There are different kinds of scams that can affect travellers. These practices could happen in both big cities and rural destinations. By knowing common types of scams, we will not become an easy prey. There are more than a few convincing actors in the area and they could try to squeeze more money out of us. People could try to manipulate the feeling of pity and guilt. Here are things that we should know about possible scam attempts.
No fuel scam
A stranger may approach and tell us that his car runs out of gas. He desperately needs to reach the destination because he needs to attend the funeral of a close relative. He will ask to get some fuel from our car. In this situation, we should offer to drive him to the nearest gas station. If he is a scammer, it is quite likely that he will try to find some excuses and disappear immediately.
Precious item scam
A few strangers could ask us for directions and other favors. They could thank us with a small gift, but we may need to borrow some cash. They can be so persuasive that we feel obligated to pay for the gift. Another variation of the scam is that one of the people picks something off the ground. He will say that it is a really expensive item and he doesn’t really need it. He will offer us to sell the item at a fraction of the purported value. However, the object is actually worthless and planted on the ground by the group. In this situation, we should never give our money, whether we intend to lend them or buy something from them.
Diversion
This is a common trick practiced by many people. As an example, a group of people may spread some nails on the road hoping that a car will get a flat tire. This would be a good opportunity for scammers to try to help us. While we are working on the tire, it is quite likely that some of the accomplices quickly relieve our car of its valuable luggage.
While we are walking through the city, a bike rider may splat some wet dirt onto our shirt. His accomplice will helpfully assist us in cleaning our clothes. However, if we are not careful, it is quite likely that the person will cleans up our wallet. There are many things that scammers do when they try to cause diversion, so we should be really careful.
Money changing scam
When we want to travel to a new country, we should know about current exchange rate. This will allow us to know we should expect when we want to exchange specific amount of money. Rates could different from one money exchange service to another. However, all of them will take some amount of interest for us. This is a legal business practice, but we shouldn’t be scammed by bad services. It is a good to exchange in bigger money exchange service, than smaller ones.