Holiday Scams

Here's the latest Holiday Scams that are not spreading the holiday cheer!
(Found on MSN Travel)

1. Hotel Catastrophe
An 'employee' with a clipboard knocks on your hotel door and needs to do an inventory of your room and to determine that every appliance is working properly. They will probably ask you for a hand in checking the taps in the bathroom for leaks - but has left your door off the latch and, while you're busy in the bathroom, their accomplices will have swarmed in and fled with your belongings.

2. The Thoughtful Single
Someone approaches you in the street, a bit lost in the city, and after a while suggests a drink to calm down. More likely than not, the bar they've selected will turn out to be without windows and be guarded at the exit by hefty doormen. It goes without saying that you will be practically bankrupted by the bill for both of your drinks. Istanbul, Moscow and Soho in London are among such honey entrapment blackspots at the moment.

3. Commotion Pick Pocketer
Watch your pockets when a big commotion is going on around you, while you're distracted, it will make it much easier for thieves.

4. Ticket Collector
Particularly prevalent around Paris Metro ticket machines, a friendly local offers to help you obtain your seven-day pass. He gets the right option up on the screen, but your card mysteriously won't work. No matter, he will use his and you can pay him back in cash. Only after performing the transaction and watching him speed off down an escalator do you realise you have paid him 100 CAD for a single-use ticket.

5. Body Contact
Ketchup in Ecuador or apparent bird faeces in Barcelona lands on your back. A couple of people rush up and clean it off with tissues. They also clean your pockets out while your eyes are directed to the sky or in search of your condiment-squirting assailant. In Bologna, hoodlum kids throw cardbox in your direction to distract you, while in Barcelona or Rome you might find a passing street football scrum leaves you lighter.

6. TAT
In Thai airports and on the street, backpackers will often be approached by uniformed TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) officers, with official-looking badges and access to a fancy agency office where you can book tours and guesthouses. It's an elaborate con. These "official" guides will take you to select "government" gem shops for plastic jewels. They might even try to force you to book accommodation upfront at inflated prices for seven nights minimum, claiming it is the law. TAT exists, but not as an agency or booker - it merely promotes tourism.

7. The Hire Car Jack
You didn't spot the criminals eyeing your possessions as you filled out the form at the hire-car stand. A few miles down the road, just after you've stopped at a red light, your tire bursts. Generously, the motorcyclists that were alongside your vehicle at the lights offer their aid in changing the slashed tire - and snatch all your belongings while you're struggling with the jack. Most common in the touristy parts of Spain, but it also occurs in Thailand.

8. Gifthorses
A trick employed in souks and markets everywhere is to thrust apparent samples, or surpluses, of sweets, fabric or tobacco at you and then claim you misunderstood the transaction and you have to pay, over the odds, for the "gift". Or shoeshiners. You pick up a shoeshiner's brush that he dropped in the road, and he is so grateful you have saved his livelihood he insists on shining your shoes - for free, of course, you think. Wrong! Fellow shoeshiners soon appear to help to reinforce his claim. This routine has reached virtual plague proportions in Istanbul.