Hello everybody! I love traveling and I know that Turkey is a great place with wonderful and by far very honest people. However, there are always a few that try to take advantage of our tourist ignorance. Even the best of us get taken every now and then. I would like people to share the scams that they avoided or got caught up in while traveling in Turkey. I would like it to be strictly about scams of hussles in Turkey. Thanks for sharing and I hope we all learn something here.

1. In Alanya...on 3 different occasions while waiting for change at different shops the owners engaged me in conversation. Half way out the door I realized I did not have my change and went back. On all occasions the owners acted as if they had simply forgot. THe first time yes/maybe...but the second two times...

2. Taxis never have proper change and feel comfortable telling you to forget about your 12-15 liras in change. I also discovered that they suddenly had poor math skills when counting out the change due back!

3. And my favorite one...the credit card machine didn't work the first time because it did not print a receipt. So let me run your card again! Where after leaving you discover that you received a double charge.

All of these incidences occured in Turkeky. Let me know what you discovered.

I don't think this is limited to Turkey!!

I usually find learning a little of the language and using it avoids people scamming you. In fact, I usually find the opposite - if I say as much as I can in Turkish, I'll usually get some kind of discount for making the effort!

Ironically, I was in Gothenburg, Sweden, last month and took a taxi. The driver was Turkish so I started talking to him. He suddenly switched off the meter and charged the minimum fare which was at least a quarter of what it should have been!

I don't think there are typical tourist traps in Turkey (though.... men? ) but if you want to know just about tourist traps IN Turkey, see this page: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Middle_East/Turkey/TravelGuide-Turkey.html almost every city has something they warn about.

all shops in bodrum will charge you as much as they think they can get away with but thats just tourism, certainly though a little of the language goes a long way(in saving your pennies).

Hi everyone, I´d just like to add these 2 things to be careful of when you´re in Turkey- they´re not outright scams, more misleading info. Both very common.

1) ´´Lunch included.´´- When you book a day trip and you´re told your lunch is included, you assume you couldn´t possibly have been misled? Right? It´s written clearly that your lunch is included. No, it isn´t. Your food will be, but they´ll charge you excessive amounts for drinks, and the waiters will hang around a half metre away from you, breathing down your neck and instructing you to order said overpriced drinks for the duration of your meal. When you have kids, this can become very expensive, as they charge 2 pounds plus for a can of coke. At the very least, they should have free water from the cooler (which costs them a few lira for a huge bottle). Lunch is not just food- it´s food and drinks. Should be made clear that lunch included just means the food.

Also, these places are all self- service, then they have the cheek to shake the tip box at you as you leave!

2) "Free" sunbeds- In Bodrum, and possibly other resorts, one of the major selling points of the beach is that there are ´free´ sunbeds. There are not. The only reason the sunbeds are ´free´ is because the greedy waiters and restaurant owners near the beach have realised that, if they charge for sunbeds, they get a flat fee, per day. However, if the sunbed is free, they then pressure (sometimes downright force) you to buy their very overpriced drinks and food. If you do not have a drink in your hand at every second, they´ll pressure you to buy one- waking you up when you´re sleeping, handing you the menu every five minutes, whatever it takes to either get you spending minimum 10 TL per hour, or get you out. They sneer at you if you order soft drinks, mocking you for not having beer or soemthing stronger! (Don´t they realise that drinking beer under the sun is a very bad idea, not to mention the fact that it´s forbidden in their religion for them to advise you to drink alcohol, or even to carry alcohol or work in one of those places, but that´s beside the point.)

Thing is, you can buy drinks at the shops near the beach for a fraction of the price the restaurants charge, so plenty of people bring their own. It´s a tough one, as the sunbeds do belong to the restaurants, but the beach doesn´t. They dont pay rent for the beach. I feel that if the sunbeds are only free if you are spending a lot of money on drinks, this should be made clear. There should also be an area of public beach, with or without sunbeds, for the use of those who would prefer not to part with 4 or 5 pounds for a beer, and over 2 pounds for a lukewarm glass of watered-down pepsi.

DeerH

Dont you know that you are the money source? If you were the waiter there you would do the same. Or maybe you would be forced to do the same. It doesnt matter if you are satisfied or not, you will come to Turkey anyway, dear. 

Btw, a can of coke for £2 isnt so bad. In UK you buy it at pretty the same price if you go to a nice place. I used to pay £1.5 for a glass.

For my part I spent a whole month in Turkey and did not find scams.  Tourist destinations are all the same where ever you go be it Turky, Cuba, France, England etc...

You have tourists spots, you have over inflatted prices but it does help to know the language or have someone local there with you.

I kinda agree with you. Tourist spots are almost the same but they differ from west to east. There are subtle differences that one may notice. Asian scams are quite painful. It becomes a problem when the other part doesnt consider scam as scam.

Once I heard that in Romania if you get robbed it is totally your own fault since you are stupid enough not to look after your stuff and money.

Also, if you get raped, it is totally your own fault (mainly in muslim countries, or eastern-asian) because you behaved inappropriate (you probably smiled), you wore something mini or you travelled alone even in day time, etc etc.

Arrogance that I am scared the most. People arrogantly get their way. They arrogantly cheat you, treat you as if you were an idiot, an easy source of benefit, etc.

Oh, btw, tunci liked your post where you kinda defend Turkey. Well done.