Anyone know this bali scam?

[Brissy1]

A couple of weeks ago, I negotiated a 100k rupiah fare to Seminyak and when I got there and gave the driver the cash, he came back 2 seconds later and said that I only gave him 10k and gave me back a 10k note. I had definitely given him 100k as that's all I had in my wallet, but what can you do?

You'd think he would be satisfied with 100k, unless you were coming from Ubud. Rideshare is often a safer and cheaper option, but then is it the driver being scammed/exploited by the rideshare company (uber inc. losses notwithstanding)?

 

[k_sheep]

I got 'done' by a new one a couple months ago. Go for massage, price about the usual $6/hr / 60,000IDR. Have massage (terrible btw), come out, price has doubled and they've done the old switcheroo with the price board with "for 30 mins" instead of "for hour".

I'd even done the confirmation, 1 hour 60,000 verbally beforehand - in Bahasa! I was rearing up for the fight when hubby went 'oh that sounds about right' and handed over the money.

For sale: husband. Appears defective. Considering all offers.

 

[AIRwin]

For sale: husband. Appears defective. Considering all offers.

Will price double after offer is made?

 

[k_sheep]

Will price double after offer is made?

You takes your chances .... how is your Bahasa?

 

[theblank]

next minute, she says "oh my husband is in australia at the moment, he is a diving instructor in perth, oh and my daughter is going to your Gfs country on exchange next year"
a few more toings and froings, we then get invited for lunch at her place today

very common scam in Bangkok, they are a salesman/tout. They always have a relative in australia. Never heard about the lunch invite, but I am sure this conversation was going to end up you being led to a shop, for overpriced goods, which they will get a commission. If you try to say you want to go somewhere else, they will tell you its closed for government function or something like that.

I have lost count how many times they tried to hit me up with this one. Its amazing that I was 20 years between ttrips to Thailand and the same scam continues, word for word.

The biggest clue to any scam overseas. if someone approaches you to strike up a conversation under pretence of idle chat, practicing english, its a scam. Normal people dont do that.

 

[SOPOOR]

very common scam in Bangkok, they are a salesman/tout. They always have a relative in australia. Never heard about the lunch invite, but I am sure this conversation was going to end up you being led to a shop, for overpriced goods, which they will get a commission. If you try to say you want to go somewhere else, they will tell you its closed for government function or something like that.

I have lost count how many times they tried to hit me up with this one. Its amazing that I was 20 years between ttrips to Thailand and the same scam continues, word for word.

The biggest clue to any scam overseas. if someone approaches you to strike up a conversation under pretence of idle chat, practicing english, its a scam. Normal people dont do that.

this was quite a while ago, but yes that seems very likely,

my first trip to BKK, I got stung with the "the kings palace is closed until 2pm, I can take you around to some temples for 50 baht" scam too, got taken to a jewerelly shop and tailor, ended up buying one tailored shirt for about $30, even tipped the driver as I didnt know I was being scammed,
then went to the palace, and caught a taxi on the way home, this time driver was much more subtle "do you mind if I just drop by a shop quickly", I said yeah sure,

as soon as I walked into the shop, the shop rep is "hey SOPOOR, welcome back, dont worry, youre shirt is going to be delivered to your hotel by tomorrow"

not too sure if the driver got his comission for my 2nd visit

 

[Hvr]

The biggest clue to any scam overseas. if someone approaches you to strike up a conversation under pretence of idle chat, practicing english, its a scam. Normal people dont do that.

Whilst there is a possibility it is the precursor to a scam, I have had some wonderful conversations with people genuinely seeking to practice their English language skills on a native speaker.

I give them a chance and if they ask for something then I know it's a scam and leave. If they are genuine then 10 minutes of conversation is priceless to them.

The funniest attempted 'practice English' scam I had was in Tienanmen Square when two young Chinese women asked to talk and then suggested we move to a tea shop because it was so cold. Yes, it was minus 10 degrees but we were all dressed appropriately so standing outside wasn't an issue.

