Now, I love Da Nang, and 99.999% of my experiences there
have been very positive.
However, I have, of course, experienced several scams.
In today's video, I'll be sharing 10 scams that have personally happened to myself,
or to a friend, in Da Nang or Hoi An, Vietnam.
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The first one on the list is the Fake Menu Scam.
Now, this one is simple,
one you've finished your meal, you'll receive a bill
with prices that are higher than what you were expecting to pay.
In order to confirm the price,
you'll ask the server to go back and get the menu
so you can show them that it's supposed to be a lesser amount,
but what they'll do is they'll bring you a menu with inflated prices,
a different menu from the original one that you ordered from.
This is a tough scam to get out of
if you don't have proof of the original menu price.
I was so confident that this happened to me while I was in Hoi An,
but I ended up second-guessing myself in the moment and paying the higher price.
It wasn't until later, when I spoke with friends
that had also eaten at the same restaurant,
and also had the same experience where they felt like they were paying more
when the bill came than what they were expecting to pay.
Try looking for restaurants that have the stacks of menu
at the front of the restaurant,
so you have something to refer back to,
or the ones that have the menu with the prices listed on the wall.
If you go somewhere that doesn't have these,
consider taking a picture of the menu that you ordered from
as well as verbally confirming the price while ordering.
The second scam to look out for in Da Nang, Vietnam,
is the Fake Note Scam.
This is when you pay for something,
and then the seller tells you that the bill you paid with is counterfeit.
When a friend of mine was renting his apartment for five months in Da Nang,
he went to pay his deposit in cash.
Now, this is a lot of money as the deposit is often equal to one full month of rent,
so it's several hundred US dollars at a minimum.
The landlord took his deposit, gave it a funny look, and then left the room.
He came back a minute or two later,
and let my friend know that the money he was paying with was counterfeit.
He did it in a very friendly way and said,
"This happens so often with tourists when they come in,
they go to the ATM, they use fake ATMs, and they end up being given fake notes."
It was later discovered that the landlord had actually swapped my friend's bills
for counterfeit money when he had left the room earlier.
This is a very difficult scam to get out of
once you have taken your eyes off your money,
and even if you're not renting an apartment,
keep this in mind if you're paying for anything with a large bill,
at a market or at a store.
Do not let the shop owner take your bills into another room
or even put it out of sight behind the counter.
Keep an eye on your money.
I've gotten quite a few messages about travelers going to Da Nang
and planning to rent long term
that are concerned about not getting their deposits back at the end of their stay.
This is scam number three, and it is very common.
At the end of my stay, my first time in Vietnam,
I had my deposit questioned.
The landlord came in to do the inspection when I was leaving
and noticed that the wall was heavily cracked, damaged and stained
behind one of the paintings.
The landlord the claimed that I had done the damage while I was staying there
and was refusing to give me back my deposit.
I had photos on my phone from when I initially moved in
that included photos of behind the fridge, underneath the carpet,
and behind any of the paintings on the wall,
to prove that the damage was already there prior to my moving in.
There were no further questions asked and I got my deposit back.
Because of this experience,
I'm extra cautious whenever I move in to somewhere new.
Not only will I take all these photos,
but I'll also email them, on the same day that I move in,
to my landlord.
This shows that I'm aware of any damage that is there,
I'm taking the precautions, and it also gives a date
proving when these photos were taken.
If you are renting an apartment and having to put a lot of money up front,
I'd recommend that you try working with a landlord
that will accept a bank transfer instead.
I personally would use TransferWise
because it gives you the lowest rates when you're converting currency,
at least from any of the tools I've found. I'll leave the link for it below.
By doing a bank transfer instead of handing over cash,
there's also a paper trail that the money has been paid.
Not all landlords will accept online transfers
so, another option is to rent through a service like Airbnb long term.
Yes, it is going to be more expensive than if you negotiate the price in person,
but all of your payment will be done online,
and you can also refer to other reviews
from people that have stayed there in the past
to see if there's anything you should be looking out for.
If you're traveling to Vietnam,
you may be considering renting a motorbike while you're there.
This is very common and many foreigners do it.
While the cost to rent is low,
the cost for any damage or loss of the bike is very, very high,
and they will often ask to hold your passport while you rent the bike
as a security deposit,
so that you'll pay if you do damage or lose the bike.
A common scam is to be charged for existing damage on the bike
when you go to return it.
Avoid this by throughly inspecting the bike,
including the underside, with the seller present,
prior to making any payments.
Sometimes scratches are covered with paint
and then they wash off as you drive through puddles or if it rains.
There could be existing damage you don't initially see up front.
Definitely thoroughly inspect that bike
and then take pictures if there are any areas of damage to note.
There are so many motorbike rental shops in Da Nang;
you will see them on every corner.
So I recommend that you do a quick search on TripAdvisor first
and make sure that you're going to a shop that is going to be legititmate
that has been highly reviewed by other travelers.
Additional signs the renter is legitimate
are things like if they ask you to see a local or international driver's license
as well as if they provide you with a helmet.
An extreme but not unheard-of case actually happened to my friend
when he rented a bike in Da Nang for a full week.
He parked the bike overnight outside of his apartment,
woke up the next morning, and found the bike was missing.
