avoid chinese tourist scams

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AVOID CHINES E TOURIS T SCAMS --RITA

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AVOID CHINESE TOURIST SCAMS

--RITA

Be a Smart Tourist

• COUNTERFEIT MONEY SCAMS

• TRANSPORTATION SCAMS

• THE BEGGAR SCAMS

• TEA HOUSE / ART SCHOOL SCAMS

• PRICE GOUGING SCAMS

COUNTERFEIT MONEY SCAMS

• You give a taxi driver a 100 or 50 RMB note and they secretly switch it with a fake note and claim you gave them the fake one. It’s a classic “your word against mine” scam where police can be of very little help, so if you never saw the switch you’re left paying yet another 100 RMB.

• You pay a small bill to somebody with a 100 RMB note. In return, they give you a fake 50 RMB note while the rest of the change is real.

HOW TO AVOID THE COUNTERFEIT MONEY SCAM

• Get your cash from a reputable source( Chinese bank or ATM)

•  Try and break their 100 RMB bills at established businesses

•  If you do know what real Chinese yuan should look and feel like, don’t be afraid to inspect it. It’s common practice here in China for any store to inspect the money you give them to ensure authenticity. You can do it to.

TRANSPORTATION SCAMS

• HOW TRANSPORTATION SCAMS PLAY OUT

• AVOID TRANSPORTATION SCAMS

HOW TRANSPORTATION SCAMS PLAY OUT

• Taxi Scams: taxis who want to charge you a flat rate instead of using the designated meter.

• Tour Bus Scams: you get what you pay for. Sure there are some tours that are dirt cheap, but what happens is that they take you around to every single tourist trap around town to make up the cost.

HOW TO AVOID TRANSPORTATION SCAMS

• Use Didi Dache or Uber

• Don’t trust Travel Agency

HOW TO AVOID TRANSPORTATION SCAMS

• When arriving at transportation hubs (airports, train stations, etc.), just give a terse “no” when people approach you wanting to drive you somewhere. This is almost a sure rip-off.

• It’s best to find the official taxi line and wait behind others unless you’re in a huge rush.

THE BEGGAR SCAMS --never give money to beggars.

• The Grabby Beggars

• The “For a Cause” Beggars

• Disabled Beggars

• Silent Beggars

• Fake Monks

TEA HOUSE SCAMS• The gist of the scam is that a

Chinese person will come up to you and begin very innocent conversation. After trust has been established they will ask if you want to join them and their friends for tea (“I know this great place you’ll love! Very traditional Chinese tea!”) or to come view their traditional artwork.

• With the tea house scam you arrive to sample some tea and your new friend suddenly disappears, leaving you to pay for the overpriced tea (the Chinese person got a commission for bringing you there).

ART SCHOOL SCAMS• With the Art School Scam,

they use the trust they’ve created with you to guilt you into buying cheap art for inflated prices. You justify it by saying to yourself “The art isn’t bad and now I’ll have a story of how I met the painter!” but the fact is it’s probably mass-produced, cheap art and you’re getting ripped-off.

HOW TO AVOID THESE SCAMS• The #1 best way to avoid these

scams is to be wary of any person who initiates contact with you. Chinese people are generally very introverted people and such genuine contact isn’t normal. I’m not saying to avoid the locals, just be on guard if an overly-friendly person approaches you.

• If somebody asks you to go somewhere with them, test them out by suggesting another good place you know about. If they insist on theirs, you know it’s a scam.

Liar can also be a beautiful female college students!!!

HOW TO AVOID THESE SCAMS

• Never eat or drink without knowing the price first.

• Variations of this scam include KTVs, bars and other places where they get you to drink and only later show you the crazy-high bill.

• Once you’ve consumed their product, you’re stuck.

HOW TO AVOID THESE SCAMS

• Finally, don’t be afraid to say NO.

• It may feel rude to you, especially as this art students looks at you with pleading eyes, but you don’t have to buy anything. Same with food and drink. Even if they put it on the table you don’t have to eat or drink it. As they used to teach me in school, “just say no”.

PRICE GOUGING SCAMS• As you’ll find when you

start shopping in China, most items aren’t individually priced, leaving you to ask how much everything costs. Because haggling is part of business here, shop owners are used to pricing high with the understanding that they’ll discount. This mentality kicks into overdrive when they see a foreign face, often quoting 5-10x’s the usual cost.

HOW TO AVOID PRICE GOUGING• The best way to avoid this

is to know beforehand how much something should cost. Watch a local buy it. Ask a local how much they would pay for it.

• Finally, be prepared to haggle for most anything that doesn’t have a price tag on it, even if that’s uncomfortable for you.