How to Avoid Travel SCAMS in Europe | Retirement Travelers

we are currently in Europe and we have traveled to almost every country here now we have seen a lot and experienced a lot of moments when someone tried to scam us thankfully and I say thankfully we know that being aware of scams is the first line of defense So today we're going to tell you all about them we're JN and Bev and we are the retirement Travelers if you're just finding us we are a senior travel couple traveling the world full-time if you're wondering where we are at the moment you can always follow along with us on Instagram we keep it updated to our current location one of the biggest scams we see in Europe is car rental damage scams now these car rental companies they're going to try to sell you the complete insurance coverage package if you don't have coverage with your car insurance back home or you don't have a credit card that has coverage you know you might want to buy these but remember it's going to be expensive know your Plan before you arrive if you aren't aware of your coverage they're going to insist that you need theirs and many times you absolutely don't need it now if you buy their coverage you won't be affected by the scam but what we have had happen to us and we see it all the time the car rental company accuses customers of damage what you need to do to protect yourself is to take a video of every scratch you see you need to look for dents paint chips anything on the outside or the inside walk around touch the damage talk about it on the video and document everything without photos you will likely be accused of causing more damage when we were in Scotland we were told our car had six items of damage now once we start going around the car we found about 15 we called the agent over and they made an adjustment to our agreement now remember it's a contract so you need to adjust it before you pull out of the parking lot you know almost every time we pick up a car we see somebody arguing about damage with an agent it's definitely a scam and it doesn't just happen in Scotland does it no we've seen it in a number of countries all over Europe we've taken a lot of Tours and the one thing we can count on is a tour operator taking us to a souvenir shop now we never buy anything at these places but the guide will get a cut of whatever you buy they will assure you this is the best place to buy an item but it's often a scam this is probably one of their biggest money makers but it's a Time waster for us and it's one of the things we dislike about organized tours if we hire a private guide we let them know UPF front that we aren't interested in shopping and not to take us into a store the most common scams involve the cost of things now there are several ways the price of something can change or you can be tricked when you travel you know we have been tricked a few times with this one but we've learned our lesson and our goal as we travel is to not put ourselves in this situation you know fullest once shame on you fullest twice shame on us we are so determined but it is still hard we're going to tell you a few examples where this plays out I'll never forget walking into that gelato place in Florence on a very hot day they had a beautiful store with the ice cream that was calling our name we both ordered and watched them scoop up the smallest little cones tiny little cones tiny little ones now after handing them to us they told us we owed 2020 we paid a hefty tourist tax and could hardly enjoy it yeah I was so mad at myself I realized we had ordered and the price wasn't listed this is common in restaurants too it can happen when you're ordering a glass of wine or really anything where the price isn't printed you know we've heard of people paying twice what the local pays for many things it's not just gelato Our advice is to always ask before ordering it seems simple but in the moment you forget no matter where you go in Europe the tap water is safe now make it clear when you order water that you want tap water and some places like France they're actually required to give it to you for free if you're ordering a meal bottled water is a big money maker when someone is on vacation you know they often times feel that's what Europeans do they they drink expensive bottled waters you know but some do but you don't have to just ask for tap you know they know exactly what they're they're doing and you know they may faint ignorance but don't give in unless that's what you really want you know better yet ask for a caraffe of water so you can fill up your glass as you eat our first choice when traveling is to use public transportation but sometimes we're in a place where it isn't available and we need a taxi now given the option we will hire an Uber just because it's simpler to manage AG sometimes though we have no choice and we need to hire a taxi when this happens we have a hard and fast rule to always ask some questions before getting into one now this is not just in Europe but all around the world we have three questions the first one is do you use a meter if they do we we feel better but we make sure that they realize that we have the route pulled up on our phones so there's less chance that they'll like take us the long way around for a joy ride okay and run the meter up we follow our route and if they go a different way we ask the second question if there is no meter is what is the price sometimes we get an honest guy but many times we get a quote that is way off now we try to Google the price of a taxi before we walk up so we know especially outside of an airport or a train station if it's off by much we try to negotiate agree or sometimes we just walk away the third question is will there be any toll roads now we've encountered this before on longer rides you know we agree to a price for the taxi and since we're paying a set price they take us the fastest route which can include toll roads you know the