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Caption in English and Spanish subtitles Cancun is recognized
throughout the world for its spectacular white sand beaches
and its fascinating sea and turquoise blue tones with unique
natural places, mayan culture, water activities and adventures.
You just can't get enough of it.
Spectacular international cuisine, spectacular golf courses,
sophisticated spa facilities, topclass shopping centers,
typical local handcraft markets.
In this video, we discussed the top 10 Cancun scams to avoid
when visiting Cancun.
Let's start number one, Airport Car Rental Scams This is
a very popular one.
It works with stressed out people who are not used to traveling.
You arrive to Cancun walk towards your online, booked a car
to a wellknown rental company.
Once you get there, you find out you have no WiFi or Internet
and you cannot pull up your reservation.
You may have the reservation in your email from Orbitz or
any other online rental car vendor.
Front desk person allegedly can't find your reservation under
your name, but he could rent you one rental rental car for
several hundred dollars more than your original reservation
price. Most get fed up and leave the counter, then most of
them are approached by someone dressed somewhat officially
in a nice shirt and some kind of dodgy badge offering to
help you.
And he will claim that he knows the general manager of your
car rental company.
Call someone up and pass the phone to you.
The person on the other end will claim that he is the general
manager in the head office and that he found your reservation,
but the car is not available.
It will tell you to take a taxi to your hotel, get a receipt,
and that he would have your rental car delivered the next
morning straight to your hotel, and he will ask you to get
a receipt from the taxi driver and he would reimburse up
to 150 dollars for the ride because he could not provide
the rental car.
Don't fall for this scam.
Nobody will arrive the next morning to deliver anything.
They will split your taxi fare between the scammers and the
taxi driver.
Other rental car scams include forcing you to buy additional
insurance coverage, which you already have using your credit
card for So called online booking insurance you don't need
at all or adding hidden charges without you realizing it.
Finding you for damage is not caused by you like small scratches
or small things.
chiped windshield or rental agents.
Swapping your tire for a flat one, swapping any other item
in your rental car and charging you for it.
Avoid all that by inspecting the vehicle thoroughly and taking
photos and videos before you sign your rental agreement.
Number two, the Mayan Dollar Currency Scam you take a
tour to any ancient ruins around Mexico like to Tulum, Chichen itza
etc, and you're buying a souvenir there you might
hear a price quoted in Mayan dollars, which is a scam.
Since the Mayan civilization didn't have a formal currency
and mostly traded through bartering with others, and they
will claim that one Mayan dollar is worth three U S dollars.
Avoid this scam.
It's overpaying for cheap, souvenirs just look for another
vendor who is not eager to scam you or ask for the prices
that are mostly likely inflated.
Number three, ATM Scam Cancun has two types of ATM machines,
ones that are owned by a Mexican Bank, others that are owned
by a private entity or individual ATM machines, ones that
are mostly standing at tourist spots in the hotel zone, such
as flea markets, shopping malls, outside restaurants or bars.
Atms at Disco stay away from the ones who are not owned by
a Bank in Mexico are the ones offering you to give you dollars
instead of Mexican pesos.
If you do choose these ATMs, you are at a high risk of being
scammed could be cloned, and your account could be cleaned
out before you ever have the chance to catch up on the scam.
Stay away from any mention of high commissions with bad exchange
rate issues you can experience after using one of those rogue
ATMs, only use Mexican Bank ATM machines inside a Bank and
nowhere else.
Number four, Water sports rental Equipment Scam So you finally
arrived at your beachfront hotel in Cancun and go to the
Beach and see all those unformal vendors offering you to
rent a jet ski or any other water sport activity.
And you think, Yeah, why not?
Let's have a ride in a few fast pins on this dream Beach.
So you pay one of these guys without any formalities.
You're on your jet ski, speeding the turquoise blue waters
of Cancun.
However, upon returning the jetski, the the vendor blames
you for supposedly damaging it and scratching it or any other
bogus claim and threatens to call the police, which can result
in jail time.
If you don't come up with the money to pay for the damages,
he claims you did this on his jet ski.
If you plan to rent a jet ski, always do your research and
go with a reputable operator like the ones at your hotel.
Make sure you also inspect in, photograph and take videos
of the jet ski before taking off to document the existing
damage it might already have.
Number five shopping scams in Cancun.
Cancun has many popular local markets in the hotel zone and
downtown. However, you have to be very careful not to be
scammed. Many shop owners are just waiting for the tourists.
They will try to sell you overprice.
