Common scams refresher

[GeoffH]

2 hours ago, Old55 said:

JJ is right. Is it become that bad every place in Philippines? I don’t think so.

 Yes we all need to be aware that there are some that will take advantage. 

 

I know it's not that bad every place in the Philippines but the airport, and a new arrival, that is commonly where foreigners run into issues with transport.

[sonjack2847]

4 hours ago, Old55 said:

JJ is right. Is it become that bad every place in Philippines? I don’t think so.

 Yes we all need to be aware that there are some that will take advantage. 

My brother and a mate, on separate occasions, got scammed where I lived in the UK by taxi drivers. I had 1 taxi try to scam me in Cebu city but told him where to go.

[Snowy79]

It's certainly not everywhere but it's spreading like a cancer.  One of my first introductions to the Philippines was Palawan.  I'd done my research and it ticked all the boxes.  I even communicated with a few girls  before visiting.  I liked the place.  Nice bars and restaurants. Not a bar girl in site and I was shown around without once having advantage taken of me. 

Fast forward over 3 years and I'm seeing bar girls operating there and even been approached a few times before getting in a bar.  My neighbour is going out with a girl from Puerto Princessa and he's been getting the sob stories from her friends and requests for money. 

Modern technology is making it a lot easier for word to spread, and to be fair I'm sure when lots of Filipinos have thousands of so called Facebook friends one chain mail begging message only needs to be picked up by a small percentage of them and they've got a years wages. 

 

[manofthecoldland]

Unethical opportunists usually flock to where the opportunities are.... target rich environments. You go fishing where the fish are. In this case the fish are from societies that breed more trusting people who are used to having the rule of law and its enforcement work well on lower level economic activity, like public transport, consumer protections in areas of anonymity. I don't like going through or to tourist area because the norms in many of those places have been reset to high levels of greed and economic predatory behavior. For trusting people its like entering a virus or plague area for which you have few natural anti-bodies or weak defense mechanisms until you develop your immunity. I like small cities and places where the germs and parasites haven't gotten much of a foothold due to the fact that the trust levels have to be higher for things to function and personal actions have consequences to reputations that impact the deviants more directly and seem to keep them in greater check. 

A few foolish relatives or friends might try to rip you in your small community, but in the larger cities or places where anonymity rules you have to switch to semi-paranoia to keep your money intact.   That's probably a universal these days in poorer countries where wealthier visitors pass through in greater numbers. Very few tourists or expats where I live, and I like it that way on a personal note. If you have a choice where to live here (many don't since the Filipinas need to be near their families and first language locales), keep in mind the population and social dynamics of where you are choosing to live.  If everyone's in your face with a hand out, or all the trike drivers are continually trying to rip you, its not much of an enjoyable refuge in your old age.  After you're established in a community,  if you are in a good place, the petty tourist annoyances should pretty much stop. Unfortunately, you might have a new set of problems. Ha-Ha.  

[JJReyes]

Arriving in Manila last year, we queued for a taxi at a stand that controls which taxi companies can pick-up passengers.  There was no waiting for us because they have a separate line for seniors.  The dispatcher mentioned the price to our hotel destination in Makati.  The total was PHP400.  For our Manila departure, one of my relatives frightened my wife about Manila's horrific traffic.  She was told traffic plus lines inside the terminal could take up to 5 hours.  My wife insisted our using a hotel car and leaving 4 hours and 30 minutes before departure time.  Charge for the service was PHP2,000.  No traffic; got processed quickly at the airline counter; breezed through immigration.  We waited at the departure area 4 hours.  Luckily, they were showing NBA basketball games on large screens.   

Which one was the scam?  Paying an addition PHP150 for a "tourist" taxi to the hotel or the hotel car service at PHP2,000? 

 

[hk blues]

I guess there are a number of factors involved that expose each of us to different degrees of scamming.  The more girls you expose yourself to (pardon the pun) the more likely you are to be a target.  If you live in area that attracts a great number of tourists, the more likely you are to be a target.  

I'm a married guy living in Iloilo and can honestly say that my experience of scamming here is next to nothing other than the usual that you will get absolutely everywhere. As always,  as foreigners we are exposed to much more such issues than locals so probably have a skewed view of how bad it is here.  

 

[Jack Peterson]

11 minutes ago, hk blues said:

than the usual that you will get absolutely everywhere.

 Just bin Hit with a family Birthday out of the Blue BUT they have no Money for a party BUT of course, my wife will come through with Food. 

For me, if you can't afford it don't have it .................................

[hk blues]

1 minute ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Just bin Hit with a family Birthday out of the Blue BUT they have no Money for a party BUT of course, my wife will come through with Food. 

For me, if you can't afford it don't have it .................................

But they can afford it, or rather your wife can which is the same thing to them! 

[expatuk2014]

The Philippines is like all countries really, airport scams,Taxi scams,Bar Scams etc. Paris and Rome are the Same , i never go shopping alone , and things i have to do such as Annual reporting my wife always comes with me. Havent been scammed at all so far my wife knows all the tricks.

If i want a drink then its not a bar,i always have various drinks in the fridge inc my own made ice cold coffees, but then again us expats all being handsome and richwe are ideal targets.

 

[Jack Peterson]

 Just had callers at the gate trying to sell the "all health fixing elixir powder" Cures all internal problems and is that all wonderful Detox remedy, only 770 peso (250 gram bag) BUT today at 598 Buy one get one when I read the ingredients it is 80% Soya Powder that we can get in most supermarkets at about 45 peso a carton (20 gram I would think)

Nope thank you. Geeze man everyone's at it