Real Tourist Scam Warnings Before You Travel.

Small groups working Kauai parking lots approach people with a hard-luck story - they say they are visitors who were robbed or lost their wallet and need cash for fuel or a car repair - and offer to sell "rare" or "antique" gold jewelry far below its apparent worth. The pieces are worthless plated base metal, and buyers only discover this when a jeweler examines them. Kauai Police have issued repeated public warnings about this since 2022, and in February 2025 arrested six men over a single week following a report of sellers working a Walmart parking lot.

Third-party sites that mimic official San Francisco hotel websites sell rooms at 35% to 85% above the hotel's own rate, with the extra buried in service charges the traveller only spots after paying. In July 2026 the San Francisco City Attorney sued GuestReservations.com and BookOnline.com, along with inventory supplier Booking Holdings, alleging they advertise as authentic hotel booking channels and then refuse refunds when guests realise they did not book direct. Because the reservation is real, the overcharge usually only becomes obvious at check-in or when comparing the confirmation against the hotel's published rate.

Informal car watchers around the Zoológico La Aurora in zone 13 pose as zoo staff and demand a parking fee before letting visitors leave their vehicle. In an operation on 27 April 2026, the Fiscalía de Delitos contra Turistas Extranjeros, INGUAT, the PNC and DISETUR responded to visitor complaints and identified 33 people running the scheme, with demands ranging from Q35 to as much as USD 50 per car. Several complainants also reported belongings stolen from their vehicles while they were inside the zoo, which draws roughly 7,000 visitors on a typical weekend. Authorities installed a permanent police post at the site, but the informal attendants still work the surrounding streets.

The menu prices are honest but the bill is not. Items you never ordered appear on the conto: a second bottle of water, extra coperti counted per dish rather than per person, an antipasto della casa that was presented at the table as complimentary, or a higher grade of fish than the one actually served. The bill often arrives handwritten as a single total with no line items, or the card terminal is handed over with the amount already keyed in and a tip pre-added. This is a different mechanism from the undisclosed-pricing problem: here you can check the menu and still be overcharged, because the fraud is in the arithmetic.

A man in a high-visibility vest or a plain jacket approaches on the platform or beside a ticket machine, asks to see your ticket, then rules it unvalidated or invalid and demands an on-the-spot cash fine. The figure quoted is usually pitched near the real ANM penalty, around fifty to sixty euros, so it sounds researched, and he may ask to hold your passport as leverage while you find the money. Genuine ANM, EAV and Trenitalia inspectors carry a photo ID badge and a handheld scanner, write up a numbered verbale, and never pocket cash on the platform. The scam works because tourists know Naples transit fines are real and do not know what the paperwork looks like.