Fraud - 诈骗

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Fraud, Is a criminal act in law, gaining benefits by deception, such as forging documents and making false statements. There are many places that will be derivedCommon scamsVisitors should be aware of this. Sometimes the purpose of using deception is to get your money. Usually can be divided into these four types:Blackmail you、Deceive you、Forced to buyandTheft。

Beware of fraud is the most basic common sense: you should do your homework before traveling to your destination! In addition to understanding the local security situation, you must also understand the local consumption situation; if you have friends who have been to the local area, you should try to find out more about the places.

in addition,If you are unlucky enough to be targeted, don’t be afraid: When you are dealing with these people, you also pay attention to this time by the wayWhat did you say to the place where you were scammed?; Besides saying no to them, you can also call the police. In some cases, you can easily get rid of these people. If you feel you have been fooled, the first thing is toCall the police, Otherwise, you will be a fat sheep for others to slaughter. Please note that if you wish to file a theft-related claim against insurance, you usually need to immediately save the insurance policy between you and the insurance company within 24 hours.

Avoid scams

A few common sense can help you stay away from some troubles, you don’t need to know what isWhat area, what scamAnd deceived, for example, in the case of street scams, it can be divided into the following categories:

• Golden party
• Money-dropping party: Someone deliberately drops valuable items on the road and discusses its value after "valuation". If there are greedy people who want to get it at a low price, they can take the opportunity to swindle money.
• Baoyao Party: Someone on the road sells a rare so-called medicinal material. Several "media" are evaluating the value and function. If there are greedy people who want to get it at a low price, they can also take the opportunity to cheat.
• Electronic parts: Someone on the road sells electronic parts and then touts them vigorously. If there are greedy people who want to get it at a low price, they can also take the opportunity to cheat for money.
• Borrow mobile phones or borrow money on the street, borrow words to leave.
• Bad scouts, celebrities, or model agencies: look for people on the street, praise them for their potential, and can introduce jobs, but first you must learn some courses; take some photos; or do self-cultivation and makeup, etc., to defraud the so-called audition fees or Make-up costs and so on.

Therefore, please understand its general layout and usual price range before arriving at your destination.

Prepare

• If you have an escort, please inform him of your overall plan for the day.
• Do not carry large amounts of cash and/or valuables (such as Louis Vuitton wallet, iPhone, etc.) with you.
• In places where public security is not good, be sure to dress up like a local. For example: avoid using travel lights, don't hang a camera around your neck, avoid carrying typical "tourism" accessories: such as maps or backpacks. Also, don’t be surprised if vehicles from some distant places and prominent taxi company logos are targeted for intrusion or theft, because the villain realizes that you have a long trip back to prove them and even produce language barriers.
• Avoid using your name to pretend to know you (if you must use an opaque luggage tag), so please do not print/stick your name on the outside of your suitcase.
• AlcoholAnd other drugs will affect your judgment, unless it is particularly safe, please avoid drinking under other circumstances.
• Please research your destination before departure. Its general layout and usual price range help to avoid many frauds.Arriving in a new cityWhen you have a plan of where to go, you have to knowAirport、train stationWhere to wait, the people there and waiting for the newcomers can provide their "help".
• Knowing where you want to go, what you want to do, and sticking to this plan is a good way to avoid being taken away.
• Knowing the language-even if you only know a little-will make you look less like a "foreigner" and help get help from locals when you are the victim of some malfeasance.

warning sign

• Every country has different places where public security is not good. Generally speaking, low-income areas, tourist attractions, railways and other public transportation facilities and nightlife venues have higher crime risks than other areas. Although the airport itself is usually safe enough, once you leave the airport, you may enter a criminal den.
• please remember,Surprising deals and amazing winners are impossibleAs they seem and may be part of a scam.
• Be wary of any strangers, they seem to be paying attention to you, especially if they are trying to persuade youLeave your friendorAccompany them to an unfamiliar area。
• Don't accept anyone's begging, and don't give alms to those people. Especially theyBegging with the kidsCase.
• In any case, if you are next to a group of strangers who know each other but you do not know each other, then they can easily regard you as a target.
• Avoid sending money to people or businesses you don’t know by using Western Union or similar services.
• Be wary of attractive strangers trying to improve your sexual mood, including but not limited to strippers or prostitutes.

reaction

• Before you accept any product, service or accommodation, please negotiate to make the cost cheaper, and always have proof of payment to prevent the other party from remorse.
• You don’t need to be polite or friendly to anyone who refuses to let you be alone.
• You also don't need to answer your questions from random people. These may just be friendly locals, but they may also be scammers looking for information that is useful to them.
• When offering some "unbelievable deals", stepping onto the prospect may seem rude, but in fact it is of course, and many locals are disappointed by it. Try to learn from them.

"Friendly" locals

The appearance of these scams is to provide you with help or advice that appears to be useful but deceptive. I believe you will rely on the "local knowledge" of the scammer. The advice they usually provide can lead you to give something you don't want to get, or go to a place you don't want to go. Some frauds that help locals reduce transaction costs may be equivalent to frauds, such as persuading you to buy fake gems, but if you have a better understanding of the area, then you can reduce certain losses.

One of the biggest pitfalls of this type of scam is to be polite to people who are polite and kind to you: of course scammers know this. Although you should not be a clumsy annoying person, you should accept unsolicited help and be polite and cautious, and when you are reasonably convinced that you have been cheated, you do not need to be polite to stop it: feel free to walk away or to others Speak firmly. Calling for help may be necessary, but it tends to attract more (unwanted) attention. Pretend that they don’t exist. This does not require eye contact. Just walk without saying "hello" or "no". This will humiliate them or make them exhausted without making you feel depressed. If they call you a racist to attract your attention, don't respond. Another common mistake is to say "no, thank you". In this case, they have a "down to earth" strategy and think they can have a conversation with you.

Another trap is the "too good to be true" proposal: they almostDefinitely not true。

Recommended accommodation

Your driver or tour guide will usually tell you that the place you go to is relatively closed because there is no benefit or the price is too expensive, but he knows better places. Although this may be true, the "better" place is likely to make him earn intermediary fees, and his commission will only increase your room rate. And drivers can also profit from it.

you mustStick to your pointGo where you want to go. In some cases, even if you insist on doing this, the driver will not easily take you to your destination. In some places, the taxi driver may direct you to a hotel you are not going to, but please also insist that this is what you ask for! They got the correct name because they have many "cottage" hotels or have similar names.

To avoid being hijacked by hired taxis, your luggage should be carried on the back seat of the car so you can threaten to go out without paying. When you open the door, they usually back down-if they don't, then find a new driver.

The best thing you can do isAvoid using taxis as much as possible. Before arriving at the new location, please book the place where you want to stay in advance, find out its location on the map, and see if there are other means of transportation, such as local buses, that can reach or approach your accommodation.

Attract attention

You might arriveYour main travel destination, Just find a local who looks very helpful near the entrance, stating that there is a riot/holiday/official visit where you are going, and it is closed (sometimes, taxi drivers are with theseusefulThe locals mingle with you and deliberately let you leave so that they can take the next step). The locals will offer to take you to a little-known but infinitely beautiful sight or a nice shop. Generally speaking, the destination is actually open: you can simply reject the proposal and go and see. Even in rare cases, they are telling the truth, but they may not be as useful as they seem, so it is best to pursue another alternative plan of their own. Just leave them and walk towards the main tourist entrance where they stopped.

In fact, when coming by car, the situation may be the opposite, especially whenRio de JaneiroIn such places, scammers may ask for a protection fee for "guarantee car safety" (BrazilOf a common scam). Although sometimes tourist attractions are actually closed or under maintenance, scammers will explain that these attractions are actually open and require a small fee in advance. Taxi drivers sometimes take a long route to a place, forget to mention that the place is closed, and then suggest an alternative attraction away from the original place.

art school

Those who say they are students of art school will meet you on the street. They speak English (or other languages) very well and invite you to visit their school. Then they will try to get you to buy their work at an excessive price. These "students" are usually attractive young women who are hired by galleries to attract customers and make customers feel obligated to buy "their" works to encourage them and reward them for their kindness.

This kind of scam isChina,especiallyBeijingwithXi'anVery popular.

Persistent help

Sometimes locals will try to force themselves to help ticket machines, subway maps or directions. They may just beGo too farHelpful, But they may also be looking for and asking them to provide powerful help tips. In general, be careful of anyone who forces you into your personal space, and don't ask if you need them, but start doing things for you. If you have already received help and then need some coinage, then it may be easier to pay for it. However, this situation also makes you vulnerable to substantial theft, so be polite but firm, and then resolutely tell this person that you are fine now and that they should leave you alone.

Locals eager to provide "help" to take your photos may be unwilling to get your camera back, or may ask for a refund. Likewise, anyone who is too eager to "help" with your luggage may be trying to steal your valuables for themselves. Locals can also offer to pose for photos, and they will ask for money only after you take the photo.

Just robbed

This scam involves people approaching you and asking if you know where the police station is. They will appear scared and tell you that they have just been robbed of the money they need to go home, and this is likely to be in a different city or even country. Then they will become emotional and say that the police may not be of much help, and they will turn to you for help. Although they only want you to happily hand over a small sum of money or make a phone call, they think the more money they make, the more they will. This scam is also the most popular form used by refugees fleeing war-torn countries.

Border crossing

Poipet(existThailandwithCambodiaBorder places) is a typical example of transit scams. "Enthusiastic" people will charge for useless services (such as filling in an application form); "friendly" people will charge you twice the normal visa fee (of course you can do it yourself), and the scammer will tell you that you Local currency must be exchanged at their terrible exchange rate (they will also tell you that there are no ATMs anywhere in this country) and the taxi driver will charge you some stupid amount to get you to sit only 100 meters.

The way to deal with it is simple: learn about any border crossings before crossing the border, know the charges in advance, and don’t trust anyone who doesn’t wear uniforms. Even then, try to ask another person in uniform to see if you get the same story.

The country entry on Wikivoyage usually explains the general procedures for all (main) border crossings in the "arrival" section. In the case of a relatively large country, you can also view articles from regions and cities.

"Official" souvenirs

When an official or someone wears a piece of clothing to help you at a transit station such as an airport or train station, that person will ask you to pay from your home country as a souvenir. If you give less than they want, they will ask for higher amounts in an overly friendly but persistent way, usually with notes. Donations to officials in some countries can be misunderstood as bribery and can get you into deep water. The best way is to end the conversation as soon as possible and ask for money, pretending to be ignorant or lack of cash. This situation isMalaysiawithChinaoccur frequently.

Fee-based photography

The locals wore colorful clothes and took photos with travelers, insisting on "Want to take pictures?" If the visitor takes a photo, then the locals begin to actively ask for money. The traveler’s goal will only encounter a series of obscene behavior at best, and at worst will be affected by the body. The scam is that neither the price nor the intent to ask for the money is disclosed. Payment is only required after the visitor has taken the photo, and it is "too late".

These operators are not licensed street vendors (theyService chargeDistorted astip, Only when the victim refuses to pay will he become rude or violent) and evade the law. Although they may look like anything that fakes Sesame Street characters (usually $2-5) in order to wear women's clothes (costing $10-20) other than thongs and body painting, they always don't get the creation Author’s permission: any trademarks and copyrighted roles that they impersonate. Because solicitation usually occurs in places with a lot of people, such asNew York, Because tourists have already suffered from this kind of reason, and think that their behavior reflects the city's poor treatment of the outside world.

Although the best response to "Want to take a picture?" is to walk away immediately, parents traveling with children may find it difficult to explain why Cookie Monster was arrested in Times Square: becauseThey pushed a two-year-old child to the ground (because his mother refused to pay for a photo) Or why the policePicked out an emotionally troubled Elmo from the Central Park Zoo and called out "being molested" (he was deported for begging by zoo visitors)。

Gifts from beggars

A beggar might stop you on the street and give you a "gift", like tying a "lucky charm" on your wrist. Or, they "find" something like a ring on the street and give it to you. After a few minutes of small talk, they start asking for money and follow you until you give them money.

Avoiding this scam is very simple: remember what your mother told you when you were in kindergarten,Don’t accept "free" gifts from strangers. This kind of scam isEgyptwithSpainEspecially common. But whenCanada、AmericawithJapan, Beggars may also pretend to be fake monks to request these "donations" to satisfy them.

Another similar scam involves over-promoting those who solicit donations for charity. This phenomenon is particularly common in developed countries. Usually an old woman will approach you and tie a small flower to your shirt in anticipation of your "donation". They never talk about specific charities, they often say "for children". Asking them about the specifics of their "philanthropy" may help scare them away. Normally, if they don't have a brand name or even the name of a charity, this may not be a real charity.

Before entering a situation where you may be in trouble, you should make rules for yourself, understand how and when to spend money, follow the rules and let others know.

Dirty shoes

There may be a shoe cleaner who says that your shoes need to be cleaned, and he points out that there is dirt on your shoes. When you take a look, there really is feces or any other dirt on the shoes (usually a lot). So he proposed to clean them up at a very high price. What you may not realize is that a lot of dirt has fallen off your shoes a few meters before that cleaner or helper.

This kind of scam can often beDelhiwithCairomeet. existBuenos AiresIt is also possible that someone sprinkled mustard or other stickers on your coat, and then the helper or a third person pickpockets you, and occasionally steals your bag.

Request medicine for their "already sick" family members

This scam isAfricaPopular in some places. As we all know, tourists often bring drugs such as penicillin or anti-malaria to these areas. At this time beggars will take to the streets and tell a tragic story about their child who is dying of malaria or other diseases. Then they will ask if you can save them with medicine. Because sympathetic stories make it difficult to refuse requests, they may accuse you of going from racism to willingness to let an innocent child die. As long as they receive the medicine, they will run away immediately. It seems to save their daughter, but in fact they will run to the local pharmacy to sell your medicine. Expensive drugs like Malarone can sell for as much as $10 per tablet.

This kind of scam has caused a lot of emotional stress on the victim, but please remember that if a child does get sick, then the fatherRunning around on the street begging tourists for the possibility of finding drugsVery small. The child should be taken to the local pharmacy to purchase the corresponding medicines. If there is a real shortage of medicines, you may approach them in different ways. In addition, please remember that if you have any disease yourself, giving up prescription drugs that are hard to replace may put yourself at risk. The only cure isDon't be weak, don't pay attentionThis person walked away.

Fake police

You may be followed by a vehicle that looks like a police car, usually without the signal lights on the police car. The so-called official said that you will be fined a huge fine and your license will be revoked, but you can avoid this by paying a much smaller fee than cash. This is not a strategy that law enforcement agencies use almost everywhere. The legitimate police are concerned about observing the law, not about the money they will receive. The police will issue a real subpoena, which must be paid by mail or in person to the department. This is a warning that you don't need to pay any money at all, otherwise they will let you completely free. If you have questions, you have the right to ask another official to come to the scene. Please note that inSerbiaAt least in some cases, it is indeed possible to deliver 50% of the cash to the traffic police at the scene or pay at the bank or post office after 100%.

Please note that it is easy to impersonate a police officer. Police cars are usually models sold to civilians. Many of these models have not been redesigned for many years, so older models can be purchased at a relatively low price. You can easily buy the revolving lights on the dashboard of an unmarked police car at electronics or related supplies stores, and you can buy police uniforms and badges from stores or online. Although a real military officer knew the difference, a naive civilian would not notice it.

Currency scam

These scams are based on your ignorance of the region and rely on the market price that allows you to pay for goods or services. Some people will rely on useful local to attract your goods, but others only need to quote high prices for you. In some countries, this is completely institutionalized: foreigners have to pay more for real attractions.

Knowing the local accommodation price range is the best way to prevent over-collection. In some places, suppose you will bargain, while in other places, you just need to walk away or pay for the goods, but if the service is obviously too high, you should still challenge the service volume.

Car rental claims for losses

When renting a car, through the process of checking for pre-damage including scratches, the agent may not be happy that you took the time to do this. The vehicle already has a lot of scratches or dents, so it is impossible for your eyes to catch them all.

When you return the vehicle, you will be rudely accused that you have caused the damage to the vehicle and are now holding you responsible. Although it is said, you can hardly notice that part of the vehicle is damaged, and it may be before that. But they won't tell you. Hundreds of dollars, even thousands of dollars, were collected on the spot. They may charge this fee to multiple customers, and even if only one repair is required, their cost will greatly exceed the actual repair cost. In fact, they will most likely never fix it, and once their time is up, they will sell or trade the vehicle.

Variations include charging customers for repairs that have never been made, or charging repairs at inflated prices. In some cases, both the repair shop and the taxi agent are easily controlled by the same person or entity, allowing the $1,000 risky glass replacement to never be completed.

toll

The normal expenses are stipulated by the government or related departments. But in some rural areas, setting up primitive temporary gateways on small roads frequented by tourists requires money in exchange for tolls. The appearance is considered to be a "fee" or park entrance fee. In many cases, you have few options other than paying and complaining, but the threat of merely reporting the situation to the authorities may cause miracles in some cases.

Forgot the change I gave you

If you need to find money for payment, they will refuse and ask you to pay the exact amount. If you are not attentive, they will "forget" to return your change. It seems strange, but you won't notice this, but in a noisy and chaotic environment, it happens more easily than you think, especially if you are a little tired or intoxicated. Incidents like this also occur in decent-looking places, such as malls and airport stores. One of the signs is that the teller suddenly loses the ability to speak or understand an English word. If you still have all the money in your hands, the best way is to give up your goods and walk away.

