.

 

I've seen some beggars, and yes, they often do seem to be in areas where more population hangs out. I did give money to some people, but this was often a source of "discontent" between me and my wife. I once gave some to a woman who was paper thin and her baby (she wasn't even begging), as she was outside of the hotel I was staying in. I tried to think it wasn't a scam, but you never know. I guess it's wise to assume that if things seem too good to be true, it probably is! Of course, this advice can appy to any city..

[xiaofeizhu]

My hubby told me about many possible ways I could get scammed, most of them included the ways already mentioned. Because I am ethnically Japanese, I do not stick out much in China. I never thought I would get scammed, but I did once!

 

While I was studying Chinese in Beijing, my husband caught a cold. Thinking I would be a sweet, caring wife I tried to purchase some grapes on my way home from class. I asked the man how much the grapes were and he said 30 yuan for 1 "jin". I thought it sounded expensive, but hey, I knew nothing about the price of grapes in China (another bad idea, you should try to know the general price of stuff). Well, I ended up with a little less than 1 jin and the man tried to charge me even more by only giving me 10 yuan back (I gave a 50). After that, I told him in Chinese, "Didn't you say it was 30 yuan?" He reluctantly gave me 10 yuan back.

 

The next day, I saw a man (different guy) selling grapes...5 yuan for 1 jin! My husband told me not to try to haggle again, it would have been better if I went to the grocery store instead (I though I could get a better deal by haggling! LOL!)

 

Anyway, I was not fooled and the next time I went to buy flowers, I did pretty well. I got prety good at haggling and even impressed my mother in law! Hehe.

 

Anyway, it's very easy to get ripped off by people who are not really scammers per se but are trying to take advantage of people who just do not understand/know any better.

 

The next thing my husband taught me to say in Chinese was, "I am Mongolian, don't try to rip me off" (He taught me this because he is Mongolian and said that a lot of people in Mongolia do not speak Mandarin so I could pretend I was Mongolian and they would not decieve me...it did actually work!)