Famous Travel Scams and Authentic Tips to Avoid Them in the Digital Era

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Security is of utmost importance for any traveler around the globe. Therefore, every traveler must be aware of the possible pitfalls they can face on any tour. It’s better to be safe rather than being overcharged by taxi drivers to unintentionally provide all credit card data. It’s almost impossible to know when and who will scam you. Let’s dive deep into the travel scams by examining that 53% of spam emails were sent to the US. So, it’s essential to know that the following types of scams exist and what steps must be taken to avoid them. 

1. Currency Exchange Frauds

• Quick Counting Methods 

The worst fraud one can face on holidays is money exchange. Imposters are very tricky nowadays with their skills, so they know how to distract individuals by engaging them in their conversation. They have the trick of counting currency faster and changing it without showing it to another person. 

• Change Actual Currency with Fake One 

There is the possibility that scammers fool travelers with fake currency notes as tourists do not recognize the size and color of the actual one document verification. These notes look precisely like the real ones, and one doesn’t know they have been scammed until they make a transaction. Hence, this scan puts foreigners at a financial loss and automatically pushes them to face the rules and regulations of an unknown country. 

• Rigged Calculator Technique

Another big scam of money exchange imposters is their rigid calculators, as most tourists allow the money exchanger to do the calculations. Let’s see how scammers take the benefit of the situation. Their calculators have a ‘memory recall’ feature, specifically used to display the user’s desired number on the screen. Therefore, when an imposter presses this button rather than ‘equals to’, the screen automatically shows a pre-typed figure instead of a calculated amount. This is the way they cheat tourists. 

A Path to Avoid this Scam

Following are a few techniques through which tourists can easily save themselves from scams:

1. The currency exchange must be altered with authorized money exchangers and banks to avoid scams.
2. It’s never safe to carry huge amounts of cash in a foreign country, so it’s essential to carry prepaid travel cards for one own convenience and safety.
3. It’s highly recommended to exchange currency in one’s hometown rather than at a foreign place. 

2. The OverPriced Taxis 

It’s a prevalent scam in any region of the world as tourists are unaware of the foreign country routes and have no idea about the fares. Imposters easily trap travelers in this scam by taking long routes to one’s destination and charging additional rates. Most drivers take altered routes that show favourable charges, and then tourists are left with no choice but to pay them. Therefore, it’s always best to learn about the routes, locations, and roads of relevant destinations

Tips to Avoid this Scam

• Users must take time to make themselves aware of the destination before traveling. 
• Understand the destination routes to visit, famous transportation mediums, and rough fare calculations of the cab rides. 
• It helps to have real-time insight into the foreign region and how to stay within budget. 

3. Hotel Scams

The prevalent scam to rob the travelers is the residency manipulation. Usually, consumers get fooled through e-commerce platforms or even by the agents. 

• Hotel Booking Scams

Most tourists book their hotel through any e-commerce app or agent, and upon arriving, they find out that there is no agent with that name. Sometimes, the hotel refuses to provide the room by saying that the rooms aren’t empty or no one told them to book them.  

• Fake Dine-ins

After having the cozy accommodation, the basic human need is the best available food. Tourists must know that all hotels do not have their hotels or restaurants. Most hotels outsource their breakfast, dinner, or lunch from cheap restaurants. They do the scam by charging more prices for the food they aren’t even preparing. 

• Free Wi-fi Scams

Sometimes travelers find it very attractive that they have the facility of free wifi in their hotels. They don’t understand that free opportunities aren’t always good and can have severe consequences. By providing free wifi, imposters steal all the relevant information when any user logs in to the wifi by entering a PIN code. 

Tips to Avoid this Scam 

1. Book the hotels before the date and inspect them through any trusted friend or family member. 
2. Ensure to make payments via secure means to minimize the chances of online kyc verification  travel scams. 
3. Eating local foods from local restaurants is better and safer to avoid high bills. 
4. Don’t make any financial payments by phone; consult hotel management for help. 
5. Always use the official wi-fi and get them from authentic sources. 

Final Verdict 

After reading the above scams, one must not lose trust in travel agents as all are different. This article aims to make people aware of these online travel scams and how to avoid them. On the other hand, the truth mustn’t be ignored that good people exist in countries, so take help from them.

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