Top Tourist Scams

Scam City:
On the Hunt in Barcelona

4 July 2012

Scam City’s production coordinator, Sara Nourizadeh, found that Barcelona is the perfect hunting ground for a cast of colourful characters—from con men magicians to scheming prostitutes.

The Smiling Buddha Scam

4 July 2012

In Southeast Asia, some people resort to imitating Buddhists monks to scam unsuspecting tourists. Here’s what you need to know to avoid being duped by a fake monk.

On Set in Spain with
Scam City’s Conor Woodman

3 July 2012

Pickpockets, prostitutes and police—it’s all in a day’s work for Scam City host Conor Woodman. Here, he tells us what it was like to film (and go undercover as a transexual prostitute!) in Barcelona, Spain.

Busting the Blessing Scam

28 June 2012

Mariellen Ward arrived in the sacred town of Rishikesh, on the Ganges River in north India, to find her serenity threatened by a malevolent force. She fought back.

Scam City: Spies at the Vatican

26 June 2012

In this behind-the-scenes look at Scam City’s Rome episode, researcher on location Luca Gastaldi shares how the crew channelled their inner 007s to escape scammers hot on their heels at the Vatican.

5 Tips for Avoiding Pickpockets

26 June 2012

It may not be possible for tourists and travellers to entirely avoid pickpockets, but if you follow these tips, you can make their job a lot harder.

Beware the Turkey Coin Con

25 June 2012

Turkey’s bazaars are famous for gold. You can buy gold rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces and even gold coins for a reasonable price. But beware of anyone trying to sell you Ottoman coins—you might be the target of the Turkey coin con!