Another situation is that the seller will insist that he did not change the items you bought, and you should accept the goods (usually low-quality) in place of your change. If you ask to "cancel" the sale and get your money back, the seller may become grumpy, insisting on taking the goods or trying to make you feel guilty because he needs money from his family or the business is not going well. If paying with large banknotes, it is best to ask the seller if there is any change for change before handing over the money.

There is another change involving the ticket windows of tourist attractions. The ticket seller will take your money, spend a long time calling your ticket, talk to colleagues, use your ID as a security guard for the audio guide, etc., just "forget" to give you your change. They may give you some brief information, smile, and say "OK" to distract you and send you on your way. Once you leave the window, you have no chance to get your change, so be sure to ask it and not be distracted by their "useful information".

Coin collector

When you are waiting in a public place such as a restaurant or a bus stop, there may be a friendly, well-spoken local person who will guide you to participate in the conversation. After a little chat, I will tell you that he is a coin collector and ask you if you want to see his collection. The individual took out a handful of coins from his pocket and explained the country of origin of each of his coins with great pretend interest. Mixed with the conversation will be questions about the type of money you use in your home country and seem to be eager to learn more. The expected result is that unsuspecting visitors will show their pocket changes at home and if they are sufficiently fooled by the conversation, it is provided that the locals can keep it for collection. After the conversation, the "coin collectors" will exchange money in local currency.

Commission shop

All over the world, especially in Asia, there will be shops that bring a commission to your driver or tour guide to attract tourists. Usually, these shops sell low-quality goods at high prices and claim to be cottage industries or free child labor. They damaged high-quality products because these items were manufactured in factories and forced visitors to waste more time in these stores instead of on-site.It is highly recommended to avoid buying anything from them, especially if you are directed by someone.Or, decide what you want, and come back without a driver, and ask for a price reduction of at least 30% (approximately the amount the driver gets).

One way to benefit from these stores is to go sightseeing independently instead of visiting a tour group. You can ask the driver to take you to one, thereby reducing your fare, or if he is particularly helpful, you can give him a tip. They often have very clean Western-style toilets, which are difficult to come by in other ways.

Currency swap

If you are persuaded to buy souvenirs or other things from people who sell things on the street, look at the changes you get from the sale before putting it in your wallet: it may be a different currency. For example, in China, a street vendor might give you a 50-ruble banknote instead of 50 yuan; the value of the former is one-tenth of the latter. Please also note that the banknotes you receive will not be torn off or damaged, as these banknotes may not be accepted by others. Suppliers may also completely steal your bills in the process of "exchanging" money.

Calculate the price

Precious metal items such as gold bracelets are sold in units of "grams/yuan" in some countries. Comparing prices between stores and then comparing them with the current gold price makes this approach transparent so that you can rely on the seller to make the calculations. Until later, if anything, you will realize that the price you charge far exceeds the calculated price.

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The supplier may claim to be willing to accept your domestic currency for purchases (and most travel locations on international borders do this), but their exchange rate is at least 10% worse than any local bank or specialized change agency. For example, when a merchant is trading at $1.10 (when the local currency is traded at a price of less than 80 cents on the open market), "the U.S. dollars accepted here" is not cheap. The secondary check cashing business is also notorious for its notorious currency exchange rate.

One flaw in this area is dynamic currency conversion: the supplier in the card payment transaction provides the conversion for you and bills in your home currency. In most cases, it is best to say "no" and refuse to complete the transaction if the supplier insists, because the exchange rate provided by the merchant is almost always worse than the default provided by your credit card issuing bank or credit union.

Gems and other resale scams

You are taken to a jewelry store and offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy gems or jewelry at special discount prices. Another customer in the shop is dressed in clothes and may be from the same country. He told him how he made incredible profits from reselling gems last year. Now he is back to more, but because today’s sales are in a hurry, you have to pay cash. Go buy their goods.

Of course, once you get home and try to sell your goods, the result is low grade and only worth a very low price. This kind of scam isBangkokIt is particularly popular, but the differences between the themes of other products and other products can be converted into huge profits, which is also common in other places. Another variant is that you export a hypothetical “commission” gem in exchange for a copy of the criminal’s ID and/or credit card, which of course can be used to make a profit in the identity theft household industry.

counterfeit

Unfortunately, for travelers, counterfeiting is not limited to the manufacture of Rolex watches, nor is it limited to overpriced luxury items ranging from CDs and DVDs to watches, clothing, bags, and cosmetics. In some regions, brand-name prescription drugs are easily copied by rival manufacturers. Excluding the legitimate and useful generic drugs to those that contain the wrong amount of active ingredients, they will be copied and diluted in a particularly large proportion. After eating, they will not work at all. Outdated medicines can be unreliable, so there is a trick to the unsuitable moment in an untimely place. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1 million deaths are related to counterfeit medicines, and fake antimalarial tablets in Africa are particularly worrying.

U.S. import laws prohibit more than one counterfeit product from being brought into the country and require the declaration of these products. This is especially important when the most counterfeit goods are imported from Asia. Assuming that if you buy more than one, it is an illegal resale. One counterfeit Rolex you own is legal, but two fake Rolexes are illegal and will be fined thousands of dollars.

Counterfeit currency is also a problem in some regions, especially in Asia. The CIA accused North Korea of ​​exporting very convincing (but false) American currency in the region, called "counterfeit bills," for export.

Cruise Ship Art Auction

Passengers were tricked into auctioning so-called investment-grade collections of art. The free champagne flows like water. The auction may or may not be conducted by a licensed auctioneer and may not conform to standard auction practices. Since the sale is carried out at sea, it is difficult to file a claim under the Consumer Protection Law. If the art is distorted, the buyer may not be able to recourse. In addition, in traditional auctions, bidders will immediately buy goods for sale. The cruise ship auction sells the exhibited art, but the winning bidder actually received a different (but equivalent) work from the auction company’s warehouse. Many art buyers at yacht auctions later discovered that their masterpieces on board were only worth a fraction of the purchase price.

Non-export antiques

Buying expensive antiques anywhere is risky. Even experts can sometimes be deceived by fakes, and an innocent buyer is at risk of being overpaid almost anywhere. There are other complications in many countries. It is understandable that there are various restrictions on their cultural export of cultural relics. For example, Egypt and India have strict regulations on the export of antiquities, and China needs a license for antiquities. In Peru, the export of cultural relics and the purchase of relics require permission from the Ministry of Culture. Please log in to the official tourist information office (iperu).

Check the laws of any country you visit before buying antiques.Otherwise, you may confiscate your shopping items at the border, and you may also suffer a huge fine. In some countries, licensed dealers can provide paperwork that allows certain items to be exported, but sometimes they provide forged documents. Try to deal with respectable and traceable people.

In some countries, the whole thing turned into a scam. The corrupt border police may sell them directly back to the tourist shop instead of keeping the confiscated "heritage" items and selling them to another unsuspecting traveler.

Your own country can also impose import restrictions on items such as animal skins (a long list of species, some of which are not actually harmed) or anything that contains ivory. I knew it before you left.

The code on the plastic bag

In some countries where bargaining habits are common, people in the market may adopt an arrangement under which they put purchases in bags of different colors to indicate how much the customer has paid, thereby allowing others The supplier charges accordingly. For example, in a certain market, a white bag may indicate that a customer paid the usual price, while a blue bag may indicate that they paid a higher amount-if the supplier sees someone carrying a large amount of blue packaging Bags, they will ask for higher prices. Different markets have different color codes, and some may have multiple stages of overcharging.

To avoid this situation, try to figure out what the usual price of items is before shopping. If they charge too much, they will actively bargain and put the shopping in a backpack or durable shopping bag instead of using the provided plastic bag. If possible, please bring some plastic bags

"Low-cost" airlines

Although cheap airlines are legal and often operate really cheaply, some of their (usually completely legal) business practices are particularly similar to fraud. A very common thing that shouldn't surprise you is that the price is quoted "from" a certain amount of money. certainly,LondonarriveMilanAirfare "from only 19 euros" sounds tempting, but these prices usually refer to a small part of the tickets, and you have to be very lucky to see it. In addition, prices are almost always quoted as one-way fares (while traditional airlines often quote round-trip fares) and do not include various fees. If you really want to choose a way in a day with almost no traffic, almost no luggage and are willing to carry around, then you are likely to get the legendary low interest rate, but other than that,You should read the instructions on the ticket very carefully。

Some low-cost airlines are notorious for their out-of-the-ordinary charging range, such as 50 Euros to print a boarding pass, or 100 US dollars to carry half a pound of excess luggage. Another common trick is that “low-cost” airlines fly out of Tier 2 or Tier 3 “airports” (old military airports that are often renovated)-especially in Europe-these airports are compatible with any type of public transportation. Don’t have a good connection relationship, and are more or less in the middle and continue to give them deceptive names, such asBarcelona——Girona、Dusseldorf——Weeze、Munich——MemmingenorFrankfurt——Hahn, even if these cities are away from "their" low-cost airports. In the United States, low-cost airlines often fly to airports closer to cities, but their names may have some ridiculous additional costs. This means that “traditional” airlines have now replicated the business practices of some low-cost airlines, especially on short-haul routes, especially on short-haul routes.America。

In short: please read the above instructions carefully and do not order any "extra services" that you don't need (for example, for a flight with a ticket cost of only 20 euros, an additional 10 euros insurance fee or 15 euros may be charged Seat reservation fees, so a flight that only takes 50 minutes at a time is most likely not worth the need for these things), and for God’s sake, you can skip all the links and let the airline make you jump, avoiding the use of Wrong debit card payment or sitting in the wrong seat or not printing out the boarding pass in the correct format and on the correct type.