Absolutely freaked out, he went back to the guy that he rented it from,
who was demanding that he pay the full cost of the bike
in order to have his passport returned.
My friend was smart enough to contact the police,
and it turned out that this renter had a history of renting the bikes out,
which then mysteriously go missing,
and he had been charged in the past for actually using a spare key,
taking the bike and stealing it back.
This was discovered and my friend did not have to pay the price of the bike
and he also got his passport back.
The next one is less of a scam
but more of something that you just need to be hyper aware of
when you're walking around on the streets of Da Nang.
Essentially, a thief on a motorbike will zip past you
and grab any loose valuables.
My downstairs neighbor in Da Nang had his phone taken right out of it hand
by a scooter driving by.
While you may walk around in your home city with your phone out texting,
it's definitely not something that you should be doing in Da Nang.
Extra precautions you can take include investing in an anti-theft backpack,
or what I personally use,
which is a FlipBelt that goes against your waist like a running belt,
and keeps all of your valuables out of sight
and also deters pickpocketers 'cause it's kind of hard to get at.
This is a much better option than having a purse on your shoulder
that can be easily grabbed by someone driving by on a motorbike,
or even a purse that goes across your body,
because the strap can be easily cut.
It's also very dangerous how close these drivers will get to you,
and at such high speeds, when they're trying to steal from you.
So definitely try to keep things tucked away,
so there's no temptation.
Taxis with rigged meters are also common,
and they look deceivingly legitimate in Da Nang.
This is when the meter price is going to be heavily inflated
to what you should actually be paying.
Tourists that have just arrived at the Da Nang airport
are often targeted
because, if you've just arrived, it's safe to assume
that you don't know what the price is that you should be paying
to get to your destination.
A simple solution to avoid this scam is to use the ridesharing app Grab,
which is just like Uber or Lyft in other countries.
By using Grab's ridesharing app, you're paying through the app,
and you know what the exact fare is going to be up front.
This also stops you from having to pull out
any money while you're on your ride,
and you're able to see the route that you're taking.
A side note to this one is that, once you order your Grab,
make sure that you hang on to all of your luggage
as you go to get into the Grab.
If there's anyone there that helps you put your luggage into the car,
whether you ask for it or not,
they will be expecting you to tip them.
Another scenario where you'll be expected to tip or to buy something,
is if a Vietnamese man or woman that's traditionally dressed,
often with a bamboo stick or a bunch of fruit,
comes up to you and tries to dress you
and then prompts you to take a photo with your phone.
It's all fun and games but then, once the photo has been taken,
they will be requesting a tip for the photo,
or again, trying to sell you their fruit.
It can get quite aggressive
and the seller will probably follow you around until you agree to pay them.
I mentioned earlier that you need to keep your eye on your money,
particularly when you're paying with larger bills.
Well, even if you're paying with smaller bills,
you definitely want to keep your eyes on the money.
Vietnamese dong all looks very similar in regards to shape, size and color.
It wouldn't be hard to mix up ₫10.000 with ₫100.000.
You need to be careful of paying for something
and then having the seller very quickly, very stealthy - it's like magic -
swapping it and then letting you know that you have paid incorrectly.
This happened to me at my favorite market in Da Nang,
which is Bac My An -
definitely check it out if you're in the city.
I was at one of the stands, and I am so confident
that I gave the seller a note that was equivalent to ₫100.000 dong.
She then laughed, smiled, and held up ₫10.000 dong,
which was the note "that I gave her."
She was smiling and laughing and saying, "Tourists always mess this up
because they look so similar."
I ended up paying her another ₫100.000,
and I'm so sure that this bill was swapped.
My next suggestion is to always, always, always
count the change that you receive to avoid the Incorrect Change Scam.
In the tourst spots around Da Nang and then absolutely in Hoi An,
I would say that I was given incorrect change three out of four times
that I was buying something.
It's assumed that, number one, you won't be counting your change,
and that, number two, even if you were counting your change,
you don't know what the value is
so you wouldn't be able to know if it was the correct change or not.
This is also a super easy one for the seller to get out of
becuase, if you did count the change
and you call them out on it being incorrect,
they can just apologize and give you the correct amount
with no harm, no foul.
Always count your change and always know what the money is worth.
I always have trouble with dong because you end up paying in thousands,
ten thousand, hundred thousands,
when, in the reality, ₫10.000 is less than 50 cents American.
My last tip is to be extra aware
and really inspect that item that you're buying.
Vietnam is notorious for knockoffs.
And now, I love a good knockoff if it's going to look the same
and it's going to function the same at a heavily discounted price.
I'm all for it.
However, the knockoffs I'm finding in Vietnam
tend to be very poor quality.
My carry-on suitcase fell apart when I was in Vietnam
after years of wear and tear,
and I needed to buy a new carry-on
to get myself and all my stuff home to Canada.
I went to the market, I paid for a suitcase,
and first the zipper went,
then the wheel fell off,
then the side cracked,
then the other wheel...
Needless to say it was a very stressful trip home
trying to keep that suitcase together
to get it from Da Nang to Canada without losing all of my belongings.
That was other 10 scams that I personally experienced,
or had a friend experience,
while living or traveling through Da Nang, Vietnam.
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Until then, all the best and happy travels.
Bye!