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Nick-la
Wonder Wit
Joined: July 19, 2003
Posts: 3675
Location: Wasted on this site
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 Posted:
Dec 27, 2004 - 02:02 PM |
 
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| Post subject: Street Smarts | Warnings | Scams |
I guess some of you have seen this, but the grub-monkeys giving out plane tickets adverts which NOBODY WOULD EVER WANT, have a new tactic of just waiting 'til you walk past and dropping into your bag/putting it in your pocket.
There is not much that is *so wrong* about it but it would piss me off, so hey you have a chance to shout at someone if they do it and you feel like it.
Also, pickpockets could say "oh I was just trying to put an advert in there".
So, just look out. |
_________________
I'm surrounded by idiots. |
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SwedishChef
Low Seater
Joined: Aug 19, 2004
Posts: 3028
Location: Køokin' der yummee-yummer
Status: Offline
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Dec 27, 2004 - 03:04 PM |
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Next time they try that on me I'll twist their arm until they scream...
...rude little bastards! |
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lawdude
Moderator
Joined: Sep 20, 2002
Posts: 687
Location: No longer in Shanghai, PRC
Status: Offline
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Dec 27, 2004 - 04:33 PM |
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Happened to me near Jin An, and I did think it was a pickpocket attempt, because the guy had actually followed me a few paces before trying to put one in my pocket. On a reflex, I spun and grabbed his wrist. Only then did it occur to me that it would have to be a pretty bad pickpocket that was so easy to detect. But it was fun to see one of those annoying card-guys recoil in fear. Maybe he'll be a bit less aggressive next time.
Oh, curious side note: I was walking behind some guy recently who was actually taking cards from each one of those card-boys he passed. Huh? |
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gfo68
Reacher
Joined: Jan 17, 2004
Posts: 278
Status: Offline
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Dec 27, 2004 - 04:51 PM |
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It could have been me. I take a bunch of em and then toss them somewhere. I like to leave stacks of them in restaraunts and such.
It reminds me of Las Vegas except instead of hooker cards you get airline cards. Kinda funny. |
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niko
Rocker
Joined: Aug 23, 2004
Posts: 602
Status: Offline
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Dec 27, 2004 - 09:04 PM |
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hahaha,superman,gfo68 and SwedishChef |
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MaomingMaster
Board Legend
Joined: Feb 03, 2004
Posts: 11059
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Dec 27, 2004 - 11:08 PM |
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I hate those little cnuts...
Every time they get near me they regret it. |
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Michael
Moderator
Joined: Mar 22, 2002
Posts: 5276
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 12:53 PM |
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| Post subject: Tips for Street Smarts | Warn Your Visitors | Scams | Etc. |
There is recently a lot of buzz about various scams, attacks, and issues that have come up. I want to collect a list of do's and don'ts on how to be street smart enough to avoid problems ( scam girls, pickpockets, real estate scams, getting drugged, getting outrageous manufactured bar bills). Please add your tips to staying smart and avoiding problems to this list. |
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Porno_For_Pyros
Ranter
Joined: May 22, 2006
Posts: 559
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 01:09 PM |
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Peter Wilson's bar tabs were legendary!! |
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Michael
Moderator
Joined: Mar 22, 2002
Posts: 5276
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 02:36 PM |
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So one question has come up.. other than the police.. is there any agency, tourism bureau or such that deals with complaints about places and situations like this? |
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hammerforlife
Fire-eater
Joined: May 24, 2004
Posts: 2701
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May 29, 2006 - 02:43 PM |
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On a related subject what are the emergency telephone numbers in Shanghai, police ambulance etc and are there alternatives with English speaking? |
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bellabella
Gypsy Queen
Joined: Aug 03, 2004
Posts: 14989
Location: London
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 03:00 PM |
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^this would be very useful info to have on a sticky! |
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lilstar
Reacher
Joined: June 20, 2005
Posts: 285
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 03:32 PM |
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1.Be extra carefull when you carry back pack, don't put your wallet , mobile or important stuff inside the front part.
2. If you happen taking bus or subway, hold your wallet tightly or anything inside your jacket pocket and pant's pocket. When the door opens, usually people start to push each other and you won't notice if one of them are thief try to grab your wallet.
3. Becarefull if little kids ( boy or girl ) walking behind you, especially those without parents or companions. They are trained by some triad society to steal wallets and mobile phones.
4. Never follow those people who offers selling DVDs, fake stuffs if they ask you to follow to their hidden warehouse.
5. If someone approaching you ( mostly chinese but there were foreigners did that before )and telling such story like they got robbed, lost of what so ever and need some cash to go home, just avoid them because most of them doing this for the sake of money.
