Travel Journals

Avoiding Travel Scams
by Julie Vick

Key West
by Sandy Summers

Prague: Pivo, Prosm!
by Ellen Kamilakis

From Umbria to Le Marche
by Jackie Goyette

Observations of Those On the Road
by Matt Superfisky

That Smile
by Claire Rogers

return to main
Archives

Travel Journals

Avoiding Travel Scams
by Julie Vick

The first time I went to Paris, my friend and I found a very nice man in the subway station. We were surprised because we had heard the French were stuck up and unhelpful, and we had gotten lucky enough to find a friendly one as soon as we got off the train. We were trying to buy tickets to the subway and the man helped us use the machine. We told him we didn't know any French at all as he led us to the machine. We gave him money and he gave us what we thought were two weekend passes for the Metro. It turned out they were only good for one ride, and the friendly man in the station had just helped us out of a lot of money.

I thought I had read up on all the scams and taken the necessary precautions before going. I carried my money in a money belt and asked the price of a taxi ride before getting in. I kept my bag close to me on trains and in stations and wore my backpack in front in crowded areas. But I hadn't planned for the subway scam and decided to never fall for anything like that again.

I've heard of all sorts of scams in my travels ranging from the basic pickpocket - which I learned about when watching Oliver Twist as a child—to the stories bordering on urban legend. When I studied in Spain for a semester during college, I heard of someone getting clubbed over the head in a crowded train station and mugged. The gypsies in Italy were said to get your bag by throwing a baby at you—you dropped the bag to catch the baby. I also heard about train robbers who filled the cars with sleeping gas so travelers could be robbed as they slept. Of course these things always happened to friends of friends and could rarely be verified, but they did add anxiety to my travels.

That incident in Paris was the last scam I fell for. I've traveled through Europe, Latin America, and Asia and managed to keep my money secure along the way. I take basic precautions like avoiding questionable areas, not walking alone at night, and reading up on all the scams in an area before visiting. Worrying too much can make you miss out on the adventures, and when you're traveling that's the last thing you want to do. So it's best to educate yourself by reading the warnings in a guidebook or on the U.S. government website before traveling.

Last summer I went to Thailand and read from the scam section of my guidebook before visiting. I saw Brokedown Palace and wasn't about to agree to any trips with charming Australian men or leave my bags unattended for any length of time. My guidebook also warned of several scams involving fake jewelry being sold to tourists as the real deal. Since I can't tell cubic zirconia from diamonds I avoided the jewelry shops, although there were plenty of reputable places listed in the book that I could have visited. Another scam involved locals saying the tourist attractions are closed in order to steer unsuspecting travelers into their shops, which typically sell overpriced fake gems or other souvenirs.

After visiting the Grand Palace in Bangkok we went to find the Temple of the Reclining Buddha that looked like it was just down the street on our map. We stopped to ask a street vendor for directions and he pointed us the right way. After we walked a little further we still didn't see the entrance and a local stopped to ask where we were going. "The Reclining Buddha," my friend replied.

"Oh that's closed today," he said.

"We're going to look for it anyway," I said and we kept walking. He kept walking with us.

"It's right here — it's closed," he pointed to a gate that wasn't marked and looked like it was the outer edge of the Palace we had just come from. We walked across the street to get a closer look and it didn't seem right.

"We're going to keep walking," we told him.

"It's right here," he called after us. We ignored him and rounded a corner and saw the real entrance to The Reclining Buddha. It was indeed open. When we bought our tickets and looked behind us, our little friend was gone.