driver pulls up to the toll and turns around and asks us to pay and we've been burned on this a couple of times you know it might be common around the world but it did surprise us last year we exited a train station in Romania and there was a taxi line now as we walked toward it we were approached by a guy offering his Taxi he pointed at his taxi but we were still far enough away where the other drivers couldn't hear him he told us the price which was about three or four times the expected amount he we told him that we knew the price was way out of line and way too high but he was very insistent that we were wrong yeah we were so determined to not get caught in this taxi scam that we decided to walk to the hotel instead this was about a mile and a half with our backpacks on once we got about a block away or so another driver drove up and offered us a ride we asked him how much it was and he told us an amount that was very much in line with what we thought we should be paying you know as we drove away you know he asked us how much did that other driver ask and he just shook his head when we told him of course we gave him a nice tip and felt very grateful for you know being treated fairly in Italy it happened again we were near ptoo and it was getting dark and we were staying at the top of a hill and we decided to inquire about the price of a taxi to drive us there we walked up to a taxi stand and the driver told us it would be40 now we told him it was less than a mile and he insisted you know we exchanged some pleasantries and he told us you know that that's what the price was the other drivers in the group tried to talk him down but he would not budge so off we went in a dark alley I think we would rather get mugged have been scammed you could say that again when we travel we try not to carry too much cash and these days the the usual stop at the Airport Exchange Booth isn't necessary in Europe you can just pass by these places that have high fees and an unfavorable exchange rate and head off to use an ATM now you do have to be careful where you get your money we always use an ATM attached to a bank in case we have trouble and we need to go inside what we have found especially in tourist hot spots are these ATMs that are placed in a wall unattached to a bank they have exorbitant exchange rates and sometimes the fees are very high if you use Google Maps you can search for an ATM away from the tourist hotspot and just walk to another one there are several ways that ATMs can get you now the first if you're in a country where the currency is so much different than US dollars or Euros you can get confused about how much you need you know we've been guilty of not paying attention and when we get our money we realize that we pulled out way more than what we needed now we don't want to leave a country with a lot more currency that we can't use so we only want what we know we'll need you know for the ATM the more you withdraw the better off they are now we always Google the conversion and know how much to select another thing that you should know is that if you use a credit card to withdraw money your credit card company will consider this a cash advance this one withdrawal can cause every charge that you have on your card to incur a higher interest rate until your card is paid off so never use a credit card that has a balance at an ATM always carry a debit card for cash withdrawals now we set up a separate checking account with Capital One so that we had a dedicated Cash Card Capital One doesn't charge us foreign transaction fees there are other banks with this perk so do your research along the same line when you pay for anything in a store or a restaurant the clerk will ask you if you want to pay in dollars or the local currency always always always select the local currency you know clerks might pressure you to use dollars but this is a scam the store makes a lot more money if you ex you know if you use this exchange and they want to make the exchange for you now the rate is never never in your favor you know in our case our credit card doesn't charge us a fee for this foreign transaction so we pay in the local currency and they handle it unsuspecting tourists think it's easier to see what they're spending in their you know US Dollars uh so they select that one but believe us it's a trick we also use our phones for Apple pay now this is a system where your phone stores your credit card and you put your phone to the credit card reader and it sends a payment it is safe and very easy to do we buy bus tickets Subway tickets train tickets convenience store purchases restaurants hotels everything we rarely pay with a credit card or cash these days it took some reinforcing from Bev to make me stop pulling out my wallet a lot of reinforcing reinfor like a lot we have made it a habit now now we both have phones and it is so easy if you haven't set up Apple pay or Google pay do it now and start buying groceries coffee you really everything and see how far you can get before you leave on a trip it'll keep you from reaching in your wallet and showing the entire world where you keep it set up face recognition and you don't even have to put in a passcode on the same note we had a credit card number stolen somewhere last year in Spain now we noticed charges coming through from Spain this year and we called the credit card company to report our card we thought we'd be forced to stop using it and we'd be stranded in Europe with no way to get a new one but because we had set up our credit card on Apple pay before we left they just updated it instantly and we were back in business we don't have the physical card but we have yet to need it and we've used Apple pay in 11 countries now on this trip we had a new card shipped to our daughter but who told us the entire number with the security code so we'd have it but we if we hadn't already set up our Apple pay this wouldn't have worked a common