Souvenirs here are some of the most common practices to watch
out for after you pay for your souvenirs, some vendors will
swap it out to a lower quality souvenir or at a fake item
while putting it in the bag to hand to you mostly wrapped
in newspaper so you cannot see it.
Selling fake items is common in those markets, so watch out.
Same applies to Tequila.
They give you a great brand to taste, but sell you an overpriced,
lower quality, cheap brand, not labeling prices.
Opens the door to the scam.
Using rip off exchange rates is another one used in those
markets. Cigars from Cuba are mostly fake, too, especially
if you buy them from Beach vendors.
Then they are 100%.
Fake.
Number six, Restaurant and Bar Scams Cancun has a wide range
of of local and international restaurants.
Here are some tips on how to avoid getting scammed as a tourist
in those high, frequent tourist spots and chain restaurants,
watch out for getting a different menu with more expensive
prices and dollars instead of the usual local menu with Peso
prices. Other practices include added unordered items to
the bill serving you, unordered dishes, riggedg calculators,
hidden fees added to the bill.
Bad exchange rates for your dollars, including the tip inside
the bill, which is illegal in Mexico.
Always check.
Check your bill carefully before paying it.
Also, if you use credit cards, let the waiter bring the terminal
to your table, don't give away your card to be charged in
the back of the kitchen.
Never leave your card out of your eyes or hands.
Another tip is if there aren't locals in there eating, it's
probably a place that targets tourists.
I would stay away from these places.
Bar scams operate Similarly with inflated prices and cheap
water down alcohol.
Watch out for the tequila shot girls.
They can be very expensive for or a few shots of bad tequila.
Number seven, Nightly Adult Entertainment Scams If you want
some action and are thinking of going into the party zone
of Cancun or even worse, hiring some taxi driver to drive
you to some massage parlors or strip clubs, be very careful
to stay away from prostitutes on the Street and nightclubs.
They will be very expensive for you.
As a tourist, they will overcharge you five times.
The taxi driver will get a Commission from them.
And worst case scenario, you'll get robbed and scammed or
even worse, most of those establishments are controlled by
the underworld.
So do yourself a favor.
Stay away from it and stay within the tourist zone and have
fun there without causing trouble.
Number eight, Police Scams Some Cancun officers target tourists
and their rental cars who are clearly recognizable by the
different plates the rental cars have.
They will claim traffic violations, such as speeding for
tourists. The police can ask for anywhere from 20 Us dollars
to a few hundred dollars.
When you rent a car, you get a free ticket for one free traffic
violation when stop by police use that coupon instead
of trying to bribe the officer that could backfire as a tourist,
we always polite to the officers and admit if you did a mistake,
if not.
Also say so.
Try to record the event with your phone to be safe and approve
of anything that might occur.
Watch out for accidents, even if an accident is the other
party's fault.
The tourists will most likely often be held liable for damages.
My advice, call your rental company instantly.
Number nine, Rental Property Scam If you don't stay at a
hotel, that's all inclusive, and you want to rent a private
house on the Beach on your own, the rule of thumb is never
go to Shady websites with too good to be true.
Offers for a rental home in Cancun always rent from reputable
vacation rental websites with user protections and insurance
guarantees such as flip, key, Airbnb or home away.
Scammers will place an ad and ask the unsuspecting victim
to wire money upfront via Western Union or any other untraceable
service to secure the vacation rental property.
After you wire the money, guess what?
They are gone.
The fraudsters, along with your money.
Avoid this rental scam.
Number 10, Cancun Airport Scam Warning, The most popular
scam here at the airport is once exiting the airport building,
you have people wave signs that you're trying to sell you
a taxi ride or their overpriced collective shuttle bus.
They're pretty good at lying and will tell you that your
bus will be leaving two to 3 hours, and then it will cost
more than their ride, neither of which are true.
They are saying this so that you'll take their 25 dollars
shuttle or the 60 - 80 dollar taxi ride.
Another scam is taxi driver trying to sell their services
to take you between terminals one through 4.
That will tell you it is a one to 2 hour walk to get there,
or that you could wait an hour and a half for the free shuttle
bus. Big lie shuttles run every 20 minutes for free between
terminals. These scammers only want to charge you 40 dollars
per person, sometimes for a two minute ride from Terminals
two to Terminal four.
Don't fall for the scam.
It is a 10 minute walk and clearly marked on maps.
We hope you enjoyed this video.
Which place would you like to visit from the list?
Let us know in the comment section below the video.
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