You're reading: Watch out for these street scams

Ukrainians are welcoming foreign guests to their country for Euro 2012, but some will be preparing a different kind of welcome – a scam to con them out of their money.

The Kyiv Post has prepared a list of the most common tricks for tourists to watch out for:

Wallet drop

If you happen to see a wallet or bundle of cash lying on the street in front of you, don’t pick it up.

Otherwise, someone will come over to you and say it’s theirs – but they’ll accuse you of stealing money from it and threaten to call the police unless you return the “missing” cash.

The scammer may call on a police officer (real or fake) who is in on the trick and will force you to pay up. Ignore the instinct to pick up the dropped wallet – it’ll save you stress and, likely, cash.

Watch sale

A well-dressed man approaches his potential victim and starts asking him for help.

His story might differ slightly, but the main part is that he has lost his money and wants to sell you his watch, ring or other “valuable” in order to get some cash to pay for his ticket home.

Don’t bother helping this guy out – his “expensive” watch will turn out to be worthless.

Photo scam

Don’t be surprised if a stranger in downtown Kyiv suddenly snaps a photo of you and insists that you pay for it – he’ll mail it to you later.

He won’t, so don’t pay for it. Just walk away.

There are some legitimate photographers who make their living by photographing people with strange animals or with monuments. But they will not snap you without your consent.

Chance meeting

A lonely foreigner strikes up a conversation with a girl in a bar.

After a conversation and some drinks, they head out and she lights up a marijuana joint and offers it to him.

The smoke spreads and – no surprise – it attracts a well-placed “police officer,” who accuses the two of doing drugs, which is illegal in Ukraine.

The fake cop might additionally search the girl and find – surprise, surprise – something that he claims to be more serious drugs.

Even though the foreigner claims to have nothing to do with it, the cop threatens detaining the couple for at least a few days before the police sorts everything out.

The girl “succeeds” in persuading the cop to let them both go for a couple of hundred dollars.

But the police officer is either not a cop or has reached an agreement with the girl to split the cash.

ATM scam

Apart from being scammed by a human being, you can also fall victim to an ATM machine fraud that will empty your bank account.

Exercise caution by using ATMs at reputable businesses and inside banks instead of trying to get cash from a random ATM sticking out of a building.

Pickpocketing

It’s not exactly a scam, but pickpocketing is expected to be rife, particularly in big crowds.

Keep your valuables in pockets inside your jacket or in pockets that can be closed with a zipper and try not to carry too much cash with you.

Keep your bag close to you and don’t wave your wallet around, showing how much cash is inside.

Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected]