From the taximeter scam to boat tour scams, travelers reveal the worst scams they’ve fallen victim to

The holidays are in full swing and that means sun, sea, sand and… scams.

Even the most well-traveled and cautious can be surprised by a clever trick. And it often happens when you least expect it.

Want to avoid getting scammed? Tourists on Reddit have shared some common scams to watch out for.

User ‘pelican678’ started the discussion on the ‘Travel’ forum when he asked: ‘What’s the worst scam you’ve ever fallen for while traveling?’

From tourists being given fake notes as a distraction to seemingly nice tour operators running scams, read on for the facts on scams around the world…

The taxi scam

Want to avoid getting ripped off? Tourists on Reddit have shared some common scams to watch out for. One of the most common scams is taxi drivers lying about a “broken meter” and then overcharging for the ride.

One of the most common scams that travelers fall victim to is overcharging for taxis. Many Redditors warn tourists to never pay at the end of a ride.

‘User ‘countlesskillalot’ claimed that many taxi drivers in Morocco ‘will tell you their meter is broken and charge you a hefty fee’. They added: ‘I have literally gotten out of taxis because of that, because they always overcharge.’

User ‘pelican678’ wrote: ‘Taxis abroad can be a huge scam, especially if they see you as a tourist. Uber has helped a lot, at least they have good customer service and the means to disrupt costs.’

SquareVehicle agreed: “Uber and other forms of car sharing were absolutely groundbreaking when they came out.”

The Two-Account Scam

Scammers try to trick tourists by pretending to have given them a note with too low a value

Tourists should be careful with their cash, especially in countries where they do not know the currency, as there may be scammers who try to cheat them.

User ‘Harperfin’ experienced this in Morocco, where he pointed out that the purple 20 Moroccan Dirham note (£1.60/$2) looks similar to the blue 200 Dirham note (£15.90/$20.40). They explained: ‘A waiter in a restaurant scammed me by taking my money, then running out claiming I had accidentally given him a smaller note. He distracted me by waving the money around and talking quickly.’

‘NoStructure371’ added: ‘Something similar happened to me in Amsterdam. A beer cost eight euros and I gave him 50 euros and the bartender gave me a two euro coin back as if it was nothing, and changed me 40 euros too little, thinking I wouldn’t say anything about it.’

User ‘Angle_Of_The_Sangle’ called it a ‘classic’ scam. They wrote: ‘When I was trained as a cashier, they taught us that when the customer hands you a bill, you put it on the register while you make change. You don’t take their $20 and put it in the cash drawer because then they can claim they gave you $100.’

The handwritten letter scam

Travelers should be wary if someone approaches them with a handwritten note. Many Redditors warn that this could be a distraction tactic used by scammers to steal valuables, such as phones.

User ‘GooeyPig’ nearly fell victim to the ploy at a McDonald’s in Paris, where a man walked up to their table and placed a handwritten note. They explained: ‘I leaned over to try to read it, but he kept pushing it towards him, so I grabbed it off the table, told him I couldn’t read it, and gave it back. He walked away.’

The user claimed that his friend narrowly avoided a phone theft. He explained:[The scammer] had put the note directly on my friend’s phone and pushed it all over to him. Couldn’t hide the phone once I took the note.’

User ‘angry_llana_pants’, who had a similar experience, replied: ‘It happened to a friend of mine in a cafe in Athens. A woman came up to me and shook a note across the table while speaking fast Greek. My friend had her phone on the table, the scammer distracted her enough and stole the phone.’

The Bracelet Scam

According to Redditors, many scammers insist on giving tourists bracelets — and then demand payment after they put the bracelet on

According to Redditors, travelers should not only watch their wallets, but also their wrists. They say that many scammers first give tourists a bracelet and then demand payment.

User ‘not_cthulhu’ recalls a trip to Japan where a man dressed as a monk approached them, gave them a bracelet and said “a few kind, affirming words” before demanding a “ridiculous donation.”

User ‘kummer5peck’ had a similar experience in Athens. They wrote: ‘People aggressively try to give you these bracelets and say they will perform an African dance later. I’m not sure if it’s a scam as much as it annoys people until they give them money to be left alone. Anyway, it worked for me. I gave the five euros.’

The ‘Baby Needs Food’ Scam

According to Redditors who pointed out a common baby food scam, many scammers are trying to get their money’s worth.

User ‘ph_gwailo’ dubbed it the ‘my baby needs food scam’ after falling victim to the scam in Havana, Cuba. They wrote: ‘You’re lured into a store with a sob story – a man’s baby can’t eat because the government won’t sell him enough baby food. You then buy it for him, only to return it to the store later for cash.’

‘SundayRed’ described the scam as ‘pretty mild all in all’. They wrote: ‘My wife fell for the “please help me buy baby food” scam in Mumbai. She ended up going to the store and buying a whole load of groceries for a woman who I’m 99% sure was on the store’s payroll.

‘But still very cheap, without consequences and in the end it helps someone, even if it is somewhat dubious.’

The boat trip scam

Redditor ‘loosey_goosey175’ revealed how they were scammed by a seemingly innocent elderly boat tour operator in Thailand

Be careful who you book a tour with.

Redditor ‘loosey_goosey175’ revealed how they were scammed by a seemingly innocent elderly boat tour operator.

They revealed: ‘My partner and I went to Thailand and we really wanted to do a boat trip around some of the islands. I remember thinking “be careful, there are a lot of scammers out there telling me a random price”, [so] I chose this old man who looked very innocent and sweet.

‘We decided to do a tour and asked about the price. He said the price of this tour for the two of us would be around £130, which sounds pretty fair for a full day tour with lunch and a few snorkel stops along the way. We reserved our seats, paid for everything and waited patiently for tomorrow.

‘When tomorrow comes we will go to the “meeting point”. Finally, after more than 1.5 hours of waiting… we went looking for that man, thinking “oh, maybe he forgot about us”. [But] His “place” was empty and locked, so of course we asked other sellers where the man was. One said, “Unfortunately [he] passed away late last night.”

‘Now the best part of the story. Three days after that “death” news we were walking around that same spot and there he was! I couldn’t believe my eyes. So the moral of the story: don’t trust anyone – not even nice looking old people.

“We didn’t get our money back because he said, ‘I’ve never seen you in my life.’ (Even though we showed him the tickets he gave us that day.)”