6. Bring small amount of cash to pay cab , some sneaky driver will try to swap your transport card, someone mentioned it in the forum.
Someone in forum mentioned about english speaking police number 111 while normal chinese speaking is 110. Never try before but worth to find out. |
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travelinjack3
FooJay
Joined: Sep 19, 2005
Posts: 1710
Location: Right Bank
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 03:33 PM |
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A friend has just started working for an english teaching school in here. He was training at a different location for one day than the other days. He goes down stairs for lunch and is approached by a guy claiming to be a student at the school. The guy asks to join him for lunch at near by restaraunt. They go in and sit down. They order some food. The guy goes to the bathroom and never comes back. Soon 600RMB worth of food is delivered to the table. The cops sided with the restaraunt. |
_________________
If the billy goat was Bootsie and the troll was Maceo, then only the Godfather of Soul can really take you to the bridge. |
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lazyyorkie
LoopKicker
Joined: Apr 20, 2006
Posts: 990
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 03:45 PM |
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This happens in Manila but could happen in SH:-
1. A girl will ask to be taken to the cinema, she will get you coke or something drop a drug in and bingo, your asleep in 5 minutes, when you wake up your wallet and watch etc are all gone.
2. Some girls will go to the police and tell them that you have sexually assaulted the girl, at this point the police will suggest you pay compensation on the spot. This gets split 50/50 with the cops.
There are many scams but, you can safeguard yourself a bit by following some simple rules:-
1. Take just enough cash out for the evening.
2. Do not carry all your credit cards. Maybe have one card with a small limit so if you use it and get ripped it wont hurt too much.
3. In a bar you dont know order one beer and pay for it dont run a tab.
4. If you dont want to buy the hostess a drink then tell her you have little money with you and your just having a beer.
5. Dont get sh_it faced unless your with friends.
6. Never go home or to a strange hotel with a girl or guy for that matter.
7. If you do take a girl home whom you picked up in the street then, make her go home before you sleep.
8. If the taxi seems not to know where you live get out and get in another. If you happen to be in Manila do not allow the taxi driver to pick up one of his mates, the chances are the mate has a gun and you will get robbed for sure. Use hotel taxis where possible.
9. We have known Hotel reception staff call their robber friends and tell them : you just left the Hotel, maybe it is late and dark around it etc.
10. thinking....Like the above post: The beggars are usually run by a syndicate, they get a bed and food after handing over the money. They will often try to put their hands in your pockets. Mobile Phone etc...
I must say, I have never felt threatened in Shanghai over the past 3 or 4 years however, there are more and more westerners comming and **** happens! No offence to Chinese people as most are very honest. |
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SC3
Reacher
Joined: Nov 19, 2004
Posts: 245
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 04:20 PM |
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Rule one: Use your common sense! (Who would allow a taxi driver to pick up his mate?).
Actually in Manila don't use hotel taxis as they routinely rip you off, and they are sitting there waiting for naive tourists.
If you are in a dodgy bar drink bottled beer, and tell them to bring it to you un-opened. Then open it yourself or get them to open it in front of you, so there is no opportunity for them to slip drugs in. For the same reason go to the bathroom between drinks, not while you are halfway through one.
If a girl who you have just met asks to go to a bar/coffee shop/restaurant with you then don't go where she leads you, rather pick a safe one such as Starbucks. If it is a rip off she will soon decline and disappear. This particularly applies on Nanjing Dong Lu.
Personally I don't carry a wallet, rather I have my ATM card and money wedged tightly in my jeans pocket. To me a wallet is an advertisement to say "all my valuables are sitting in here". Belt bags are even more so.
Leave your passport in your apartment or hotel room, rather carry around a photocopy.
Another scam is for a bar or restaurant to take your RMB100 note, then bring one back telling you it's fake. In actual fact the one you gave them was fine but they will have swopped it on you. I have heard of this happening in Guangzhou. A pain to deal with this one as the only way to deal with it is to remember distinguishing features of every note you hand over (e.g. small rips) or write down the serial number each time.
Some online travel websites have scam reports, read them before travelling somewhere you've never been before.
By the way, I have just spent a week in the Philippines, and never felt threatened. There were some attempts at ripping me off but avoided those by reading scam reports as mentioned above and talking to people who have been there. Had a great time in Manila and look forward to going back. |
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teanosugar
Raver
Joined: Oct 27, 2005
Posts: 495
Location: europe
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 04:42 PM |
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If someone appears to be unusually helpful or friendly towards you be careful about what their motivation is, particularly if they are not from Shanghai/Beijing or they do not have a good education.