Compulsive means

These scams rely on besieging you in a bad environment and forcing you to spend money to eliminate disasters. To avoid this situation, it is best to avoid them; once you get into their trap, you may have no choice but to give all the security you need. Many of these scams are illegal.

Free travel

You are offered a "free tour" opportunity to shop or factory out of town. Then, your driver may suggest that if you want to take the return journey, you need to buy something. The best prevention is to avoid it, as if you are trapped there, you may be forced to "follow his advice". Don't accept any form of elevator or provide a journey without a basic idea of ​​where you are going and where you will be able to return if your driver abandons you. Of course, if you are strong and confident when dealing with any suspicious characters from the beginning, you can limit your chances of participating in this sting. However, please always keep in mind that if something happens, the perpetrator may hold a knife or be willing to beat you.

Use passport as security for debt or rent

You rent equipment like motorboats or motorcycles. You are required to give your passport as a security guarantee. After returning the leased items, the owner claims that you have damaged their items and will ask for an exaggerated price to compensate or claim that you have "lost" your passport (later the police or the Lost Property Office hopes to provide a large amount of "donations" for their return ). If you disagree, they threaten to withhold your passport. This scam is almostThailandIt is used in all tourist resorts and is very effective.

Never surrender your passport as a guarantee or guarantee under any circumstances.Be sure to choose to pay in cash (and get a receipt), or hand over something relatively worthless, such as your library card as a guarantee. You can also try to go to other places (usually threatening them is enough).

Please note that most passports include the wording (direct quote): "This passport is the property of the Canadian government... If your passport has been handed over to any person or institution other than the Canadian government (for example to obtain a visa), And do not return it in time, report the situation to the embassy or consulate. At least in principle, no one can take it except for foreign governments, travel agencies, or employers who need to arrange visas, or people like hotels or airlines who want to stay for a short period of time. Passing a passport is a violation of international law. Your government can urge the host government to solve the problem. In theory, the government has no choice but to do so. Of course, in reality it is much more complicated. Your government may not be helpful. The host government may ignore them, the local police may ignore the requirements of the capital, or they may not have an effective way to suppress who has a passport.

Overpriced vendors

You may decide to buy a slice of cake, which is very common in tourist sources in Chinese cities. You ask for the price, and people who tend to cut cakes tell you it depends on how much you want. How much do you show him. Immediately, he will cut the cake and weigh it, and give you a very high price. He tells you that since he has cut the cake, you must buy it.

The best thing to do in this or any similar situation may be to leave your purchase and walk away. If they stalk you, threaten to call the police. Like the art school scam, this trick relies on using your guilt to force you out of your money.

Gambling games

existBerlinA gambling game

There are many different types of this format, from the three-card Monte Cup shuffler on the streets of European cities to the cunning gambling dens on the backstreets of Southeast Asia. In most cases, the goal is isolated. The scammer started a conversation and then claimed to have family in the target country. After some "friendly" conversations, the target is invited to participate in card games or some other type of gambling: of course just for "fun".

The goal is to stay away from tourist areas. After doing a few "practice" games, they started to play realistically. Of course, this game is completely rigged. After failure, the target will find that his "friends" are no longer so friendly, and then need a lot of funds (usually a total of thousands of dollars). Violence may be used to settle debts. In some jurisdictions, gambling of any kind is illegal.

Tourists are by no means the only target. For example, professional Chinese Canadian scammers usually buy curved mahjong games in large quantities from Chinese overseas students.

Don't gamble with strangers or gamble outside of licensed and highly acclaimed casinos.

Robbing cash on the sidewalk

When you stand on the sidewalk and study your map or guide, passers-by will point to a roll of banknotes, wallet or gold jewelry on the ground nearby and ask if it belongs to you. They pick it up and present something that is separate from you. If you agree, some heavy vehicles will soon ask for refunds, far beyond what you initially "discovered". This kind of scam isRussiawithUkraineIs the most common, but it is alsoFranceAppeared.

Free hairdressing/salon/treatment

The most common is in Asian countries, a beautiful hair dressing table will stand outside the salon and pass on coupons for "free" shampoo shampoo and "free" head massage. Even if you refuse, they will continue to persevere. As long as they successfully put you on the salon chair and start moisturizing your hair, they will explain how your hair is damaged and which specific products will help. The price is ridiculous and is usually 2 to 3 times higher than the US price for similar salon treatments. It will become more difficult to reject them after they have a friendly conversation and praise. The best way to avoid this is to tell them that you just did a haircut and are not interested.

theft

All kinds of scams are outright thefts:

• Various forms of distracted theft usually involve a villain distracting the victim while another accomplice conspiracy to steal valuable items.
• Payment card theft includes various schemes for stealing credit card numbers (card stealing) or copying ATM/cash card PIN and magnetic stripe. In some scenarios, the card itself is stolen, in other scenarios, the card information is stolen and used to conduct fraudulent transactions.
• Pickpockets steal items (usually wallets, passports or other valuables) from people's clothes and duffel bags when they walk in public places.

Please refer toPickpockets and theftThe main article.

Some scams involve putting you in a position where someone can take your money forcibly.

"Friendly" locals want to have a drink with you

While strolling down the street, you may be approached by attractive "friendly" locals who want to go out for a beer or a drink. Then they tell you the cost of drinks in more ways than they actually are. To make matters worse, just wait for you to get drunk (or somehow put you on drugs) and snatch your money. Please refer to the clip section below.

Maradona

MaradonaIs one inRomaniaVery common scam, especially in the capitalBucharest. Someone will approach you and try to talk to you in English (in English), usually what is said is illegal. A few seconds later, the two men will appear in plain clothes, but wearing police badges with a legal appearance. They will accuse you and your "new friend" of engaging in some illegal activities (usually "currency exchange") and require you to see your wallet and/or passport.

Don't give these things to them! Store your documents and belongings in an invisible place in your pocket!

Please be sure to walk away immediately, or yell, or tell them directly that you do not believe they are the police, or suggest that you all walk to the lobby of the nearby hotel (or police station) because you are uncomfortable and take out your wallet Or newspaper street. Since the police have failed to enforce the law on non-violent crimes, and some foreigners are easily fooled, they will not attack you personally: the handling of violent offenders is very severe (these are professionals and they will never be stupid enough A personal attack may occur). Don't threaten or try to confront them.

Observed in Cartagena (Colombia), there is a more violent variant, where you can buy medicine. If you do, the fake police show up immediately and demand you pay a huge fine. They will take you to the nearest ATM, ask you to withdraw as much money as possible, and may even kidnap you.

Car accident

People will approach you on the street and tell you that their car has run out of fuel or is malfunctioning, only a few blocks away. They usually ask for gasoline first. If you don't believe them or try to walk away, they may beg you to go with them in the car to see if they are telling the truth. They may offer you some kind of security, such as their jewelry, and dress decently and seem reasonable.

Don't give people money in these and similar situations. Don't follow them to where they ask for their car. If you suspect that they are really in trouble, you can report their trouble to the police.

Street fight

You are walking on the street alone, and suddenly you see a lot of people attacking a person (sometimes an old man or a woman). When you want to help, people will take pictures of you and then blackmail you to call the police. Now you find that the attacker, the attacker and the photographer are a group. They will blackmail you a lot of money, because if they go to the police station, you will most likely need to leave the country (for example, in China).

Avoid this scam by following this common sense: it is never wise to participate in the battle. If you witness a battle, your best option is to either walk away or warn the police if they are trustworthy. Never get involved in yourself. Letting go locally may result in deportation of some countries.

Fake tickets and stolen goods

There are many variants:

• Someone claimed on the Internet that they could enjoy a 50% discount on WestJet tickets for specific conference participants, but the tickets were purchased with a stolen credit card, which was quickly flagged by the airline; someone listed the difficulty I found tickets for rock star concerts on Craiglist, but these were printed as elaborate fakes, and another fifty dissatisfied fans gathered their equally worthless "tickets" outside the stadium.
• Someone listed the mobile phone on Kijiji, which was quickly placed on the national blacklist by the mobile operator, so its electronic serial number (IMEI) could not be subscribed anywhere. If the item is purchased from the website and delivered in a public place, the seller will no longer be able to find it.
• Another variant is another valid ticket that the original issuer does not allow the original buyer to transfer (for example, a Disneyland multi-day pass with a few days left on the day of leaving the park).

