As I'm writing my blog, I thought of the tourist scams that I have encountered or read about online. A search online will reveal certain places on Earth which are more prone to scams than others. Usual ones will be Paris, London and of course Barcelona, the scam capital of the world.
As an avid traveller, I will usually do an online search to find out the various scams in such cities before I travel, so that I do not fall prey to such tactics. Sadly, however cautious I am, I did fall prey to one such scammer in Paris. As I was walking along a street away from the crowds, I let my guard down and was cheated of my some euros. I will skip the details. The scammer in question was a guy, likely a parisian himself. An estimate of his age would probably be the mid thirties. He was perfectly able and looked healthy to me.
After that incident, my anger subsided, quite quickly in fact. I was wondering why he resort to scamming instead of finding work. He was a guy, without any obvious disabilities, should be able to work. And was he married? If yes, did his family involve in scamming also? Was he able to provide for his family? If he wasn't married, what about his parents? Were they aware that he was scamming? How was his upbringing? All these questions, I will never know the answer, but left dangled in the air. The only fortunate thing coming out of this incident was that he was 'working' alone, and he was not violent at all. I shudder to think what might happen to me if otherwise.
Anyway, a reminder to everyone to be vigilant when overseas. Let us not take Singapore's safety for granted.
As an avid traveller, I will usually do an online search to find out the various scams in such cities before I travel, so that I do not fall prey to such tactics. Sadly, however cautious I am, I did fall prey to one such scammer in Paris. As I was walking along a street away from the crowds, I let my guard down and was cheated of my some euros. I will skip the details. The scammer in question was a guy, likely a parisian himself. An estimate of his age would probably be the mid thirties. He was perfectly able and looked healthy to me.
After that incident, my anger subsided, quite quickly in fact. I was wondering why he resort to scamming instead of finding work. He was a guy, without any obvious disabilities, should be able to work. And was he married? If yes, did his family involve in scamming also? Was he able to provide for his family? If he wasn't married, what about his parents? Were they aware that he was scamming? How was his upbringing? All these questions, I will never know the answer, but left dangled in the air. The only fortunate thing coming out of this incident was that he was 'working' alone, and he was not violent at all. I shudder to think what might happen to me if otherwise.
Anyway, a reminder to everyone to be vigilant when overseas. Let us not take Singapore's safety for granted.
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