The "art scam" and the "women on nanjing dong lu scam" both hinge on foriegners accepting unusual friendliness in a situation where there is no clear gain to the other party until the scam is revealed unlike a professional situation where it is obvious that both sides can benefit from the relationship.
(deleted the other stuff I write cos it sounded too negative...) |
Last edited by teanosugar on May 29, 2006 - 10:25 PM; edited 6 times in total |
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Michael
Moderator
Joined: Mar 22, 2002
Posts: 5276
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 06:11 PM |
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jenming
FooJay
Joined: Dec 20, 2002
Posts: 1675
Location: Right where you wanna be
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 06:55 PM |
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| teanosugar wrote: |
The "art scam" |
how does the "art scam" work? I've been approached a number of times, but never stuck around long enough to figure out what they wanted from me. |
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robertjan
Seeker
Joined: Nov 08, 2005
Posts: 48
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 10:06 PM |
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especially the scams on nanjing lu..........i went there with my girlfriend.....asked her to walk behind me.......just to show her....within 3 minutes was approached by "students" ........told them to f... off........take my word for it.......if somebody approaches you walk away.......do not follow anyone,anywhere,anytime,anyplace.......do not say afterwards that i did not warn you.... |
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jenming
FooJay
Joined: Dec 20, 2002
Posts: 1675
Location: Right where you wanna be
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 10:20 PM |
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once again, though... how does it work? *how* do they try to scam people? |
_________________
unzip;strip;touch;finger;mount;fsck;more;yes;unmount;sleep |
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teanosugar
Raver
Joined: Oct 27, 2005
Posts: 495
Location: europe
Status: Offline
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May 29, 2006 - 10:23 PM |
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some girls say they are art students and invite the foreigner to see their art exhibition, then they sell some poor artwork for a high price. another thing that might happen is they go for tea or dinner together and there is an inflated bill. |
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lazyyorkie
LoopKicker
Joined: Apr 20, 2006
Posts: 990
Status: Offline
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May 30, 2006 - 09:42 AM |
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SC3 wrote: Rule one: Use your common sense! (Who would allow a taxi driver to pick up his mate?).
Actually in Manila don't use hotel taxis as they routinely rip you off, and they are sitting there waiting for naive tourists.
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It is well understood in the Philippines that the normal taxi drivers are usually crooks, this is how they got to buy the car in the first place. They often say, my friend is there is it ok if i give him a ride as he is going your way etc. It has happened to quite a few people. One American after a long flight fell for it and ended up miles from anywhere in his under wear.
You are much safer to use the Hotel cars especially at night. You can find one driver that wont rip you off and stay with him. You can also pre negotiate the trip cost as all of them have superb English.
Manila is ok if your street wise but SC3 ask yourself this question: Why is there an armed guard on every shop cash register in the mall and at least 2 guys with pump action shot guns on the car parks?
Answer: All the crooks have guns there.
I have been going there since 1992 and my wife is a Filipina, we also have TFC in our house so, we can see the news every day. The in thing at the moment is car jacking. Kidnapping is prolific.
As in many of the major metropolitan areas in the United States, crime is a serious concern in Metro Manila. As a rule of thumb, Americans are advised to exercise good judgment and remain aware of their surroundings. Reports of confidence games, pick pocketing, and credit card fraud/ATM fraud are common. There have been several kidnappings and violent assaults of foreigners in the Metro Manila area, although Americans have not been specifically targeted in such crimes. There have also been reports of vehicles with foreign passengers being robbed by gunmen while driving to and from the international airport. |
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lazyyorkie
LoopKicker
Joined: Apr 20, 2006
Posts: 990
Status: Offline
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May 31, 2006 - 10:29 AM |
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One for the ladies:-
You may know this perhaps but, you will notice Chinese women usually carry a shoulder bag and always keep it in front of them crossed from the back to the chest to make it hard to snatch. |
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frenchlover1999
Shanghai Royalty
Joined: Sep 18, 2004
Posts: 8730
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May 31, 2006 - 12:49 PM |
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This happens in Manila but could happen in SH:-
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Very unlikely. Shanghai is much safer than most other places in Asia or even in Europe. The police is rather honest too. |
_________________
That was no shark. That was my personal submarine. But enough of this polite conversation. What is the purpose of your visit? |
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lazyyorkie
LoopKicker
Joined: Apr 20, 2006
Posts: 990
Status: Offline
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May 31, 2006 - 02:00 PM |
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FL: you are probably right! as not many people here are armed unlike the Philippines. |
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