Travel Scams Unveiled: How to Dodge the Friendship Bracelet Con and More
It’s easy to feel naive, foolish, and embarrassed when you are the victim or near-victim of a scam while traveling. In most cases, scammers are hoping to take advantage of your innocence and ignorance in order to get money from you. They’re relying on your sense of guilt, kind-hearted nature, and inexperience. They’ve had the chance to perfect these methods and deliberately choose times when you are most vulnerable and flustered and count on catching you off guard. Fortunately, except in rare circumstances, no one is intending to physically harm you.
The friendship bracelet scam in Italy. Our first trip to Florence, Italy was marred when we were en route to our hotel and were stopped by what initially appeared to be a nice young man who asked where we were from and shared that today was his birthday. Before we had a chance to process it, he started to put a corded bracelet on Kevin and said that it was his country’s tradition to give someone a gift on his birthday. We said thank you and tried to continue forward, but then he asked us to give him a gift as well. Our minds blanked and we said we had nothing we could think of to give him in exchange. And then it dawned on us that we were being scammed and that this person wanted money from us. Kevin tried to tear off the bracelet and give it back, but the man refused and said it was his gift. At this point it’s clear he was trying to guilt us into giving him something. Now we were mad and frustrated and just wanted to get away from him. It put a sour taste in our mouths, despite being in a city known for its delicious food.
What to know: These people typically aren’t muggers and many of them may be immigrants here illegally. They don’t want to create a huge scene. Remove the bracelet if you wish, don’t engage further, and walk away. They aren’t going to continue to harass you, but instead they’ll look for another vulnerable target who can be guilted into paying them some money.
Airport taxi to your hotel scam. We first encountered this in Cairo when we were overwhelmed waiting by the luggage carousel. Because we had to wait in line to get our visa, we were a delayed getting to baggage claim. I had a small fear that my bag had been mistakenly been grabbed by a wrong passenger or was lost. We were approached by a person with a “Ministry of Tourism,” tag who pointed to a booth behind me and said that he could help me get to our Airbnb. I definitely wasn’t prepared to be scammed before I even left the building—I knew to be wary when I got outside that numerous people would be jostling to provide taxi service. I had done some due diligence before we landed so I had an idea of what an airport service would charge, but when I tried to negotiate the price, the scammer laughed and pretended to be impressed that I had tried to negotiate, but he refused to budge on the price. He was too close by while I was waiting for my luggage and Uber was initially giving me their shuttle service versus a regular vehicle. He also was a fast talker and introduced me to the person who would supposedly be my driver (but actually he wasn’t) and also started to roll our luggage. We decided to go along because it was nighttime and we weren’t entirely sure of ourselves. A $7 Uber ride ended up costing nearly $50, despite a driver who stopped on the side of the road for a bathroom break, tried to drop us off in the wrong place, and ultimately had to spend 15 minutes on the phone with my Airbnb host getting directions.
What to know. In Cairo the Le Meridien Hotel is attached to the airport and doesn’t require taxi service. The fast and easy answer is to say that you are going to that hotel and don’t need help. At a minimum it will allow you to get your bearings and assess your next steps. If you’re not in Cairo, take a breath and don’t allow someone to take over the situation for you. You can be firm and say, “I don’t want you to touch my bags,” or “I do not want your help.” You don’t owe a stranger any explanations. Sometimes as travelers we are just too nice, but you won’t feel good about being taken advantage of afterwards.
Helping with luggage scam. We had a driver pick us up from the Luxor airport, and as we exited the airport, a man grabbed grabbed my luggage and our driver grabbed Kevin’s. We thought it was odd that there were two people helping with our rolling luggage that we could easily manage on our own and weren’t sure if our driver specifically brought this person along for some reason. Turns out that the non-driver was a random person from the parking lot looking to earn a tip. The driver tried to shoo him away but ended up giving up and allowed him to help us.
A variation on this is for someone who might carry themselves as a train employee who helps with your luggage who only is looking for a tip and who gets irate and loud if you decide not to tip them.
What to know. Take control of your belongings. Understand that in most situations, especially in poorer countries, people who are helping you either at an airport or in a train station expect to be tipped. If you don’t want to tip someone, do not allow them to touch your stuff. It’s okay to accept help, but keep in mind that it may come at a cost.
