Tourist Fraud: Best Ways to Avoid Getting Scammed on Your Holiday

Surely, we can deceived by scammers and fraudsters in our country, but in the cases of being abroad, tourist fraud can be a lot more difficult to deal with, as you may not know exactly how to get help, do not speak the language of the country, and so on. Losing your personal items and identification can waste a lot of time and dealing with the local authorities can turn out to be a real hassle. Worst of all, becoming a victim of tourist fraud can ruin your whole holiday.

Prefer paper over plastic

Credit cards are number on the top of the list of tourist fraud. Shopping with a credit or debit card can be easy and convenient, but it leaves you vulnerable to various forms of credit fraud. A lot of people are reporting shady business with their credit card on internet bulletin boards: extra charges and unauthorized payments on their credit cards tend to happen very often. A really common form of tourist fraud occurs at cheap, shady resorts, where a special device is used that silently stores the information from your credit card (your card code and pin-code). Later, the fraudster will duplicate your credit card and that's where the trouble begins.

In addition to pin-code readers, another form of tourist fraud occurs when your credit card is charged more than once by the fraudsters.

Clever fraudster have come up with yet another tourist fraud scheme to get your credit card information, they attach special keyboards on ATMs, these keyboards secretly collect your pin-code. The next step after that is just to steal your credit card, and they are good to go.

Indonesia is well-known for its rampant tourist fraud - shady small currency exchange businesses use rigged currency conversion calculators. The calculators do the calculations wrong, so that you are the one losing a lot on the conversions. It would be advisable to use your own cellphone calculator for these types of transactions to ensure that you aren't being scammed.

To ensure your financial safety, use an ATM at some big bank or fancy hotel, this way it very unlikely that you will become a victim of tourist fraud. The big boys cannot afford to scam anybody, as they could easily lose their good names. Another good tip would be to set up a SMS service that reports all the transactions on your credit card. This way you can quickly reach your bank and do the necessary charge backs for unauthorized transactions.

Don't exchange money in cabs!

A very popular form of tourist fraud involves street currency exchange. Most businesses close at 5 pm, so this leaves the evenings for the culprits of tourist frauds. A lot of tourist lose money on currency exchanges with shady people who claim to exchange money without extra commissions. Usually, in this case of tourist fraud they are given fake bills or get less than money in the exchange than expected. It would be advisable to ignore people who try to exchange money in cabs or on the street, as they are most likely out to get your kind of naïve tourists!

Don't forget about the insurance.

Travel insurance is a must, if you are in a foreign country. It will not really help against tourist fraud, but it will save you money on your health, as people abroad are always out there to make money off 'rich tourist overseas'.

Conclusion

Although tourist fraud is abundant, it is quite easy to avoid it if you keep you eyes open, and know what to look out for. I hope this article has provided you with all of the necessary information on how to avoid tourist fraud, and that you will be safe on your trip. Do not let those crooks scare you, and be sure to enjoy your holidays abroad!