How much? – Rs. 4800. - How much?
Oh man, I'm not giving you Rs. 4800.
Out of the way, man.
Namaste friends. Sri Lankan touts and tourist drivers have a terrible reputation amongst foreign tourists.
So many have been scammed and looted here. So let's go down here today at the fort and let's see what we can find.
Let's catfish a scammer.
Hey Bro.
What's up? Say hello.
And they approach you just like that. It is so easy, you just have to walk on the street & they will come up to me.
And it was so easy.
I met a guy at breakfast yesterday, he comes up to me pretending he's a local,
has a tea with me, and yeah nah, he was the rickshaw driver.
So let's go catfish a scammer along here and
see what their story is, what their ploys are, and what happens.
Subscriber: Hi Karl, how are you? –Great bro, how are you?
Very good. When did you come to Sri Lanka? -Don't blow my cover right now bro.
Sorry? -Don't blow my cover right now.
How are you? -I'm doing good. You're here with Manisha or just you? -No, just alone man. Just alone, what are you up to?
I'm just rushing to work.
No worries man. See you later. Thank you so much. Message me on Instagram and I'll type back, ok? –Yea, sure sure.
This rickshaw driver that you can see in the background. Just remember him.
He's working with this scammer to extort foreigners and we're gonna meet him again, soon.
Just two more days. –You came yesterday last night? Yeah, two days ago.
Don't know. Just walking around.
You're working at a hotel?
Thanks for helping me. Watch out. Don't get run over.
Oh wow, beautiful.
So this little tour is leading up to two ways that they try to make money by pretending they're just friendly locals.
First, they're gonna try and get me to drop massive amounts of money on gems.
And then they're gonna try and extort me.
What you're gonna see is the reason why it's so hard for foreigners to trust locals on the street.
And actually a real local would never try to milk a guest like this.
No. What's sapphire?
Good man. Oh these are beautiful. What are all these things?
These all are Sri Lankan gemstones. Only from Sri Lanka.
Really beautiful, what's this one? –This is Citrine.
Citrine?
You know sapphires have (unintelligible).
I'd call it yellow. Oh wait, that's two yellow. This is gold, this is yellow. Wow.
This all sapphire, sir.
Sri Lankan sapphire is the best sapphire in the world.
This is known as Ceylon sapphire right around the world.
If you buy something from Sri Lanka the value of it in New Zealand is nearly 4-5 times more.
Really? Four or five times more?
This is the source where you find these stones. What you buy here, it's duty free. There is no duty involved. It's bringing for exchange into the country.
You know, the tourist benefits from it. In Sri Lanka you should buy something with sapphire. It will always keep value for you.
If you take it back, you can make, I can guarantee you 100%. You can make more than that, but I can guarantee a value of more than 100%.
This one is really shiny.
We have one bigger than that, a lot more shiny.
Look at how it sparkles.
Typical Sri Lankan sapphire.
How much is this one?
This one, I give you a very special price today, since it's around Christmas.
This is generally selling at $2000.
$2000!
But I will give you a very special price today.
I'll give you $1200 today.
$1200 for this.
With a guaranteed value of $2500 in your country, New Zealand.
All certified, all comes with certification.
Certified by who? -Certified by my company, a lifetime guarantee.
Ok, well, not today though. Sorry.
Why not today?
Christmas is around the corner.
Christmas is coming but yeah, no. No thank you.
I'll make it into a ring and give you. - No, no thank you.
I'll give you this, a lot cheaper.
No it's okay.
Looks the same.
You can't tell the difference. –No I can't. I can't tell difference.
I just wanted to see.
Something for your Mum? How about $100. -No, thank you.
That's also sapphire.
It's okay, thank you so much for showing me.
Before you go, if you think you want to buy one, contact me. With a value of guarantee.
How much commission does he get?
Only 2%? Come on Man, pay him more.
He's doing all the hard work.
There's a golden rule when you're buying expensive gems,
and that's to have them assessed for quality and authenticity at a gem analysis laboratory, before you buy.
You could also hire a lab consultant for real-time analysis while you shop.
No more gem stores. No no. Let's go back to fort.
It's so nice to meet you.
I drop you here.
Oh man I'm not giving you 4800. –Why?
You're crazy man. No way. I'm not giving 4800.
Out of the way, man.
No way man. –Why? That was like 500 rupees around the place. –500 not enough. It is enough man!
No way. You pay, thanks. That's thousands, that's enough man.
600 that's all man.
Ok, then.
No you're trying to rip me off. This guy is charging 4,500 that's crazy man.
Sir it's very different price for different... -No no I know the prices. I know the prices, man.
That was like maximum 600 rupees a round. That's all.
So that's what happened.
The whole thing is just a scam to either sell you gemstones which he'll get a commission from.
Or if you don't buy gemstones, they're gonna try and pressure you into paying some crazy amount.
4800 or 4500 rupees I can't remember exactly what it was just then.
Crazy man, crazy.
Like, they're gonna get the money out of you somehow. Do not trust the people on the street here in Colombo.
Do not trust these friendly strangers and if you do buy those gems, if you do wanna come and buy gems,
Buy them but make sure you get them verified by a gemologist. By somebody who can authenticate what you just bought, ok?
And just push back on these guys when they try & charge you these crazy amounts.
You see what I did? I just said 'No; forcefully. I fought back a bit. Told him no.
And paid the real amount.
Oh, okay sorry. I'll go around. Thank you.
Alright, can't film there for some reason. So yeah you gotta be forceful.
You have to say 'No' and just pay what the trip was really worth.
And you can use Uber here to get around so use Uber and just get around safely here in Colombo.