Cairo, Egypt papyrus scam
Souvenir scam or I’m just helping you with directions scam. We made a lot of mistakes in Cairo, but we are grateful for all the things we learned in the process. We were walking to the Egyptian Museum and had to navigate a roundabout when we were approached by a local man who politely asked where we were from when we were waiting at a traffic signal. He started subtly guiding us and also mentioned that he had a relative in New York City and that he always enjoyed seeing Americans in Egypt. He gave us a tip to take an underground path and to explore a nearby square because the museum would be very busy before noon, when we were headed there. He said he was an artist, and since we were now right outside his gallery, he asked if we wanted to come in and look around. We figured why not, we love art and it might be interesting. It wasn’t until we walked in that we realized it was a papyrus shop. He was getting a business card for us and faster than we could absorb it, he was asking for my name and penning it on a papyrus, “with his compliments.” He also was asking which of the hanging bigger papyrus we liked, and then started putting them down on the floor blocking us into the chairs we were sitting in. It’s also the Egyptian custom to offer you tea or coffee when you’re about to begin a potential sales process, and they will be insistent that you accept a beverage. Before we knew it, he was giving us a hard sell about buying one of the large papyruses, which actually may have been banana leaf and not authentic papyrus. We absolutely weren’t interested, but the shop owner wouldn’t back down. We ended up buying the papyrus with my name on it for much more than we wanted to just to get out.
What to know. Be a little skeptical of people who ask where you are from. Usually that is a way for them to build a relationship with you and then try to take advantage of your “niceness.” Do not feel guilty walking away from anyplace that personalizes something of theirs as a way to try to rope you into buying it. They are going to put on a hard sell and take advantage of your guilt. Remember that it was their choice to make their item unsellable by personalizing it. They’ve perfected this scam, so you need to be resolute in walking away if you truly don’t want to buy their product. Finally, you can accept someone’s hospitality for a beverage and still say no to what they’re selling guilt free.
Cut the line and get a deal at the train station. We were not able to get the online train ticketing system to work for us in Egypt for our trip from Luxor to Aswan. The website suggested that we could buy tickets in person at the station. The one message we were getting from one of the employees was that we could not buy tickets for the train we wanted because the next train that was arriving was one that was late and not the one that was scheduled to depart next. It was confusing to us. In the meantime, we got in a short line and a guy was calling us out of line to where he was standing at the employee entrance to the ticket area. We weren’t sure whether he was an employee or not, but he was assuring us that he would be able to arrange a ticket for us. We were disconcerted because of language issues and not understanding the environment of the train station. At the end of it, we opted to buy a ticket on the next train that arrived.
What to know. It’s okay to pay on the train with cash. It’s possible that we would have purchased a fake ticket or at a minimum, paying a premium price for a legitimate one. Be wary of anyone who singles you out for attention. Know the culture of where you are, and based on our time in Egypt, people are always trying to take a cut or get a tip, so if something doesn’t ever seem right, trust your gut.
Being overcharged for a taxi or an experience. We’ve been lucky that this is a scam we’ve only ever heard about but not had happen to us. We’re including it because it’s a common one and often occurs because communication isn’t clear and the scammer takes advantage of it. You get quoted a price and hop into a taxi or agree to a camel ride or carriage ride. But the price changes midway through your trip. Either the agreed-upon price that originally was a total price later becomes per person or not round trip after all. Double check the price before you get started and make the vendor repeat the price and terms. Express your understanding in multiple ways to avoid any confusion, “Are you saying that this trip is £120 Egyptian per person or total for us both?” or “Is this price a total roundtrip price for both of us be in this carriage?” Don’t be afraid to record the conversation with your phone so that there are zero misunderstandings.
What to know. If at any point the terms change and you aren’t comfortable, hop off the camel or get out of the taxi (when it’s safe to do so, of course). If you’ve clarified the total and mutually agreed to terms, stick to your agreement and only pay what you committed to pay. Be thorough at the front end of the discussion so that you don’t end up surprised, frustrated, and or feel later on that you were cheated. Do some due diligence in advance and look at what average costs are for the activities so that you know what are fair prices. It goes a lot way if you don’t have to doubt what is a fair price.
Final Thoughts
No one is asking you to think the worst of everyone, and there are some really helpful people in the world. At the same time, being “too nice” and trusting can put you at risk of being exploited. Keep your guard up, stand up for yourself, be observant of your surroundings, don’t accept things from strangers, and don’t allow anyone to guilt you into paying for something you don’t want. Agree on a price in the beginning and be clear about what you want or don’t. But after all this, it’s still possible to be duped, so be kind to yourself if you are a victim to a scam. Do what we try to do and consider these as small drawbacks to the privilege of being able to travel and experience the world.
