Traveling is an amazing and eye-opening experience that will impact you forever, and I hope that everybody has the courage to travel to new places and experience what they have to offer. Travel is usually a safe activity if you take some basic precautions and do your homework a little bit beforehand. Part of taking precautions is to know what kind of dangers are out there so you can be prepared for them in the event they do happen. But I hope you don't dwell on these dangers but rather be aware of them, because oftentimes simply being aware will keep you out of danger. Let's take a look at some common travel scams to beware of.
One common scam when traveling is for your taxi driver to intentionally take you to the wrong destination. For example, you catch a taxi from the airport and tell the driver the name and address of your hotel, but while en route he informs you that your hotel is now closed but that he knows a hotel that is open and has space. Don't believe him, he's lying. He wants to take you to a hotel that gives him a commission for bringing guests. Tell him to take you to your intended hotel even if it's closed, and if he takes you anywhere else, get out and refuse to pay.
Another common scam is for tourists to be overcharged. This is probably the most common scam of all. It is easy to avoid this by doing some research about basic prices before your trip. You should know beforehand how much a bottle of water will cost, how much a meal on the street will typically cost, how much a taxi ride between important destinations will cost, and so on. You can do this research with travel guidebooks, and also on travel forums such as Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree. If you know the standard price, vendors and taxi drivers will see that and will give you the standard price, or something close to it. And if they don't? Walk away. Then they will probably call you back and give you the standard price.
Another scam is to invite you for lunch or for a cup of tea or something of the sort, and once you are there enjoying your cup of tea you will be assaulted by a relentless and aggressive sales pitch, trying to make you buy something you don't want. The solution here is to thank them for the tea or food, and stand up and leave. If they call you back, leave anyway because they will try to find another way to lead into the heavy sales pitch.
It's worth pointing out that befriending you is a very common lead-in for scams. Even if somebody seems friendly, keep your wits about you and be aware that an attempted scam could be coming. Don't stop yourself from enjoying true hospitality, but don't let your guard down either. Aside from inviting you for food or tea, a common approach for scam artists is to ask what country you are from, and then tell you they have a relative living in that country. This is a way of building some rapport and commonality with you so that you will be easier to trick. It's a safe bet that they are scam artists, so you can ignore them and move on. Another common lead-in for scam artists is to claim that they are university students who want to practice their English with you. A real student would never be so direct about his intentions to practice, but would simply talk to you and probably have some consideration for your time and space. Whenever a person who approaches you seems to not have consideration for your time and space, get away from him. For example, someone invites you for tea and you refuse and try to move on, if the person gets indignant or tries to make you feel guilty for turning them down, then you can safely assume that that person is a scam artist.
It's natural to want to make friends with the local people when you are traveling. But unfortunately tourists are targets for scumbags who pray on people's cultural naivety and disorientation. Keep your wits about you and be aware of when people are trying to take something from you. Trust your gut instinct when it warns you that a scam is coming. But your gut won't always tell you, so keep your eyes open as well.
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