The most popular touristic frauds

The British newspaper "The Times" has published the list of the most popular travel frauds. The luckless tourists manage to get deceived by the tricky criminals even not leaving home, not talking about the place of the rest.

During the trips there are lots of dangerous situations - and these are not only sharks, but various cheaters that could spoil the joy of travel.

Here are the most popular ways of delusion of the trustful people, connected with various trips and some ways to evade it.

At home.
Fraud Holiday Clubs
The false clubs usually invite their victims to the free diners to the luxury hotels and restaurants, where they are exposed to a long advertising presentation in exchange to the food and gifts. As the bait they are offered a guaranteed holiday once per year for a miserable yearly fee, if you spend once at the beginning a serious amount of 3-10 thousands pounds.

This is always presented as the one and only possibility - "now or never", but at the moment you get back home and try to plan your first holiday, everything goes wrong.

How to evade: There are three main rules that should help you to distinguish the legal clubs from the fraud ones: 1) each verbal promise should be supported in written form; 2) your right to cancel your membership should be clearly stated in the papers; and the most important: 3) you should have the possibility to take the contract with you, before you sign it. And the most safe way - is to evade these clubs at all and search for the cheap trips in the Internet on your own.

A free trip ti Florida
The phone rings and the electronic voice tells you that you should press 9 to get the prize - a free trip to Florida. At the moment you do it - you are connected with a sales person that explains to you that you have actually won only the most part of the trip and you have to pay 500-700 pounds and after that you can go to a luxury tour with the total cost of 2 thousands pounds.

You are requested to present your credit card information "only for confirmation purposes" and after that the whole cost of the tour is charged from your account without your permission.

How to evade: If you are told that you have won a contest that you did not take part in - it is a trap.

The tour agent card
"Become a tour agent and save 50-70% of the tickets and hotel costs. The application for the special tour agent card lasts not more than 15 minutes!"

This internet-scheme gains more and more popularity in the latest times. The lovers of free stuff are promised that if they spend about 260 pounds for the tour agent card, they are eligible for the special prices for the collaboratives of the touristic branch.

You submit your credit card data and receive the card after a while, and when you show it first time at the reservation desk - you are made fun of.

How to evade: If you really want to work in the touristic business, search for this job in a traditional way - with the help of the employment agencies.

Money first, then the goods.
The most expensive scheme in Great Britain, and the oldest one - the company takes money from the client and then gets closed without accomplishing the promises.

Sometimes it is simply the business failure, but more often it is a well-planned fraud.

How to evade: In our times it is better to make sure that your insurance covers such cases.

Abroad
The fraud porter
Among the modern frauds the best idea is to gain the possibility to spend some time alone with your credit card details before you understand what is actually happening.

Usually it happens when you give your credit card to pay for the lunch, but now the frauds are more often calling in the night to your hotel room and telling you that there are some problems with your account - asks to get down with the card to the reception. And taking into consideration that it is really late - you are allowed to dictate the credit card details on the phone.

How to evade: Be sure to control whom you are telling your credit card details and what happens with it when it is out of your sight. Check your accounts after each trip abroad. All the illegal operations with your card should be compensated.

A fraud policeman
This is a classic scenario, because it really works. A young man that has told this story wanted to remain anonymous, because of the reasons that will be revealed later. "I have had my rest in Custo, Peru and met a local guy there and we made friends. He has shown the ruins to me, we drank a couple of beers and after that he said "I like you so much and I want to give you a present" and gave me a handful of marijuana. After an hour, when I was going back to the hotel, two men have stopped me, told they are policemen and told me to show my pockets. After they found the weed, they said that I will spend 4 years in prison if I don't give them 200 dollars. I was in panic and gave them the money. I have never seen my friend after that."

How to evade: Say NO to the narcotics. Anyways, if you got into a delicate situation, remember - the main priority is your safety. Try to attract the attention of the surrounding people to the happening, maybe there are real policemen among them - though with the pockets full of marijuana it could be problematic. If you are alone in a dark lane - it is preferable to pay.

Currency exchange tricks
The fraud schemes include very often the currency exchanges. You can get the money in too smal banknotes that are hard to count, or you are distracted with a discussion during the counting process, or they try to give you something in non-transparent envelopes - most probably cut newspapers.

How to evade: Always exchange money with a companion - so that one of you could concentrate on the main tasks, when the other one would repel the distracting maneuvers. Take the check and try to choose the static currency exchange points, not a person with a case so that you have a place where you could come afterwards with the police.

A local boon companion
Most of us have already met the "good" variation of this scheme - a friendly stranger in a foreign country offers you a drink together, then pay an insignificant part of the amount and after that takes the earned amount from the var owner for such a lavish client. Not a huge crime.

But a less pleasant variation has recently taken place at a Venezuela resort, where the friendly guys gave the local narcotic stuff to the unlucky travelers and after that robbed the motionless body.

How to evade: What about the first option - just relax and have fun. And not to become the paralyzed victim of the second option - watch your glass, prefer the drinks in the bottles and think what you do.

Private taxi
Taking a private taxi abroad you risk at least to pay twice more than usual or to visit without you wish the souvenir store of the brother of the driver or in the worst case - to become a victim of kidnapping.

How to evade: Never use private cabbies in a foreign country. That's all.

Shoeblacks in Istanbul
Some fraud schemes are quite harmless. The Istanbul shoeblacks have engineered a whole scenario to help you spend you money. They throw their brushes on the way of the trustful tourist that picks it up and gives it to the shoeblack. The last one offers many thanks and an invitation to clean the shoes for free, telling a bloodcurdling story of his life during the process and after that only an ice heart wouldn't give some money to the worker.

How to evade: Should you? If you shoes need to be cleaned - just take the offer and pay for the service.

Fuzz at the metal detector
You put your stuff to the conveyor but the next to you person runs before you in a great hurry. After that he gets stuck at the detector and takes keys, coins and other items for a long time from his pockets. While you are patiently waiting, the one who was in front of you in the line - the accessory of the first one - takes your things and disappears.

How to evade: Observe your things, be aware. And after all - do not try to declare your wealth with your luggage.

A trick with the bus
This last scheme shows how stupid can people be. According to the information of the insurance companies, this trap caught lots of travelers in USA and Canada.

A stranger comes to you in a bar and offers you to earn a couple of thousands dollars if you join the trick with the bus, which passengers will arrange a small accident during the trip.

You are told that the most passengers are already involved that everybody will say that it was the fault of the driver and after that everybody will get the compensation from the bus company. You have to give your new friend 250 hundred bucks and he will give you the bus number and departure time.

On the next morning you get into the bus and during the part of the trip you wink conservatively at the the passengers, gradually understanding what an idiot you are. Of course if the obtained bus schedule is real at all.