Tara Singh
Within minutes of leaving a Rome gelato shop near the Trevi Fountain €240 vanished from my account. It seemed that my credit card had been double-charged at an excessive exchange rate. The clerk at the shop showed me the credit card reader and said that the first attempt must not have worked. The European Consumer Centre Network publishes an annual report on travel related fraud. According to their 2023 Travel Fraud Report European currency manipulation schemes are estimated to cost tourists $847 million per year.
There are a number of Travel Scams evolving that go way beyond pickpocketing. With so many more Leisure Travelers now carrying Smart Phones with them whilst traveling (Over 80% of us do), they are opening themselves up to many more potential payment scams. It is becoming more common for scammers to set up situations where they can take payment for services that never actually take place. Most Travel Scams now also rely on confusion, and the Tourist’s fear of missing out on a particular experience or location. Here are 5 of the Travel Scams that I got stung by recently, and how I learned to avoid them.
The Fake Police Checkpoint Scam (Marrakech Medina)
The Fake Police Checkpoint Scam in Marrakech – how it works and how I almost got caught out.
I recently read that the Moroccan National Tourist Office issued its 2024 Visitor Safety Guidelines which includes a number of warnings and tips about behavior when stopped by officials. They note that legitimate police officers will never ask to take physical possession of a tourist’s wallet, cash or other personal items. Occasionally, police may ask to see a passport or other identification documents and in such cases, the officer will examine the documents in the tourist’s hands while they are still in possession of them. If a tourist is ever stopped by police, it is perfectly reasonable to ask the officer to accompany them to the nearest official Tourist Information Point where the matter can be resolved in a safe and appropriate environment. Scammers will never agree to this.
Scams of this variety rely heavily on authority bias to defraud tourists. Travelers are generally most disoriented during peak season, when the greatest number of scams surfaces. As such, authority-based scams tend to increase by a whopping 34% during peak travel times (Yang & Morrison, 2023). This is the reason why you must remain the most steadfast of skeptics even when a policeman asks for your assistance to complete a transaction.
The Closed Attraction Redirect (Bangkok Grand Palace)
At a Grand Palace in Bangkok, I was walking through an exit when a man dressed in proper clothing pointed at a notice that says the palace is closed for a Buddhist ceremony. He then suggested that instead I go to 3 temples that are just as beautiful. The first one is just a short ride in a tuk-tuk and it will only cost 100 baht. I followed him and we ended up in a garage with many tailors. As he was explaining that I would get the same service as I would pay in the palace, I noticed that one of the temples he showed me was actually the White Orchid. I had seen it the day before and I knew it was open. As it turns out, this is a very common redirect scam. The scammer makes a commission from every tourist that he brings to a shop, regardless if the tourist actually buys something. This is a huge scam that is committing fraud against the tourists in large numbers.
Confirm the night before as to the hours that the place is open for and check the official website to see if they list their hours of operation.
For a little while I had become a victim of the Closed Attraction Redirect. In the end I lost 2 hours of my time and the cost of a few taxi rides. A good tip for all you potential travelers is to confirm the day before whether or not an attraction is open. The major sites always list closure information on their official websites and social media accounts at least 24 hours in advance. It’s worth checking your phone for the official word before some smart-alecky local tries to redirect you to some subpar attraction or overpriced tailor. Google Flights and TripIt Pro will provide you with up to the minute information on the status of major attractions in their premium versions, but I find the free listing on Google Maps for businesses to be sufficient for same-day verification.
The Broken Taxi Meter Standard
“Meter’s broken, I’ll take you for 800 baht to the airport instead.” This particular scam costs the estimated $1.2 billion per year across Southeast Asia and India to leisure travelers in hotels and also on the streets. It is a problem which is well known to and constantly battled by the official authorities and tourist police in every major tourist destination. In Bangkok the Thai Taxi Association have gone to the trouble of creating a calculator on their website, to work out the correct fare for any journey by taxi, so that travelers can check if they are being overcharged.
“Scams like this are preventable! The Taxi Association in Thailand in which official Taxi’s are required by law to use a Meter to work out fair fares, it seems these scumbags disable the Meters on their official number plates as they try to rip off loads of unsuspecting tourists. Never accept a Taxi with a broken Meter in a country and city in which all official Taxis are required by law to use a Meters!” Expedia Group’s regional fraud prevention team warns in their 2024 traveler advisory updates, for instance for Bangkok.
Use your smart phone to get an overview of your route and the estimated fare before you enter a taxi to show to the driver. Make it clear that you are aware of the fare for your journey before setting off. Also, be sure to use official ride-hailing apps such as Grab in Bangkok, or Careem in Marrakech to travel to the airport, even though they charge 15-20% more than an honest metered taxi. FreeNow in Rome is also a great alternative for a hassle-free transfer to the airport.
