Travel Scams

Here's some advice on travel scams and what to look out for when travelling at home or abroad.

The Times of London have an interesting and useful article giving you advice on what to be aware of.

The article is titled: "The 13 best travel scams"

From Floridian fraudsters to fake Peruvian police, these are the scoundrels out to get you.

The author, Brian Schofield, talks about the enjoyment of travel - about the love for the open road, the thrill of the new and the joy of adventure. Then he goes on to mention the devious cheats and charlatans that are out to get you for their own gain; to the detriment of you and your wallet / sanity / happiness / perception of humankind (delete as applicable)!

The swindles and scams that can get you at home:

• The phoney free trip to Florida
• The card mill
• The fly-by-night
• The hollow insurance

The tricks and tales that can get you when you’re away:

• The fake receptionist
• The secret conversation
• The pretend policeman
• The shonky exchange booth
• The dodgy drinking buddy
• The unlicensed taxi
• The shoeshiners of Istanbul
• The metal-detector shuffle
• The bus-scam scam

It also gives a lot of comments from readers about any con artists they have come across or have been victims of on their travels.

You’ll find the Times Online article here (unfortunately, The Times went to a fee-based model for reading online, so the article is now behind a pay-wall, but you get the gist of the article above). The scams are all worth reading about and lodging in the back of your brain so hopefully you can avoid being taken for a ride by the foreign fiddlers and fraudsters!

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