Scott Kelby posted a great recount of his brother nearly getting nailed by a scam artist/thief while traveling in Italy. The gist of it is that his brother was taking a picture of some interesting food in a store when a "security guard" approached & asked that he not take photos.
That's common enough - but the scam comes in when the security guard asks that he hand over the memory card in his camera! He refused and the "guard" walked away; apparently the scam is to get unsuspecting tourists to hand over their card no questions asked & then resell the cards out on the street. Kind of surprised he didn't go after the whole camera!
Just something to keep in mind if you're planning on being a tourist in the near future: tourist areas have a high concentration of two things - gullible tourists and thieves who are looking to mark gullible tourists!
1 comments:
Dude, Italy's by far the worst place in Europe for tourist related scams. Spain's a close second. In Naples I saw a guy and his wife hand over their camera to some local kid in a little side street so that they could have their picture taken...the kid ran off down a side alley with camera in tow.
People just need to use common sense no matter where they're traveling. Showing up dressed in typical Ugly American garb of shorts, sandals with socks, fanny pack, ball cap with some US Navy ship on it or what have you (this is what the guy in Naples was wearing) and you might as well just hand over your valuables.
Common sense eliminates most of these problems. You wouldn't go for a stroll in a bad area of an American city, yet tourists try to do it in Europe all the time. Europe's a lot safer than the States but you still have to use your head. If you're going to ask for help or directions don't look for some kid in jeans, go to a guy wearing a suit instead. I see this problem all the time in Paris.
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