These items don’t have to be stolen; it’s not unheard of for mobile providers to put IMEI on a blacklist in an attempt to leverage subscribers in order disputes, and that the later owners of handheld devices are harmed.

prostitute

Using people who are sexually attractive is a good distraction, especially those who are significantly available. However, sampling local street vagabonds puts you at risk of crime. Prostitutes can be used as bait for various scams:

• Cause you to enter armed robbery;
• An ally wears your clothes when you leave them;
• Give your hotel room key, which is to the thief or thieves;
• "Cash and Dash", that is, the provider accepts payment for services that have never been provided, and then leaves;
• Early fee fraud, where the pimp (or villain) arrives without a service provider and asks for cash-before the victim's money disappears in his pocket and the service is not provided;
• A false "angry family member" (or police) appears and needs to be bought; or, the person's arrival time is done immediately after the provider has accepted the payment and before any services are provided, which is actually " Cash and short-term" plan;
• Hidden cameras and ultimate blackmail;

Sometimes, prostitutes do not have their own wishes, but are victims of human traffickers or the influence of street drugs.

In almost all cases, it is presumed that the victim will not contact the police; the client is either ashamed to have to pay a "companion" fee, afraid to confide in the deceived spouse, afraid of violent retaliation by the fraudsters, or afraid of legal prosecution , Because even prostitution in jurisdictions with no nominal convictions may still violate the law with a long and arbitrary list of related activities.

Even if you don't allow a person to take you anywhere, street wanderers can be dangerous. A person who takes him to a hotel is likely to miss his watch or wallet in the morning. In some countries, for exampleChinaorAmericaIn 48 states, prostitution is illegal, and hotel staff may send the local police to your door shortly after you check in.

If you are willing to bear the health and legal risks of hiring a prostitute, please go to a massage parlor, sauna or any local place that is more suitable. Although these institutions are not risky, they are much safer than street workers.

However, in countries where prostitution has not yet been fully legalized (and even in some cases), these institutions may be linked to other forms of criminal activity, especially various gangs, drug dealers and money laundering. Some are clip connectors; due to legal restrictions in many jurisdictions that make providers claim to sell "massage", "accompaniment" or anything other than actual "full service" prostitution, these people will be happy to accept the victim's Money, then claimed that the payment was “only for massage” and repeatedly asked for more money. Once his wallet was empty, the trademark was thrown out of the venue meaninglessly (no actual service was provided).

Taxi fraud

See:Taxi scam

If suspicious, please call a taxi to drop you in your (or any) hotel lobby. If you charge too much, most hotel security measures may interfere.

Scenic taxi

Since you don’t know the area, taxi drivers can drive a long route to your hotel and incur a lot of fare. The best prevention is knowledge: it is difficult to learn a good enough new city to know a good route before you arrive for the first time. Always ask your hotel to roughly specify the taxi fare when you book, or if they provide this service, please arrange for pickup. Before you move in, you can often negotiate a fixed price with a taxi and ask about the price range of your hotel. Good taxi drivers are on the way to the hotel every day and provide you with very accurate prices before you or your luggage enter the taxi.

Taxi without meter/meter

In cities where taxis have metered meters, drivers often try to drive with tourists without turning on the meter. When they arrive, they will try to go from a mere expensive (2 or 3 times the usual fare) fare to a fare of hundreds of dollars, depending on their ambitions. If you are in a place that knows about this scam, and you know where you are going, and want them to use the meter (instead of arranging a fixed fare), ask them to turn on the meter before entering. If they say it is broken or similar, walk away and try another taxi. They often admit that the fare is better than the fare.

However, an ambitious passenger can actually work this scam for their benefit, just like in some countries where billing is required (China), passengers cannot be forced to pay “informal” (ie unmetered) taxi fares . Therefore, the tourist can move around freely without any payment: once you leave his vehicle, the driver will show the police without a transaction certificate. However, this strategy is not recommended for weakened hearts, but it can save you money as a last resort.

The price of the meter is abnormal

A related scam uses the wrong metering rate: set it to a more expensive late-night setting during the day. You need location-specific information to prevent this. A typical stripping situation involves equipment called "turbines." By pressing a specially installed button (usually located on the left side of the steering wheel or next to the clutch pedal), the driver activates the "turbo" and causes the meter to charge faster than usual. The change in charging speed is obvious, so dishonest drivers will talk and show multiple times to make their passengers notice the meter. The best way to prevent the driver from starting the turbine is to keep an eye on the gauges.

Baggage hijacked

When your luggage is loaded, please pay attention! Enter the cab after the luggage is loaded, and enter the cab before the luggage comes out. If you put your luggage in the suitcase, they may refuse to send the luggage back to you unless you pay a higher actual fare. Remember, if something goes wrong, always write down or remember the taxi number or driver number, and store your luggage at all times as much as possible. Usually, just write down the taxi number and they will back down if they keep their luggage as hostages, but be careful that they are unarmed or try to rob you by other means, not just take your luggage.

"Everyone" has to pay for the car

The taxi, tuk-tuk or auto rickshaw driver will agree on the price. When you arrive at your destination, they may or may not tell you that the vehicle is a shared vehicle, and they will tell you that the price quoted is the price that everyone has to pay. The scam depends on you believing them, but you can almost always give them the agreed fare and walk away. Just make sure you make the correct changes before you leave, because in many places, the driver knows to come up with any excuses to charge extra.

Food and drink scam

From bar owners who charge the full price of diluted drinks to restaurant owners who use a restaurant’s payment card to tip themselves generously, there are a variety of plans in which travelers charge more for food and beverage services.

Two menus

Some bars or restaurants provide you with menus that seem to be reasonably priced and take your order away. Later they presented a bill that was much higher. If you argue, they will produce a higher price menu. This kind of scam isRomaniaIt is well known in Chinese bars in other places. The best way to avoid this is not to use low-level tourist bars. Another option is to use the phone camera to take a picture of the menu. If the restaurant thinks, you can always tell them that you want to send it to your friends because they don't believe the price is so low. You can then continue to take food photos for your foodie blog.

You can also try to hang on your menu, or pay when your drink or food is delivered, preferably with appropriate changes. Note that English menus are required, because the prices on the menus are sometimes higher than those in the local language, but since navigating the Mandarin menus is difficult, and the prices even with foreigners’ surcharges are still very low possible for non-Mandarin readers. Want to write it as translation fee.

Another situation is to list a location with an absurdly exaggerated price and then claim to offer "local discounts." In some places where there are ordinary parallel currencies (usually US dollars or Euros), a menu may appear with quotations in both local currency and parallel currencies. The price of the local currency may be much lower, especially if the inflation rate is high, then it is necessary to know the latest exchange rate. The general rule of thumb is: unless inflation is rampant, it is better to pay a lower price and use the local currency. In some rare cases, "hard" currency may give you something that you cannot buy with local currency, but in some countries that use foreign currency or exchange at black market prices, there may be various technically illegal colors.

A variant of this scam is to order a menu, where your waiter will provide you with a "special", and the menu is not displayed. This meal will not be very special, but the price will be higher than anything else on the menu. In addition, peddlers and pickpockets may advertise low-price deals—or signs outside the restaurant clearly announce attractive discounts, but the bill is calculated at the normal price. If an offer seems cheap, read it carefully: if it sounds too good, then it may not be true, it may not be.

Pane e coperto

The restaurant displays a price on the menu, but when the bill arrives, there may be unauthorized additional charges. Italian restaurants call this kind of cost a hidden extra cost, and restaurant owners give themselves a generous remuneration by charging service fees. It is generally illegal unless the cost is disclosed in the early stage (some restaurant owners will try to bury a "not included single line" service in a lengthy menu). It will also not be harmed by whether the restaurant provided you with the correct receipt for this additional payment (and presumably paying taxes for it). Normally, a restaurant will try to pay additional fees for tourists, but will not provide additional fees for local residents.

Unlisted insurance costs

A fast-talking man (or attractive woman) standing outside the strip club will provide you with free admission, free drinks and/or lap dance to get you into the club. They often speak fluent English, can choose your accent, and are very persuasive. Of course, they are kind to the free drinks and dancing, but what they won't tell you (and what you won't know before you leave) is that there is a "membership fee" or an "exit fee" of at least 100 euros. There are security guards outside the door waiting for the payer.

BangkokThis approach has also changed, where there are mezzanine menus for entertaining and offering sex performances and cheap beer. Beer may indeed be cheap, but they will add an extra cost to the show. Same inBrazil, If live music is playing, I hope to pay extra'artistic couvert'. No one will warn you about this because it is considered normal there. Ask how much it has before sitting down.

Clip joint

You are approached by an attractive, well-dressed local gentleman or lady, who suggests drinking in your favorite nightclub. When you arrive, this joint is almost empty, but once you sit down, some girls in revealing clothes will be next to you and order a few bottles of champagne. Your "friends" disappeared, bills were hundreds or even thousands of dollars, heavy objects blocked the door, stretched your muscles until you paid the price.

