5 Travel Scams to Avoid
- by John Doe
Travel scams are real — and they vary from country to country. If you are carrying a travel guidebook, it will list the most common scams in that specific country.
To help you stay safe, today, I want to give you a list of common travel scams to avoid.
Avoiding travel scams requires a lot of common sense and a healthy dose of suspicion. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!
1. The taxi overcharge
This is one of the most common travel scams out there. Either the driver will tell you the meter is broken and try to charge you a huge rate or you’ll see the meter go higher and faster than usual.
To avoid this scam, first, you need to know how much a ride should cost. I always ask the hostel or hotel staff what a ride should be so I have a frame of reference.
Next, if the cabbie tries to negotiate the rate with me, I offer him the correct rate. If he refuses, I find someone who will put the meter on. If the meter seems to be going up too quickly, I have them pull over and I get out. Many tourism boards let you report bad cab drivers so be sure to always make a mental note of their ID number when you get in the cab.
When in doubt, ask your hostel/hotel staff to call a cab for you. They will know which companies are reputable.
And never get in an unlicensed cab — no matter how amazing the deal is!
2. Your accommodation is “closed”
This is another cab-driver-related scam. In this scam, your driver will tell you your hotel or hostel is overbooked or even closed. It’s not. I mean, you wouldn’t have booked it if it was, right? Just ignore them and insist on going there. If they keep trying, continue to insist. They will usually shut up about it.
And while this seems like a scam no one could possibly fall for, people do. I’ve been in many cabs where they insist my hostel has been closed for months.
3. The shell game
I see this one all the time — how people fall for it I’ll never know. It’s such an old and obvious scam. It’s in movies, for heaven’s sake! You’ll see people on the street playing a card game (sometimes known as three-card Monte) or hiding a ball in a cup and someone guessing where it is and winning money.