This document provides information on common scams targeted towards tourists in China and tips to avoid them. It describes counterfeit money scams, transportation scams, beggar scams, tea house scams, art school scams, and price gouging scams. The key tips to avoid scams include being wary of overly friendly strangers, knowing prices in advance, using reputable taxis/transport, and being prepared to negotiate prices for unlabeled items.

1. AVOID
CHINESE
TOURIST
SCAMS
--RITA

2. Be a Smart Tourist
• COUNTERFEIT MONEY
SCAMS
• TRANSPORTATION
SCAMS
• THE BEGGAR SCAMS
• TEA HOUSE / ART
SCHOOL SCAMS
• PRICE GOUGING
SCAMS

3. COUNTERFEIT MONEY SCAMS
• You give a taxi driver a 100 or
50 RMB note and they secretly
switch it with a fake note and
claim you gave them the fake
one. It’s a classic “your word
against mine” scam where
police can be of very little help,
so if you never saw the switch
you’re left paying yet another
100 RMB.
• You pay a small bill to
somebody with a 100 RMB note.
In return, they give you a fake
50 RMB note while the rest of
the change is real.

4. HOW TO AVOID THE COUNTERFEIT
MONEY SCAM
• Get your cash from a
reputable source( Chinese
bank or ATM)
• Try and break their 100 RMB
bills at established
businesses
• If you do know what real
Chinese yuan should look
and feel like, don’t be afraid
to inspect it. It’s common
practice here in China for
any store to inspect the
money you give them to
ensure authenticity. You can
do it to.

5. TRANSPORTATION SCAMS
• HOW
TRANSPORTATION
SCAMS PLAY OUT
• AVOID
TRANSPORTATION
SCAMS

6. HOW TRANSPORTATION SCAMS PLAY OUT
• Taxi Scams: taxis who
want to charge you a
flat rate instead of using
the designated meter.
• Tour Bus Scams: you get
what you pay for. Sure
there are some tours that
are dirt cheap, but what
happens is that they take
you around to every
single tourist trap around
town to make up the
cost.

7. HOW TO AVOID TRANSPORTATION SCAMS
• Use Didi Dache or
Uber
• Don’t trust Travel
Agency

8. HOW TO AVOID TRANSPORTATION SCAMS
• When arriving at
transportation hubs
(airports, train stations,
etc.), just give a terse
“no” when people
approach you wanting
to drive you somewhere.
This is almost a sure rip-
off.
• It’s best to find the
official taxi line and wait
behind others unless
you’re in a huge rush.

9. THE BEGGAR SCAMS
--never give money to beggars.
• The Grabby Beggars
• The “For a Cause”
Beggars
• Disabled Beggars
• Silent Beggars
• Fake Monks

10. TEA HOUSE SCAMS
• The gist of the scam is that a
Chinese person will come up to
you and begin very innocent
conversation. After trust has
been established they will ask
if you want to join them and
their friends for tea (“I know
this great place you’ll love!
Very traditional Chinese tea!”)
or to come view their
traditional artwork.
• With the tea house scam you
arrive to sample some tea and
your new friend suddenly
disappears, leaving you to pay
for the overpriced tea (the
Chinese person got a
commission for bringing you
there).

11. ART SCHOOL SCAMS
• With the Art School
Scam, they use the trust
they’ve created with you
to guilt you into buying
cheap art for inflated
prices. You justify it by
saying to yourself “The
art isn’t bad and now I’ll
have a story of how I
met the painter!” but the
fact is it’s probably
mass-produced, cheap
art and you’re getting
ripped-off.

12. HOW TO AVOID THESE SCAMS
• The #1 best way to avoid
these scams is to be wary of
any person who initiates
contact with you. Chinese
people are generally very
introverted people and such
genuine contact isn’t
normal. I’m not saying to
avoid the locals, just be on
guard if an overly-friendly
person approaches you.
• If somebody asks you to go
somewhere with them, test
them out by suggesting
another good place you
know about. If they insist on
theirs, you know it’s a scam.
Liar can also be a beautiful female
college students!!!

13. HOW TO AVOID THESE SCAMS
• Never eat or drink
without knowing the
price first.
• Variations of this scam
include KTVs, bars and
other places where
they get you to drink
and only later show
you the crazy-high bill.
• Once you’ve consumed
their product, you’re
stuck.

14. HOW TO AVOID THESE SCAMS
• Finally, don’t be afraid to
say NO.
• It may feel rude to you,
especially as this art
students looks at you
with pleading eyes, but
you don’t have to buy
anything. Same with
food and drink. Even if
they put it on the table
you don’t have to eat or
drink it. As they used to
teach me in school, “just
say no”.

15. PRICE GOUGING SCAMS
• As you’ll find when you
start shopping in China,
most items aren’t
individually priced,
leaving you to ask how
much everything costs.
Because haggling is part
of business here, shop
owners are used to
pricing high with the
understanding that
they’ll discount. This
mentality kicks into
overdrive when they see
a foreign face, often
quoting 5-10x’s the usual
cost.

16. HOW TO AVOID PRICE GOUGING
• The best way to avoid
this is to know
beforehand how much
something should cost.
Watch a local buy it.
Ask a local how much
they would pay for it.
• Finally, be prepared to
haggle for most
anything that doesn’t
have a price tag on it,
even if that’s
uncomfortable for you.