When heading off on holiday, the last thing you tend to think about is that fraudsters will con you out of all your savings. Here is how to stay one step ahead of the holiday con artists and to survive your stay in the sun with your life savings in tact!
According to the article “’Free holiday’ scams abroad will catch out 400,000 Brits!” British holidaymakers have fallen for the manipulative persuasions of con artists and that plenty more will do so in the future. It all begins with scratch cards.
If you are handed a scratch card beware. This scratch card will more than likely show you as a winner of a free holiday or other prize but you must go to a predetermined venue to claim your winnings. It is here that scratch card winners will find themselves sitting for hours on end listening to a presentation on holiday homes and such like. Beware, there is no such thing as an innocent winning scratch card.
Travel insurance is a beautiful thing. What if you lost all your spending money, your passport, even your return ticket, what happens next if you have no fall back? Travel insurance means not getting let down if you get caught out. Another scam involves tomato ketchup. While being cleaned up after ketchup has been deliberately splashed on you, in the blink of an eye your wallet will disappear! Look out for the ketchup splashes of Argentina where this con is particularly favoured!
A con or scam can take place anywhere and similarities are found from country to country. If you go to Thailand, for example, watch out for strangers offering free drink or food for it could be drugged.
The key to surviving the con artists on holiday is to investigate the particular scam that is rife in the destination you are heading to and be prepared. Check out the ‘know before you go’ campaign courtesy of the foreign office.
Tags: travel insurance