Travel Scams

Be careful of travel scams when booking that next vacation or that once-in-a-lifetime trip. Many people have been duped into a scheme and have had thousands of dollars stolen from them in some instances. 

What gets so many people in trouble is the prospect of saving substantial sums of money by booking plane travel, lodging or other aspects of vacationing through third parties promising them.

Travel Scams: List of Common Tricks Below

The most dangerous fraud when it comes to travel are the bogus travel sites. Luckily, here is how to detect a fake travel website and avoid traps.

Be careful when booking your next vacation. Keep your eyes open, and learn about what travel scams are out there. See below:

Hotel Room Swap

How the scam works: Many people are reducing the amount of travel they do requiring overnight stay because of the exorbitant cost of lodging. However, online travel sites have made getting a nice hotel room for a cheap motel price easier than ever. But some of these cheap rates come with an unexpected price tag; […]

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Airline Free Tickets and Vouchers

Free Airline Tickets Scam: How It Works Did anybody say free airline tickets? One of the biggest scams around when it comes to flight coupons, free plane tickets and discounts on flights is the Free Airline Tickets scam. The latest is a fake that comes in three variations: a National Travel and Tourism Association (NTTA), […]

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Old Prague Ham

Old Prague Ham Fraud: How It Works (with video featuring 10 other scams to avoid in Prague) Prague is the capital city of the Czech Republic. A beautiful and historic city, Prague draws over 4 million visitors per year. The city is known for its cultural and historical integrity, but it is also renowned […]

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Feed the Birds

How the scam works: One of the greatest pleasures in life is traveling around the world and immersing oneself in a new culture for a few days. However, travelers need to be aware of scammers that would like nothing more than to relieve their foreign visitors of their hard-earned cash. One of the most frequently […]

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Hotel Inspection Visit

How the scam works: A couple of "plumbers" show up at your hotel door dressed accordingly, carrying a bunch of tools. It could also be a couple of "employees" saying they are checking the towels/minibar. The plumbing scam is more prevalent. They inform you the hotel has sent them to fix a plumbing issue and […]

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Las Vegas Promoter Passes

  Las Vegas Promoters Scam: How It Works (with video below) If you've been to Las Vegas, you know what this is about. If you've never been and you're about to go, know that you will be approached by several guys offering VIP passes to get into night clubs for free and skip the line. The […]

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Romanian New Banknotes

How the scam works: Here's an example where doing your research before visiting a new country pays off instead of burning a hole in your pocket. A couple of years ago the Romanian Government decided to change the local currency by dropping 3 zeroes off the old Lei — a thousand Lei became one. As […]

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Found Your Wallet Scam

Found Wallet Scam: How It Works This scam requires a little bit of thinking and makes it a tough one to sniff out before it's too late. It could happen anywhere, so be careful when you travel to a different city. How does the scam work? Watch the video below to see the Found Wallet […]

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Tailor Touts in Asia

How the scam works: Tourists are often taken advantage of in Thailand, India, China and Hong Kong, by a different kind of “marketing”. Tailor touts will hang out wherever fresh tourists are arriving and aggressivelly try to get them to visit shady shops, to a point where it is almost harassment. They are paid to do […]

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Internet Café Banking Fraud

How the scam works: Using the Internet on your own laptop or smartphone while traveling is most convenient but Internet cafés are still popular because they can be cheaper. Easy to imagine, scammers are targeting tourists who do their banking in Internet cafes – South Africa, Thailand, Venezuela, Brazil and Bolivia –and now the United States– the […]

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Vietnamese Blackjack

How the scam works: You are in Vietnam and have an amazing time, and the new friends you made are just great. One day, one of them invites you to their house and, as the night progresses, he tells you about how he got scammed playing Blackjack 21. Now, he says, he has mastered the game and […]

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Wallet Drop

Wallet Drop Trick: How It Works This trick is a very calculated scam, and it could happen to you in your city or while traveling. Let's say you are waiting for a bus, taxi or train, sitting on a bench. Your bag (suitcase, bigger purse, etc.) is just beside you. Somebody passes by you […]

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Water Bottles in India

How the scam works: India is a hot place and water sells like nothing else. As you buy some bottled water, you might feel safe to find that they all have their caps sealed and seem legit, but what you should do is check the bottom. What crooks do is refill the bottles through a […]

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Welcoming Bracelet

How the scam works: (with video below) You have landed at your destination and are happy to start your well-deserved vacation. Either in the airport or at any popular place (Eiffel Tower, Sacre Couer, Colisseum, etc), a kid comes up to you and says: “Welcome to our country, please accept this bracelet as a hospitality […]

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Wi-Fi Login

Wi-Fi Login Scam: How It Works (with video below) Did it ever happen to you that while you wanted to access a Wi-Fi spot there were no networks available? Of course it did. While the Wi-Fi Scam has been occuring since the beginning of the Internet, it is still going strong, especially with the […]

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Turkish Salesmen

How the scam works: Turkey is an amazing country to visit, but it has the most aggressive street vendors in the world. Walking through the streets of Istanbul or Urgup (Cappadocia), victims are approached by extremely pushy men urging them to come into their shops and buy. Some victims might not see a problem with […]

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Ukraine Border/Overnight Train

How the scam works: This scam used to happen very often on the Ukrainian overnight trains coming from Poland or Belarus. Once the train crossed the border, immigration officers would visit the cabins for the necessary visas, passports, etc. However, it was reported that their trick was to find a tourists with photo/video cameras outside […]

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