in Europe is when someone hands you something like a hat or a monkey or a bird you know instagrammers will often spot a cute picture but once this item is in your hand they want cash now the trick is that they will often hand it to you before you can even realize what's happening and then they won't take it back be very very careful you might want a picture but ask the price first you know people who are dressed up to take pictures with you aren't being sponsored by The Tourist Board they want payment so don't just pop up and take a picture with someone without planning to pay them first a common European trick is to place a bracelet on your arm now this might be woven or a string of beads these are not free they want money now they will tell you it's free but when you walk away they will then run up to you and show you a picture of their children and want a donation now they are very high pressure so resist letting anyone give you anything thing they notoriously do this to the elderly or to young children lately we've been approached by people who are raising money for the Ukraine war they say they are buying cars for the people or something like this now while you might want to support some cause you just can't know where the money is going you know mind you these are teenagers approaching you they're usually wrapped up in a Ukrainian flag but they are probably getting paid a commission and that's why they're so aggressive another trick is to get you in to take a survey once again just resist it they want money we see a lot of Beggars while we travel and and while they probably need the money most European countries have a social system that that help people in need these women and it's mostly women with children are sometimes trafficked and by giving them money you can be assured that someone else is taking a cut by keeping children with them they bring in more money but the children need to be in school you know giving the money is keeping the children on the streets our suggestion is if you if you're truly concerned you know buy a banana or some fruit for the child and and give it to them directly now we don't buy souvenirs but this week I saw a cute little something that I wanted for one of our grandsons this was my fault because I wasn't thinking but we certainly overpaid I was focused on buying it and I did not question or negotiate I just paid the price when we walked away John told me that we should have negotiated he was right but in I wasn't thinking in that mindset so keep your wits about you and don't be so mesmerized that you forget to question the price most vendors are used to haggling almost always you will get a better price if you negotiate and if you're willing to walk away we hear a lot about pickpockets now we have never been pickpocketed but we are super careful yeah wood knock on wood we know we use a small fanny pack a very fashionable one I might add where we keep all of our items now if we're without it I carry my wallet in my front pocket I carry an RFID wallet that prevents someone from scanning our cards and stealing our numbers you should always use this type of wallet and you can see the one that I have on our travel store on our website Our advice is to always carry your most important things your wallet your phone Etc and a bny pack in the front now like John said they're not very fashionable but we try to go with a small one we have that on our website too money belts while safe are a huge hassle when you need to pay for something never carry a purse slung over your back or a backpack with items of value in it if you have one always keep it in the front of you when on public transportation or in a crowd the most common way to be pickpocket is to set your items down in a chair or under your table if we have a bag or a backpack we always put the loop of the pack under the chair leg before we sit down it's not going anywhere another way is in busy places where you pass people like in a train station or busy metros sometimes it can be as you're getting on the Metro so it's not always when you're just standing around always be careful about closing your zippers we've had some really nice people who have alerted us that our bags were unzipped I watch for John's things and he watches for me when we're in a crowd some cities are trying to alert tourists of people who ride by on a moped and grab a phone from the person walking on the sidewalk now we've heard of this and also purses get snatched the same way always be aware of how close you are to the street and how you carry a purse or your phone people who pick pocket often work in teenss and they will distract you and their partner will steal your things spilling something on you or spilling something on someone is a common distraction or a fake argument across the way is another method when we hear a commotion we always grab our things and pull them a little tighter to us we hope you've learned a few things today like we said before we want you to travel without the stress of scams but they are out there and if you know them you can avoid them so be sure to leave any scams that you've experienced in the comments below you know for our other viewers and we will see you next week be sure to hit subscribe and follow along on our retirement Journey Journey around the world

Channel: Retirement Travelers

Views: 40,505

Keywords: europe travel scams, avoiding tourist scams, avoid travel scams, retirement travelers, retirement travel, avoid a scam, senior travel, how to spot a scammer, europe atm scams, europe street scams, european travel scams, how to spot a scam, how to travel better, common tourist scams, Europe travel scams, travel europe 2024, car rental scams europe, europe travel scams 2024, lates travel scams, travel scams 2024, avoid travel scams europe 2024, avoid travel scams 2024

Id: ZahRcy_kIgA

Length: 18min 3sec (1083 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 21 2023