Travelling to Goa is a different experience altogether. Travelling to any other city will never be the same as that with Goa. The vibe, the people, the beaches, everything feels different and yet amazing in this beautiful state.
While this being said, there has been a lot of fraud happening in the state especially with the foreign tourists as they are naive about the rules and regulations of the place.
The Goa Gem Scam
One of the most common scams that happen is the Gem Scam. There are just too many variations of the elaborate gem scam which exists in India, all set up to be as convincing as possible. However, the essence of the scam usually involves someone who has a “jewelry-export business” and wants to save money on export duty from India.
These business people gently ask the tourist to use their duty-free allowance and ship the gems for them to the country they are coming from. And, of course, they convince the tourists well that they will be paid generously in return for doing their work for these people.
The tourist doesn’t have to invest or spend any money at all, which makes it seem appealing and legitimate to the tourists as well.
What’s more, many tourists even feel obligated to assist the friendly Indian businessman who really needs their help in growing their business (and has gone out of his way to be kind to them)..
The Deaf Kids Scam
Another very common scam is the deaf kid’s scam. Kids show as if they are deaf and hand over chits to people which read “I am Deaf”. These little kids are so well trained by their masters that you’d never know if they are bluffing you or they are actually deaf.
There’s no way one can find that out. The paper would also say that all the money collected by them would go to charity which obviously isn’t true.
A few years back, a foreign tourist also wrote on Tripadvisor, “The “deaf Children” are the ones who really get to me, because I am deaf, I show them my hearing aids and then give them HELL!!!! I shout, sign, and wave my arms, while they look on in horror, they avoid me like the plague from then on. Sorry, but lying about being deaf really gets me.”
The Goa Taxi Scam
Last, but not least is the taxi scam. Well obviously not all taxi drivers do this, but still, there’s a huge chunk who waits for tourists to come so that they can scam them. They would put the meters inappropriately.
Sometimes they scam the tourists by confusing them and getting more money. This happens a lot of times and one must be very careful while handing over the money.
If one can get through at least these 3 scams, it’ll be a much more comfortable and better experience in Goa.
Happy Travelling..!!
Photo by Mikhail Nilov from Pexels
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