A variant is the "B girl" or bar girl scam, where organized crime recruits attractive women into legal bars, looks for rich men to display expensive shoes and watches, and lures them into unlicensed "non-business hours" Clubs” (or not open to the public), and charge thousands of dollars to the payment cards of drunken victims. Usually, the victim is too intoxicated to remember what happened.

This is especially common in large European cities, includingLondon，IstanbulwithBudapest。FloridaThere is a problem, because the state law instructs the police to arbitrarily force the victim to pay all disputed fees, and then try to recover the funds by submitting a dispute to the credit card issuer-an uphill struggle. In this case, the best defense is not the end result: avoid meeting people they have just met, choose their own bar, or if they want to go to places where there are no locals, at least exit immediately. In Istanbul, this type of scam is also common in places crowded with local residents, where they deceive tourists, but not local residents, because getting the police to do anything is a difficult and time-consuming process. It is best to pay with a credit card, so prepare one so that if you end up in this situation, you can pay with a credit card, then cancel your credit card and file an objection immediately. Although the police in some jurisdictions are unlikely to receive much help, filing a report may make it easier to reverse the allegations.

This kind of scam is blackmailed in Beijing and other cities in China. You will meet the ladies who speak good English, spend 30 minutes talking with you, and invite you to have tea with them. The teahouse they take you to will be empty, and you will eventually have to pay a lot of money to drink a few cups of tea. This is very easy to fall into, because scammers are often willing to spend a lot of time "talking about you" before suggesting tea. The best way to avoid this is to not participate in the conversation in the first place. Otherwise, refuse to go drinking tea with them, or if you find yourself fooled to go to the teahouse with them, insist on leaving as soon as possible (for example, fake your friend receives an emergency call), and ask for a bill (because you drink Each of the different varieties of tea will increase the final cost).

Accommodation scam

Some hotels and motels may be unscrupulous to lure you in. Although the risk of an independent organization may be higher (no franchisor complains to it), there are cases where individuals owning franchises in large companies are suspected of engaging in unethical behavior. More rarely, the chain itself has problems or turned a blind eye to suspicious hidden costs; in a 2014 incident, the US Federal Communications Commission fined Marriott International a $600,000 fine for illegally deliberately interfering with customers in one of its conference centers Wi-Fi network owned.

Most hotels are honest and you will not encounter these problems. These are a few, but customers should pay attention and should know what signs to pay attention to.

It is not uncommon for travelers to check hotels when they feel tired after hours of travel or when they are in a hurry to catch a flight or go to another destination. At these times, customers are less likely to argue, and therefore more likely to be hinted or get into trouble. Guests during their stay are also unlikely to be accused of being deceived for fear of management’s retaliation.

Prepaid fraud

You book the room in advance, assuming you have to pay for the room upon arrival. Soon, an investigation is coming-presumably from the hotel-asking you to pay in advance, usually by wire transfer. You pay, and you later show up and discover that the hotel denies all requests for wire transfers and all knowledge of requesting payment again... A less extreme form is that even if you book a hotel in advance, the hotel may try to charge more time than originally agreed. They may also insist on paying in cash.

The odds are that a hotel or an intermediary violated confidential data, whether through improper security or dishonest staff, giving crooks the opportunity to send money to travelers in advance, take the cash and run. This scammer does not officially represent the hotel, and the hotel explicitly denies that it was their (or their dealers) negligence that damaged the data; the longer they refuse everything, the lower their chances of being sued. Not only can you pay, but some scammers may have your home country address and information (maybe even the payment card used to make the initial booking), and may not be able to do anything about it because you know you are abroad until you return, your The home or your payment card is stolen.

In another variant, you can see an attractive cabin rental online, pay to book in advance, and then show up-hand luggage-and see Daddy Bear, Mom Bear and Baby Bear sitting at their breakfast table, thinking Know why some scammers in Kigiji just rented their cabin to Goldilocks (you, unsuspecting traveler) as a prepaid scam. Since the scammer who placed the advertisement has nothing to do with the property, they are conveniently nowhere to be found and the money is gone.

Facility fee

Regardless of whether it is used or not, the price based on the price is acceptable. However, customers charge additional fees for using certain facilities (such as refrigerators, microwaves, coffee makers, irons or additional safety facilities). WiFi hotspots are usually announced on the website, but their charges are not high. If it has been used, some will charge a fee; even if it is not used, others will charge a fee. In any case, this is a way for customers. Before making reservations, this should be clearly promoted; unfortunately, groups representing hoteliers (such as the American Hotel and Lodging Association) actively lobby the government in order to avoid suppressing so-called "vacation fees."

Hotel operators are notorious for filling in "miscellaneous" invoices, charging high-priced telephone charges, high parking charges, and overcharged pay-per-view TV shows that charge a few dollars for bottled water. It’s not unheard of for hotels to charge high fees to call toll-free numbers or intercept services such as "Direct Air Canada" to get you to the carrier in your country; some even redirect the number to a competing provider, which offers The merchant immediately asked for a credit card number. Some places may illegally block cell phone data connections, forcing you to use high-priced services.

Depending on the supplier, non-branded pay phones (COCOT, coin-operated phones owned by customers) may also have problems. Some companies do provide reasonable and valuable cost savings for their current competitors, but other companies may incur serious charges for paying for phone calls.

Services provided by external vendors ordered through the hotel service desk (such as car rental) can come from unreputable vendors who overcharge or practice bait and conversion.

Damage claim

At check-in, you need to provide a credit card, and you have signed a contract, you can take any responsibility for this. You don't think this. This seems to be a routine procedure anywhere. But long after you check out, you find that your card has been easily billed by the hotel. You contact your credit card company to resolve this issue, but the hotel will repair it by sending a photo of the damage to the credit card company and a hypothetical bill provided by the contractor. This can easily be fictionalized with today's printers, but the credit card company accepts this as valid evidence, and both parties with the hotel. You insist on paying the fee, plus any interest that may accrue during the dispute.

Another variant is that the hotelier accuses travelers of stealing towels or other small items; instead of accusing the customer's face, the fee is only quietly added to the credit card bill. When a traveler raised an objection, the hotel backed away...just to perform the same scam on subsequent travellers.

Disposal of property

You return to your motel for the last night to stay, only to find that the key does not work. You went to the office, and you have been told that you will pay one night less. You are also told that the management has cleaned the room and dealt with your legacy. In fact, the management kept your property and planned to sell those valuables, even though you were angry and helpless.

Early expulsion

You have paid for a long stay at the hotel, but before you stayed for many nights, the management will inform you that you did not expect to perform or did not perform your promise due to some unknown error. However, the management insisted on leaving, otherwise it would be an illegal intrusion. The management refused to refund the remaining accommodation expenses. No need to provide services to get funds from you. Maybe you might contact law enforcement agencies to refuse a refund, but they can't do anything about it. The remedy can be one night at a time, unless you know you are staying at a reputable hotel or booked as part of a package deal with a reputable company.

Fake booking website

Online booking has recently become a common method of booking hotels. Commonly used websites includehotels.com、ExpediawithCheapTicketsand many more.

But other lesser-known websites will advertise the same hotel and will give you what looks normal when booking, including a confirmation number, and will cost you money. But upon arrival, the facility will tell you that they do not have your reservation, and they will not do business with such a company. Your booking will not be honored and your money will be lost.

To prevent this, you can only book through the website of a reputable booking company. The best practice is to enter the URL of the booking company directly into the browser’s address bar instead of following links from other websites, which can lead to malicious websites. A common red flag is that you have never heard of this company before, and the price is lower than that of a reputable booking company, because the same property is too good to be real. If in doubt, you can call the facility in advance and ask if they do business with such a booking site.

Another variant is the hidden middleman: you think you have contacted the hotel, but you are actually talking to a dealer who is taking a commission for yourself. For example, 1-800-HOLIDAY (465-4329) is a major hotel chain; 1-800-H0LAYAY (405-4329) is not a hotel chain, but a non-independent dealer. The reservation created is real, whether it is in the original hotel or a direct competitor, but the person who deals with the counterfeiter instead of advertising the business through legal and conventional means may not be able to obtain the best available rate because it is another A fee paid by an intermediary.

The bankruptcy of the middleman after accepting the payment but before paying the hotel can also cause huge problems for travelers. In one such incident, Canada’s Conquest Holiday went bankrupt in 2009, effectively leaving guests at its Mexican hotel in a Mexican hotel detained by private security until they again spent thousands of dollars to pay for the room.

Home Accommodation Network

The Internet has driven a substantial increase in hotel transactions and vacation rentals, allowing homeowners to list rooms or entire apartment rentals in a relatively easy way. These can be a good investor if used carefully and honestly, but they have risks and drawbacks for travelers and homeowners.

Major websites stop abuse by allowing users to rate their hosts (or their guests) and process payments through the platform's own website. These preventive measures can be circumvented through various schemes.