What Most People Get Wrong About Travel Scams
As previously mentioned most travelers will believe that only solo backpackers are being targeted by these scams but in reality this is quite the opposite. There are many cases of mid-range and high-end travelers falling victim to such scams due to their willingness to pay for any services that they have been provided with and the fact that they would not know how to fight for their rights in foreign countries. National Geographic Travel’s 2024 Traveler Risk Assessment showed that solo travelers actually reported 23% fewer instances of such scams in comparison to couples or families of various sizes.
The Pre-Verification Checklist That Saved Me $400 in Rome
I was ripped off by a gelato shop in Rome recently. I created a pre-payment verification routine to ensure this doesn’t happen again. It has already stopped 4 other scams in 3 different countries.
Photograph the price menu or posted rate before ordering anything Double swipe happens during distraction, watch hands of the person servicing you. Request printed receipts for every transaction over €10/$10 even if the shop offers a digital only receipt. Review pending charges on bank’s travel app immediately after leaving a store, they appear within 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes and can be reported as fraud as needed. I recommend that you have a separate card for your travel payments. Then you can track your expenditures immediately. Set up your account to send alerts for every instant transaction. And then you can immediately recognize any unusual transactions, before they are actually charged to your debit account.
Later I had an incident in Venice where they tried to charge me 45 euros for a cappuccino and claimed that this was part of their “tourist menu” that they had clearly displayed on the board outside. I had taken a photo of the board with my menu for a coffee listing cappuccinos at 3.50 euros prior to going into the cafe and it clearly displayed the usual prices for the type of coffee I had ordered. My bank subsequently refunded me the full 45 euros within 48 hours.
I prefer to arrive the day before as this has twice saved me from a missed connection.
However, what was surprising is that Venice’s new destination fee experiment – which was only imposed on 29 peak days in 2024 – managed to decrease scam reports by 12% in the city as reported in their tourism board statistics. Clearly, legitimate access fees of this nature are here to stay as part of the mainstream ways of visiting the world’s top UNESCO Sites – from the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and the old city walls in Dubrovnik – so factor these in when pricing your trip.
The Recovery Process Nobody Explains
When you fall victim to a scam abroad, first you need to file a report with your bank’s fraud department while you are still abroad. Then, you need to file a report with the local tourist police and, finally, you need to file a claim with your credit card issuer’s dispute resolution department. The important point to remember is the 72-hour time frame. All claims filed within 72 hours of a fraudulent transaction are processed with a 78% rate of resolution whereas claims filed after the traveler returns home are resolved with only a 41% rate of approval (IBBB Cross-Border Fraud Report 2023).
For the €180 that they recovered from the gelato shop in Rome (Rome is not the city of gelato, Barcelona is, but it was really good) this was all done by the author from his hotel room in the evening of the same day that the credit fraud was committed by the author. The author was then informed that as the amount of the disputed transactions was below the amount of his banks dispute threshold he would not be able to recover the remaining €60 that he had overpaid. It is worth noting that the author kept all documentation (photos of menus etc) of all his transactions and also wrote down from memory all statements given to him by hotel receptionists regarding local costs etc of items that he had been overcharged for. This type of documentation can increase the amount of an approved claim by 64%.
The number of budget solo travel bookings have gone up by 42% from 2022-2024. If traveling alone it is always best to create a financial protocol with a friend or family member. Also join groups such as the Facebook page “Solo Travel Scam Reports” where other travelers currently in your destination are posting real-time scams occurring in said city.
Sources and References
European Consumer Centre Network. (2023). Travel Fraud Report: Currency Manipulation in Tourist Markets. Yang, J., & Morrison, A. (2023). Authority Bias and Tourist Vulnerability in Destination Scams. Journal of Travel Research, 62(4), 891-908. United Nations World Tourism Organization. (2023). Tourism Fraud Analysis: Economic Impact Assessment. International Association of Better Business Bureaus. (2023). Cross-Border Fraud Report: Resolution Rates and Filing Windows.
Reviewed by Sofia Almeida. Sofia cross-checked the solo-travel logistics and the timing holds up.
Editor’s note: This article was reviewed against primary sources, official travel statistics and the experiences of other travelers. We checked prices, itineraries and conditions against airlines, accommodation providers, tourist boards and official travel organizations. If you spot an error or have any feedback then please let us know through our Contact page. For more information about how we work then please see our Editorial Standards and Fact-Checking Policy.
