Overcharging
From GopStopTravel
Pretty much all scams are targeting you, the foreigner, in an unfamiliar place with limited knowledge of how things work and to whom should you turn for help. The reason this type of scam is so common is because you are already right there with money in your hand, willing to pay. Unfortunate, but during your trip, regardless if it is a week or a year, you are bound to overpay. Whether it will be a lot or a little only your ability to watch your money carefully will decide.
It is a law in some countries (ex. Argentina) to have a separate, higher, list of prices for foreigners in places like National Parks or Travel Agencies. Others however, especially Developing Countries, have a sort of a unspoken rule saying that if you have enough money to fly over here, you must also have enough money to pay a bit extra.
Best case scenario - you will walk away unaware you paid double the price for a trinket. Worst case scenario - you end up on a "luxury" two week tour with no food and most of your trip budget gone.
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Watch your money
Watch your money! Pay attention to how much money you give somebody and how much change they give you back. It might sound banal, but when you end up falling for such a simple scam there will be noone to blame but yourself
Scenic taxi rides
Since you don't know the area, taxi drivers can take advantage of you by taking a long route to your hotel and getting a large metered fare. The best prevention is knowledge: Just ask the information desk in the airport, Tourist information, or just somebody indifferent on the street even before looking for a cab. This will give you an idea of what the price should be and after you can agree with the taxi driver on a price. Even if the meter will will be determining the price a good taxi driver who drives these routes every day can give you a very accurate price before you or your luggage get into a cab.
Inside the city or from town to town the taxi driver might ask and even insist on taking the more expensive Scenic Route that in actuality is the same road you were going to take.
Watch you luggage as it is loaded! Get into the cab after luggage is loaded and out before it is out of the trunk. If there are two of you make sure that if the driver only opened the trunk and is now behind the weal, one of you stays in the car until the other took all the luggage out. You don't want him riding away with half of your thins still in the trunk.
Gem and other resale scams
You are taken to a jewelry shop and offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase gemstones or jewels at special discount prices. Another customer in the shop, well-dressed and perhaps from the same country as you, tells how he made incredible profits last year by reselling the gems and is now back for more. But hurry! The sale ends today and you have to pay cash.
Of course, once you get back home and try to sell your booty, it turns out to be low grade and worth only a fraction of what you paid for it. This scam is particularly prevalent in Bangkok, but variations on the theme with other products that can supposedly be resold for vast profits are common elsewhere too. Another variation involves you exporting the gems for a supposed 'commission' in exchange for the scammer taking a photocopy of your ID cards and/or credit cards, which can of course be used to make a tidy profit in identity theft cottage industries.
References
Wikitravel.org Common Scams