Scammers often steal the login information of legitimate users and change personal information to make them their own users, thereby giving established users the appearance of positive feedback. Then, they list a house for rent and respond to the inquiry by directing the user from the original website to the fake website (so their email is sent to airbnb.some-bogus- in response to your query on airbnb.com) domain.com, this seems to be official, but contains a false guarantee that any bank transfers you send are "100% safe and protected"). What if you pay outside of the system provided by the real homestay website? Nothing is protected, the scammer has your cash and it has disappeared. If the entire transaction was made using someone else’s stolen identity, good luck until you use the stolen payment card to pay for the fake website.

Or, scammers steal your lien website certificate or payment card information, check the vacation rental with you, wait until the owner is away, load the entire room into the truck-and never see it again. Or they trash the place and let others pay for the damage. Or they try to run commercial businesses from short-term accommodation, such as drugs or prostitution. Or they claim to be the owners of the leased house and start to collect the first and final months of rent from future long-term tenants for apartments that are not part of their lease. What do they have in common? When the police come to look for the bad guys, they are misled to your door because these crooks are using your identity.

All these scams, from prepaid fraud, identity theft to theft of temporary accommodation, are nothing new. The Internet makes this easier.

Higher printing rate

Accommodation agencies will advertise low interest rates in their advertisements. But most will not meet this speed. For example, it may be a premium rate that only applies to people over a certain age, or it may be reserved for repeat guests or others who belong to certain elite groups defined by the agency. The words "double occupancy per person" are considered to mean that the actual price of a room is twice that of the large ad copy. The actual rate you need to pay can only be found in the fine print after studying the literature. However, travelers who only need accommodation will get stuck.

Another variant is that the company quietly adds it to your bill to give yourself a tip or tip without your consent. Restaurants are notorious for doing this to large groups, but unless you agree to charge in advance, its legality is questionable. In addition, the tax law considers any "compulsory tip" to be a factual part of the basic price, so it is inferred that the hotel operator or restaurant owner should pay income and sales tax for this money.

Mandatory upgrade

A hotel or motel is filled with billboards advertising "rooms under $40" or artificially low prices in the market. The motel has the price of one (or very few) rooms, or it only has it on Wednesday night in winter. Once this vacancy is filled, everything else will be more expensive, like a double-decker bus from Montreal to Toronto with a huge letter on one side with "1 plus 56 cents booking fee", but if the bus company is still open.

Alternatively, you can book a hotel at a low price through online or travel guides; when you arrive, you will be notified that the room is unavailable, and if you wish to stay, you must pay a higher price for the room. You can choose to pay for a higher-priced room or find another place to stay. This may be difficult if you are in a strange place.

A more subtle bait and conversion is to claim that the room requested by the traveler is not cleaned or ready, and then offer to convert it to a different category of room at a higher price as a form of upward adjustment. A traveler who refuses to pay extra, especially if they arrive early, will wait for several hours to arrive at the desired room.

Hijacking of luggage or documents

Travelers should pay attention to valuables such as currency and wedding rings lost in the safe in the room and complain to the management. The resort will conduct an "investigation" in which to search the victim's belongings (where suspicious items are found), and then tell them to put everything in the room, including passports. The client was moved to another location in the resort and then accused of making the original theft complaint and told them to return to the room to retrieve the property only after the original theft report was withdrawn.

Refusal to refund

You will enter a low-quality hotel and find that you are not satisfied with anybody's conditions. You immediately return to the office and ask for a refund. But the management refuses your refund and gives you the option to stay there and stick to it, or leave and lose your money.

It is worth noting that in many countries, this is considered standard practice, not a scam, especially for walk-in (unreserved) guests. Before deciding whether to stay in a hotel, you should always ask to see the room. Many bad motels run flashy ads or websites that look at a hotel in an outdated or very cautious manner. If you check first, you are also more likely to get a better room.

Reputation management

Online reviews are very valuable to travelers; a series of hotels that dissatisfied travelers will be exposed by angry reviewers long before the local residents of the destination (they will not stay in the hotel), noting that a new owner makes a The respectable venue has deteriorated into a nightmare for short-lived residents. Unfortunately, like any powerful tool, censorship sites can be easily manipulated and abused.

For example, a hotel let cleanliness standards slip; an angry traveler made a stern comment, "Stay in this garbage dump once, which made me violently sick. There will never be such a thing again! A symbol of cockroaches!" , And report the shop owner to the local health department in time. When shopkeepers see negative reviews that hurt the business, they jump into the review site themselves, give the hotel a five-star review, leave a disparaging review on a competitor’s hotel, and recruit friends or family members to do the same. If the review site accepts paid advertisements from the hotel being reviewed, if the negative reviews disappear or if the complaint is still online threatening to cancel the existing advertisement, the hotelier provides a purchase advertisement. If it fails, a cunning official appearance letter threatens that the shop owner “may consider proceeding with a defamation lawsuit” and can purchase it mundanely from unethical lawyers who neglected to ask the health inspector if he really just left the hotel. disgust. Although threat litigation is usually never realized, upstream Internet service providers often spurn these requirements (removal of legal, valuable information) to avoid the expensive cost of lawyers responding to false claims-a cost that cuts their profits.

On the contrary, a bad customer may (and occasionally) abuse other good systems to harm the blameless shopkeeper. The customer checked in and invited twenty drunken partners to hold a party in the hotel room; neighboring guests complained to the owner that they threw drunk revellers or asked the police to do so. The next day, the owner found an annoying, dull online comment that other travelers welcomed as an elegant, quiet hotel. Not surprising, but who is the next navigator to read this mixed comment?

In some cases, innkeepers have tried to translate the conditions into fine prints, claiming that travelers "agree" to pay some exaggerated penalties if they (or anyone in the group in the wedding party) leave negative reviews about the hotel. When these practices are exposed, they usually do more damage to the reputation of the hotel than they have never been tried.

Arrive in advance or without reservation

If you arrive early, for example, at 2 am, at your hotel...check-in time is 12 noon...so your choice is to do something before noon...or the hotel will rent a very expensive one for you Room... If you arrive at two o'clock in the morning, you must reserve your room the night before. This way, they can't try to upgrade you and overcharge your early morning arrival.

Guests who have not made a reservation also tend to charge the rack rate, and the owner says that the hotel’s price is the worst. Assuming that as many as 15% of travel agents or intermediaries may buy hotels, the initial price quoted by the hotel is an inflated price (much like the MSRP listed by the factory in which the price of goods is exaggerated, and the retailer lowers its price to the actual price). Then they claim to offer a 10% discount for online bookings, automobile association members, retirees, corporate customers or a large group of groups-such an inflated manufacturer's suggested retail price can only be paid by an unfortunate few. If you have a mobile internet device, please check if the price you quoted at the front desk is actually higher than the price on the hotel website-you may be shocked by the sticker.

In some jurisdictions, a regulation compels hoteliers to post standard package prices in rooms, provincial/state travel guides, or in a conspicuous place, and (with very few exceptions) it is legally prohibited to charge more than this posted price ——Although they may charge less.

Drinking water

Many hotels abroad often have Westerners leave signs in the hotel rooms, pointing out that drinking water is unsafe, and drinking water must be purchased from the front desk or the minibar, which is usually expensive. In many of these countries, water is very safe for tourists to consume, and the hotel will tell you this is to sell you bottled water. In some cases, they will give you a water bottle, which means they are free, but then add it as a hidden fee. To be safe, buy bottled water at the supermarket. To know whether tap water is safe to drink, please do your own research and do not rely on the hotel to provide you with this information. The Wikivoyage article on water and the beverage section of individual country or region articles provide general information on water resources in several countries.

Dating scam

This section uses "he" to represent the victim and "she" to represent the scammer, because travelers are most likely to see this type of fraud being used against foreign men pursuing women in low-income countries, but these scams may apply to Any gender and gender combination in any position.

A basic rule is good for most scams,If it sounds too good to be true, it may not be true.

One example is the young girl who seems to be very interested in older men. This may be true because some girls like older men for various reasons; especially in low-income countries, honest women may want a rich husband or sugar dad, and may think that older people are a better one prospect. On the other hand, this is a common setting for some of the scams mentioned below, and if she is really young, it may also lead to blackmail.

Online dating

Travelers use Internet dating sites to meet with locals, and any gender, age group and type they are interested in are quite common. This can be a very rewarding endeavor; most of the people on these sites are real, and some are really good. However, there are also various scammers.

The basic rule is not to believe what you see on the Internet; you really know it until you meet this person. This photo may show a very popular girl, and online conversations may indicate that she is very interesting and interested in you. However, neither the photos nor the conversations are necessarily true; for the “her” you know is using other people’s photos, your conversation partner is not the hot girl you see, but a professional liar busy with you. There are more than ten, who can be of any age and gender.

The possible scams this can lead to include:

• She wants to see you, but in another city, can you send her her fare?

Of course, you cannot guarantee that she will not pay.

• She has some complicated crying stories-lost her job, can't pay the rent, grandma is sick... can you help, dear?