I suggested to the women that I knew about the 'tea shop' scam and they insisted it wasn't, I then said I would ask the nearby policeman if they were good people. I moved towards one of the myriad nearby police and the women bolted. They were so fast they would've won the 800m at the Olympics.

 

[Kremmen]

Can confirm definitely it’s a known scam in Kuta especially. He would be wanting to see where your wallet/money belt is on your body and how much you have.

You can use this to your advantage. In places like that, I leave my real wallet in the safe and only carry an old wallet with just a bit more money than I'll need. Sometimes the easiest response to a pushy seller or scammer is to pull out my wallet and open it up. Yes, I really am only carrying $10. Suddenly, I'm not of interest any more.

 

[JohnK]

Scams happen locally too. "Can you spare some change?". They really hate it when you say no.

The night before I was going out late when near the train station a couple of teenagers approached and asked for money. I said "No" and continued walking. One of them started spitting at me loudly so I could hear. I've seen these kids before. Low life scum. I continued quickly to station.

Don't understand why police take no action.

 

[Hvr]

Don't understand why police take no action.

Did you file a complaint? If not, how would they know it's occurring?

 

[Tanga]

Did you file a complaint? If not, how would they know it's occurring?

Police aren't stupid. They know it's occurring. On the other hand, because they're not stupid they're not going to do anything without a complaint. Mind you, the most they're going to do for a low-level social annoyance like this is tell the offenders to move on. It's not like a magistrate is going to send the beggars to the workhouse for being publicly indigent and annoying their betters.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

A couple of weeks ago, I negotiated a 100k rupiah fare to Seminyak and when I got there and gave the driver the cash, he came back 2 seconds later and said that I only gave him 10k and gave me back a 10k note. I had definitely given him 100k as that's all I had in my wallet, but what can you do?

When I pay cash in areas of risk I always make a point of counting it out and saying what each note is.

Particularly in any tax anywhere as the note swap is a well known scam.

 

[stm1sydney]

When I pay cash in areas of risk I always make a point of counting it out and saying what each note is.

Yes, that is a good strategy. I always act a bit dim, asking the driver/vendor to help identify each note as I count them out (in my hand). No scam possible when you do that.

 

[JohnK]

Did you file a complaint? If not, how would they know it's occurring?

They know it's occurring. Has been for a long time. Most are ok but some are very aggressive constantly hassling passers by.

 

[albatross710]

When we are in a foreign land:

a) There is no reason for anyone to approach us, we don't know directions, we dont know the language
b) Acknowledge we are targets because of not understanding the currency
c) Acknowledge it's obvious, our clothes and accents are giveaways
d) Don't carry anything on the person that can't be replaced

 

[theblank]

Police aren't stupid. They know it's occurring. On the other hand, because they're not stupid they're not going to do anything without a complaint. Mind you, the most they're going to do for a low-level social annoyance like this is tell the offenders to move on.

We tourists shouldnt bother the police about anything (unless the police are bothering you). Always go to the Tourist Police, they actually work for you the tourist and have significant authority.

They helped me once recover about $80-100 I lost in an exchange rate scam. When i tried to make a donation to them as thankyou they flat refused it saying its not necessary.

 

[Isochronous]

Scams happen locally too. "Can you spare some change?". They really hate it when you say no.

The night before I was going out late when near the train station a couple of teenagers approached and asked for money. I said "No" and continued walking. One of them started spitting at me loudly so I could hear. I've seen these kids before. Low life scum. I continued quickly to station.

Don't understand why police take no action.

Should've told the indolent fools to get a job.

The police are probably too pre-occupied dealing with victimless crimes that are profitable for the government like doing 95km/h in a 90km/h zone, monitoring Twitter for un-PC words that offend hypersensitive professional activists and sending officers to march down the street to support the latest PC cause du jour

Police aren't stupid. They know it's occurring. On the other hand, because they're not stupid they're not going to do anything without a complaint. Mind you, the most they're going to do for a low-level social annoyance like this is tell the offenders to move on. It's not like a magistrate is going to send the beggars to the workhouse for being publicly indigent and annoying their betters.

Sadly true thanks to the sort of bleeding heart cretins that mostly get appointed to the judiciary these days.