- Five common tourist scams in Tokyo, Japan.
I'm Chris, this is Yellow Productions,
I do travel guides that are fun, informed, and entertaining.
And in this video, I'm going to be telling you things
to keep you safe in Tokyo.
And now Tokyo, it's one of the safest cities in the world,
and so you might be wondering, Chris,
why are you making a video about scams and Tokyo?
I thought you've told me before
that nothing happens in Tokyo.
Well, with the 2020 Olympics coming soon,
it's going to bring lots of new tours to Tokyo--
(record scratches)
Now you might be thinking, 2020 Tokyo Olympics,
Chris, are you in some sort of weird time warp,
and how did you get to Japan?
Well, actually, I recorded this video
in February of 2020, right before the pandemic hit,
when the Olympics were still happening.
Well, it's 2021 and the Olympics are going on right now.
So I figured, what better time to release this video?
Let's get back to it.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police have been putting up posters,
warning tourists of some common scams that happen.
And it's actually also been written up
in the Japan Times and the Guardian
about the increase of some of these scams.
So I want to share them with you to keep you safe.
The first most common tourist scam in Tokyo is rip-off bars.
This typically happens in the areas
of Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Roppongi at night.
And basically what happens with these rip-off bars
is someone approaches you on the street
and advertises some sort of 'all you can drink' special,
something like 4,000 yen for all you can drink.
And it typically works out that it's a timed special,
30 minutes for all you can drink.
And then every drink you order after that
might cost 4,000 yen for each drink.
So make sure if somebody approaches you on the street
and advertises some really inexpensive price for drinks,
you actually know what you're getting into.
And actually, one of the things I would say is,
if somebody ever approaches you on the street
and wants to invite you into their establishment,
probably don't listen to them and don't go with them.
And some of these bars, to be extra shady,
they'll actually take pictures of the guests
with the alcohol they're ordering
to show it to the police if they come asking.
Tokyo tourist scam number two, this is the free drink scam.
You go into a bar where they advertise,
The first drink is free.
And it usually also starts with somebody approaching you
on the street, letting you know that,
Hey buddy, come with me, free drinks at this bar.
Well, it turns out only the first drink is free.
The second drink is probably 10,000 yen
or about a hundred dollars.
And what happens if you don't have any money to pay?
Well, generally, some really big guys
are going to forcibly escort you
to the ATM to make sure you can get some money out.
Tokyo tourist scam number three, the spiked drinks scam.
This happens when you're at a bar and they give you
a little bit more to drink or they drug your drink
so that you don't remember what happened all that much.
And why do they do that?
Well, they particularly target people
that are using credit cards
because then they end up charging your credit card
for much more than it was supposed to have been
because you don't really remember what happened
when you get that bill the next day,
or you see your bill a month later,
and it was 30,000 yen or 300 dollars.
You're like, did I really order that much?
And they particularly target foreigners
because they know foreigners
generally don't go to report it to the police.
And so moral of the story is, if you're going out drinking,
leave your credit cards and debit cards back in the room,
just bring cash.
And if something like this does happen to you,
well, then actually make sure to report it to the police
to help stop these sorts of fraudsters.
Tokyo tourist scam number four, drink back girls.
So these people who approach you on the streets,
it's actually been banned and illegal
in certain parts of Tokyo, particularly in Shinjuku,
they've outlawed people approaching people on the streets
to invite them in the bars. So what are bars doing?
Well, they're partnering up with women
who then go on dating websites, Match.com, Tinder.
They hang out there.
And then if you're a guy and you say,
Hey, why don't we meet tonight?
Well, they will invite you to their special bar,
it was probably one of these rip-off bars,
that then they bring you there to drink,
the drinks are really expensive,
but you really want to impress that girl, right?
Well, it turns out she's probably getting
about 50 percent of every expensive drink
that you're buying for her.
So just beware, if you meet up
some random stranger from Match.com,
you might be the one to recommend
where you want to go to drink.
And another moral of this is when you're looking for
a place to drink or somebody taking you someplace,
if it's some place that's like,
three levels below ground or seven stories above ground,
like, that might be kind of shady.
You know, the best places are like,
places that are street level.
You see other people in there.
And the final moral of this is that like,
if the place just looks shady or the situation looks shady,
get out of there before bad stuff happens.
Scam number five, the model scouting scam.
This one often happens to young women
that are walking alone at night.
Someone will approach you, if you're a young woman
and say, hey, would you like a job in modeling?
I can take you someplace.
I can introduce you to some people.
This is likely not what you want,
the modeling might not be of the sort,
Japan has a really big adult video scene,
also a lot of maid cafes and bars
that are always looking for young women.
So young ladies, avoid the guys
that are going to come up to you at night
and offer you anything.
Now, please don't let all these things
discourage you from visiting Tokyo.
As I mentioned earlier,
Tokyo was one of the safest cities in the world
that you could visit as a traveler
and more often than not, people come back from Tokyo
with great stories about the local Japanese,
helped them, help them out, were very friendly.
There are a few bad apples though,
and I want to make sure that those few bad apples
definitely don't ruin your trip to Tokyo.
Well, Hey, if you're coming to Tokyo,
you might enjoy watching some of our additional videos
where Topher and I take you around Tokyo,
give you more travel tips.
You'll find the links or description below,
or a few of them on the screen right here.
As usual, we won't say goodbye
because we'll see you in the next video.