The rule here is not to send money to someone you don't know.

Another rule is not to reveal too much. Suppose you give you an online video chat ID. Then she suggested showing some sexy works on the webcam. After that, she has a video of nudity and/or masturbation; she threatens to send it to all your Facebook friends unless you pay a lot of money. Western men usually use dating sites in Southeast Asia to report this. A particularly insidious variant of the same scam begins with a request to "please show your nipples" to a teenage girl and then try to blackmail her into sex; this ends in suicide in some cases.

personal

In some scams, the person exists and is actually willing to meet, and in some cases goes to bed, but their interest in you can only be driven by money. They may even be married...to another.

One variant is the "expert"; she exists and wants to date you in her country, but she needs an interpreter for the day (you pay), the taxi and driver of the day (you pay), very expensive dinners, Not where the locals eat (where you pay), expensive jewelry, electronics or trinkets (you are willing to pay), and the list goes on. The suppliers of these items are in the plan, and there are various rebates; as long as you leave, the small accessories will be returned to the store. The next wealthy foreigner arrives and the cycle restarts.

A girl might also say: "My friend has never been a foreigner. She is very curious. What do you want to do?". This is almost irresistible for some men, but if one person uses another person to take a picture of you, it may be a blackmail setting, or the plan may be to have one girl take you out of clothes and let another People pass through your pockets. If this kind of thing appeals to you, you'd better hire one or three prostitutes.

Another variant is "sanky-panky", a local male trying to seduce this presumably wealthy female traveler by inciting emotional or romantic vulnerability. The term is mainly usedCaribbean, But this phenomenon is also common in other places. Ladies who are overweight or over 40 are often seen as an easy target. This scammer did not directly collect money for sex, but created a fake relationship that can continue when the guest returns home. They ask for a wire transfer using a detailed demand story, or seek a marriage visa from the visitor’s home country; once they have what they want, the wealthy foreigner will be abandoned.

Since these operators have repeatedly used the same scam against multiple foreign tourists and may have other lovers, the health risks of any unsafe sex in this case are high.

Telecom fraud

See:communication

There may be many hacks/frauds targeting travelers’ laptops or mobile phones, especially smart phones. The simplest threat is that an attacker may steal your bank/credit card information and empty your account.

There are other threats: attackers may steal contact information and passwords that may be used in identity theft scams, credit card information allows them to use large bills on your account, business data may be stolen, and certain types of Personal information can be used for blackmail.

Before the trip, Adjust your mobile device; update the operating system, applications and anti-virus programs to prevent as many threats as possible. This does not necessarily provide complete protection, but it will prevent many of the most common hacking behaviors. Also consider thoroughly cleaning up some data on your mobile device to remove unnecessary confidential information.

Wi-Fi

The main threats to WiFi connections are:

• Outdated WiFi security. Ensure the original standard of WiFi connectionWEPThe design is very bad, but the deployment is quite extensive. itNever be trusted, Because for anyone else using a laptop, anyone who cracks WEP in a few seconds and understands all the communication between you and the wireless device is completely straightforward. Unfortunately, this is the only standard supported by older WiFi access points, so it may be available in some places.
• The WPA protocol replaced WEP, but its purpose is to serve as a temporary solution, which will soon be replaced by the current (2016) standard.WPA-2Use decent cryptography, should be used whenever possible'. WPA should be considered risky, but it will at least deter some amateur attackers.
• Attacks from WiFi access points. If the enemy controls the access point, WPA-2 does not provide security; the connection is encrypted, but he or she can read everything after decryption. Beware of the free WiFi connection at the airport, hotel reception and coffee shop; some may be monitored.

This kind of attack is the same asWired connectionsame. If you plug your laptop into the hotel’s Ethernet, anyone who controls the network can monitor you; if you use a machine in an Internet cafe, the machine or network can monitor you. If you use your own machine and your VPN provider is reliable,Virtual private networkMay provide some defense.

• Fake WiFi network -Some hackers will set up false WiFi networks in hotels and airports to steal information. Please confirm with the site owner to confirm which WiFi networks are legal, because these hackers usually name the WiFi networks as similar to the real ones.

Please note that there is basically no defense against an attacker who controls the computer you are using or the computer you are connected to. As we all know, unscrupulous Internet cafe operators steal credentials when customers conduct online banking or purchase credit cards from their machines. "Phishing" scams try to trick you into connecting to fake websites that look almost identical to the real ones but are designed to Steal your credentials. Since the attacker is on the computer, protecting the HTTPS connection is indeed invalid for this.

HTTPS

Using an encrypted connection (using https instead of normal http on the Web) will prevent almost all attacks from firewalls or access points.

HTTP is the main protocol used by the network, and secure HTTP will add encryption to it. Some browsers will display a lock icon to indicate that it is playing, or you can look for HTTPS in the URL instead of just "GTTP". The protocol that originally introduced this feature was SSL, but newer versions use the name TLS. The current standard is TLS 1.3 as of mid-2018.

More or less, all banks and e-commerce websites use TLS to obtain sensitive information, and almost all websites that you need to log in will use TLS to protect name and password information. You should immediately leave a website that does not implement these basic precautions.

Web email providers can use TLS throughout the session so that all content passed between your computer and the server is encrypted; this prevents any snooping between the two, such as subverted WiFi access points. For some providers (such as Gmail), this is the default setting, while for other providers, it is an optional feature that users should enable through the menu. If your provider doesn’t support it at all, please complain loudly or switch providers.

EFF (Electronic Civil Rights Organization) has a project called HTTPS Everywhere, which provides an extension for Chrome, Opera or Firefox browsers so that they can try secure HTTP before normal HTTP on each server; you will automatically Get an encrypted connection to any server that supports it. Not only does this make you more secure; it also means that many connections are encrypted, so government plans to scoop up large amounts of Internet traffic are severely hampered. It can be said that everyone should install it, and users of browsers that do not support it should change the browser, or at least install a second browser.

One problem with TLS is that it relies on complex mechanisms using X.509 certificates to ensure that you are communicating with the correct server, which are issued by a certificate authority or CA. The main problem with this is that a typical browser trusts more than 100 CAs, some of which will happily sell certificates to anyone for cash, while others are controlled by untrusted governments. Fake certificates can be used to bypass security. Some CAs will happily sell such certificates.

Another issue is the downgrade attack, what protocol version the server and client negotiate and what encryption will be used. Attackers may sometimes trick them into using outdated versions with vulnerabilities. The defense is to disable outdated versions in your browser configuration. In particular, everyone should disable all SSL versions. Ideally, you can disable TLS 1.0 and 1.1, but not all servers support 1.2.

The simple solution for using any unencrypted/encrypted website is a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN is a service that sends data directly to the VPN provider's server through a secure "tunnel" and forwards it to the rest of the Internet when it reaches the server. This prevents a man-in-the-middle attack (MITM) attack. The attacker can "grab" unencrypted data packets through the WiFi network and open them in a dedicated program to display their content, which may be your bank information or private email. It is strongly recommended to use VPN services as much as possible, especially in public places such as airports, hotels, and libraries. Note that this may not always be possible, firewalls and filters can be set to block traffic destined for known VPN servers (source and destination information must remain unencrypted for routing purposes) to prevent traffic from bypassing them.

cell phone

Everything about WiFi connections above applies to mobile phones using these devices. In addition to this, there are some phone-specific attacks.

• The mobile phone can essentially be used as a tracking device. Some GPSs can provide accurate positioning, and they don't even have an approximate location that can be calculated based on the data of the cell tower they can see. Companies such as the Snoopy government and Apple have been accused of misusing the data.
• A device called Stingrays, a false signal tower used to intercept calls, is widely deployed by the United States and other police forces.
• In most cases, if you need true privacy, phone encryption cannot be trusted.
  • First, it is usually not an end-to-end communication. Only part of the connection (such as a cell phone to a cell phone tower) is encrypted, so it is possible to eavesdrop on a bug that can access other parts of the telephone network. Edward Snowden has revealed the extent to which the U.S. government does this, which is shocking enough, but a more authoritarian government will almost certainly be worse.
  • On the other hand, at least some of the encryption methods used, especially older standards like the original GSM, are very weak.
  • Companies like Silent Circle use strong end-to-end encryption technology to provide reliable and secure phones, but of course these are expensive.
• A simple attack works very well, using USB charging points. You plug in the phone to charge, but if the phone is set to expose its memory via USB-as many phones as possible can be easily transferred to the computer, and some phones are the default by default unless you disable the feature-then the charging device can Read all contacts, music and other stored information. They can also write to the device to delete your information, add intrusive contacts and images, and even install spyware. These devices bring some very bad possibilities.

You can buy "USB condoms". These small objects are placed at the end of the device's charging cable. You only need to terminate the data pins on the USB bus, allowing only power to flow. It is physically impossible to use such a device so that any data cannot reach your device. They can not often buy from travel shops, but can easily buy online before traveling.

See

• crimeandTheft
• Authority trouble