Practically every tourist destination on this planet has its own set of tourist scams that people should be aware of, and Greece is no exception. Listed below are some of the top scams in Greece.
1. Photography Scam
Photography scam is one of the most common tourist scams in Greece. In this scenario, a local/ stranger will request you to take a picture of them and hand their camera to you.
After you click a picture and return it, they will purposefully drop it and blame you for breaking their camera. They will demand money for the same and harass you if you disagree to pay.
Common Around: Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, Corfu and Rhodes.
2. Friendly Local Scam
In this situation, a local approaches you under the guise of being friendly. This person will offer to help you with suggestions for top attractions, restaurants and directions and convince you to take him as your guide.
It is a trick to get close to tourists and steal valuables when they are distracted.
Common Around: Athens, Corfu and Santorini
3. Taxi Scam
Taxi drivers in Greece take advantage of tourists not knowing their way around the location. Some of their tricks include overcharging, taking on another person along with you, and taking you to a tour operator or restaurant where they get a commission from. If you disagree with any of these, they will create a scene.
Common Around: Mainly near the airport areas and the famous tourist places in Greece.
4. Friendly ATM Help Scam
Another popular tourist scam in and around Greece is the friendly ATM help fraudery, where a person offers to help you when he notices you having an issue with your card. However, these tricksters intend to scan your credit or debit card with a card skimmer and view your PIN and other confidential details. They can empty your account moments after you leave the ATM.
Common Around: Most of the ATM centres in Greece
5. Bar Friends Scam
Bar friend fraud is one of the common scams in Santorini. 'Friendly' locals will approach you and suggest a bar or restaurant of their choice and invite you to have a drink with them. As you fall into this trap, you end up paying high bills for the drinks your 'friends' have had, too!
Well, you will never find all these 'friends' around you when paying the bill. They were all working as a team to trick you.
Common Around: Athens, Santorini and Rhodes
6. Guessing Game Scam
Guessing game scam is perhaps one of the most common scams prevalent in most foreign countries. In this scenario, you are attracted to a group of people playing a game where one has to guess the correct answer.
Remember, the group of people are all part of the scam as they work in a team. As they attempt to distract you with their show, they pickpocket you.
Common Around: Athens
7. Pigeon Drop Scam
One of the common tourist scams in Athens is the pigeon drop scam. Here, you will suddenly find a pigeon poop falling on you from behind. As you become busy cleaning yourself up, a man offers to help you, too.
You get distracted by the conversation, and he pickpockets you. It was a fake bird poop that he had thrown on you to trap you.
Common Around: Syntagma Square in Athens
8. Vehicle Rent Fraudery
In this scam, you rent a motorbike, travel to the tourist spots and park your vehicle as usual. After you return, you see your vehicle broken, and the rental firm accuses you of damaging the vehicle and demands money for the repairs.
The trick here is that an employee might have trailed you and damaged the rental when you were busy exploring the location.
Common Around: Most tourist locations in Greece.
9. Pickpocketing
Athens in Greece is a hotspot for thieves and pickpockets. The places to get pickpocketed are at the metro, on public buses and in a waiting line. Be aware if you find someone suddenly stumbling into you in a crowd.
In trains, you will find well-dressed men crowding between you and the door and purposely blocking the way so that you need to push through them to pass. They intend to pickpocket you.
Common Around: Omonia, Metaxourgio, Monastiraki and Syntagma in Athens.
10. Mobile Snatchers
In this trick, a scammer approaches you, asking for the time. When an unsuspecting tourist takes out his mobile phone to look, this trickster snatches it and runs away. When you notice such a person approaching you, simply avoid having a conversation and move away from that place.
Common Around: Most tourist spots in Greece
11. Fake Policeman
One of the common scams in Greece and also in other countries, in this trick, plain-clothes police impersonators stop unsuspecting tourists on the street. They will then showcase a fake police badge and ask to see your passport or identity card.
Next, they will ask to see the money you have on you and change it with the counterfeit money that they had while you were distracted.
Common Around: Athens and Santorini
12. Toy Scam
Prevalent in local restaurants around Greece, you will notice people wandering around the restaurant and putting things on the table, such as flowers or toys. Once you take these or even just pick them up, they will demand you to pay money!
Common Around: Local restaurants in and around Greece.
13. Fake Trip Scam
Selling fake trip tickets is perhaps the most common tourist scam in Greece. Local tourist operators will trick you by explaining that they are selling tickets to an island at a discounted rate.
Once you fall prey to such advances, you pay for it only to find that these trips never existed! The tour operator will never contact you back.
Common Around: Athens, Santorini and Rhodes
14. Free Gifts and Roses Scam
There will be people wandering around the tourist spots with buckets of roses and other 'gifts'. You'll see them giving them out to people, and as you happily accept them, they'll expect you to pay for it. They work in groups.
So, if you disagree, they will create a scene.
Common Around: Athens, Rhodes, Santorini
