Europe is practically on everyone's travel bucket list. Whether it's to see the Colosseum, the Eiffel Tower or the Berlin Wall, it's one continent that packs up a lot on experience, including tourist scams.
Now that the holidays are here, more scammers are circling some of Europe's busiest public squares and alleyways. The best advice is to be aware of such scams to have nothing short of a worthwhile trip.
Here are some of the worst but fairly common tourist scams in this side of the world.
1. "You broke it, you fix it"
London is a breathtaking place for any adventurous traveler looking to absorb a major dose of history and culture. Buckingham Palace is a hub of tourists as well as scammers who have a standard scam many still continue to fall for.
A stranger approaches an unknowing traveler, asking if s/he can take a picture. After the photo op, the tourist then returns the camera and the stranger fumbles and drops it to the ground. The stranger either blames the traveler who forces him to pay up for the damages or reach into the tourist's pocket for his/her wallet.
2. "I'm deaf/mute. Please help me."
One can easily get lost in the beauty of Paris. Unfortunately, one can also lose a lot of money while s/he's there.
There's been a recent increase in the amount of victims getting scammed by 'deaf and mute' Romanian gypsies in France. The trick is a deaf/mute person approaches a tourist and shows them a piece of paper explaining that the gypsy is physically-challenged, with a name of a so-called 'charity' thrown in for credibility. Either the traveler just gives them money or someone else is stealing their wallet while the scam is ongoing.
3. "There's gold in that ring!"
Another scam is when a traveler is approached by a stranger who later on picks up a 'found' ring on the floor. The stranger aka scammer then proceeds to tell the tourist that the surprise ring on the floor has gold in it in a very convincing way. S/he then begins to sell it to the victim.
Unknowing travelers would often fall for it and end up paying far more than what the ring is actually valued at.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
