SCAMS to avoid when visiting London (even for seasoned travellers)
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2023
- Visiting London? It's a safe city, but it IS a major one so there are some people out there trying to scam innocent tourists out of their money and valuables. So in this video we tell you about some common tourist scams to avoid when visiting London, even if you are a seasoned traveller this is an important one to watch.
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I'm Jess, I've lived in London for many years, and this channel is a London travel guide for anyone visiting the city that wants to experience it like you live here. Beyond talking about the usual London attractions, myself and my team show you some of the cooler things to do in London, that most travel guides don't mention. Watch our videos and you'll feel like you've got a Londoner friend telling you the best kept secrets in the city.
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I’m a Londoner living in central London I would not trust anyone selling anything on the streets 😊
The final scam (covering and then taking your phone) happened to me in a Starbuck cafe, where a smartly dressed man thrust an upside down map in front of me and asked if I could help him locate a certain shop he couldn't find. I actually had my hand on my phone already and can only assume that he thought I would let go of it in order to turn the map the right way up. I didn't let go of my phone though and our hands met under the map haha! He left very quickly after that!
Scams that preyed on people's kindness are the most atrocious ones
I leave my phone indoors, freedom MATTERS
Happened to me at KFC. Tottenham Court Road to be exact. I Slammed my hand on my phone while he tried covering the phone with a newspaper and called him out. He didn't succed
WTF!!!!!!Thanks!!
These scams are in all major tourist cities, I've seen all these in Paris!
The general rule of thumb is that if anyone approaches you, move on.
Only place I’ve ever been robbed, and that was back in the 80s.
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I did this in Rome. I shook my head, said no grazie and kept walking!😊
Great advice. My phone was stolen on a recent London trip right out of my hand in broad daylight by a woman “asking for money.” And I’ve been to London twice before. Treat your phone like cash and take it out only when you are sure it’s safe.
You should always where your shoulder bag with the strap across your chest. Having just on the shoulder, like you did, is much easier to snatch...
Jess has worn it like that for ten years with no problems. Just hang tight of it as you would anything else ❤️
"I've done it like this for X years" says nothing. OP's advice is sound.
7:04 That unlocked a memory! That literally happened to my Mum, except the scammers were talking so quickly that we didn't know what they were talking about.
A huge shout-out to the American students who quickly told us what had happened, or we'd have never gotten Mum's phone back. Those girls were like superheros. Swooped right in to help us out.
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Such sensible tips. On a recent London trip in the summer (just a few miles away for me), I was shocked to see that people still get taken in by street game scams. They still seem to pull a big crowd and I'd have thought people would have got wise about all of those years ago. I guess lots of people turn off their 'common sense button' when on holiday. An additional tip, which is less scam and more theft prevention... watch your luggage if you are moving it by train. Luggage is left at one end of the carriage and anyone can (and does) walk off with it when leaving the train. Use a strap with an easy release lock to lock it all together, then it can't be lifted easily. You can release the lock easily and separate it up, before getting off.
The 3 card monte on Westminster bridge is absurd. 100m away from one of the most secure buildings in the country and you have scammers pulling the oldest and dumbest trick in the book
I think its also important to be aware of begging scams, such as free things which are not actually free! There is common one on Oxford street when your given a flower (tends to be roses)don't take them you will be asked to pay.
Yes! Don't take anything "free"
Great advice! Not sure how often this happens often in London, but I get a lot of people trying to "upgrade" my already purchased tickets, claiming I'm missing some option. They're nice enough to trade your real ticket with a fake one. They can get pretty relentless.
Hm, we've never seen that but definitely could be one!
My thoughts when visiting anywhere, if somebody approaches you it’s because you have something and they want it.
The pineapple one is new to me, and probably the scariest on the list. Might be worth the fiver to get a SIM for the day.
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The scariest one, and also 98% NOT TRUE. They can’t get your contacts, bank info, whatever.
@@barend415 it's not true the way she said it, i.e. they can't get into your phone. But they can definitely get your info if you aren't careful.
As it was, the SIM card didn't end up arriving before my trip, and I barely sat down long enough to need wifi anywhere so it wasn't a big deal.
@@bryan__m Nowadays 99% of all internet traffic is encrypted. Even with a pineapple you only can see WHAT sites you visit, but not which pages or any other info. Trust me, as a security expert I own several pineapples for testing purposes. If you want to be 100% safe then never use any untrusted internet connection, also not encrypted wifi at Starbucks, also not the wired connection in your hotel. And are you sure you can trust that provider that offers a SIM for a fiver?
I can’t believe there are still scammers making a living doing three card monte in London. I lived there 10 years and never saw it.
Wow. Thanks so much for this, pretty lady!
A friend of mine was caught out. Walking along a street an elderly woman in front of him tripped and fell. He and a few other people nearby rushed to help her up, she thanked him profusely and walked off. A few minutes later he noticed his watch, his wallet and, believe it or not, his wedding ring were all missing and no sign of the person who had tripped or the others who helped.
*it was a group of people unfortunately* 😠
Some good advice there. Yes never leave you phone on a table especially outside, so many girls do it. Also girls (especially), do not put your phone in your back pocket! Perfect place for thieves to take it plus you risk cracking the screen when you sit down. Thank you for sharing these tips.
Thankfully no incidents in the two times I’ve been to London. Living in New York City, I’ve witnessed or been aware of a majority of these scams, so you can bet I was on high alert roaming around London.
You're amazing and a gatway to authentic touristic info on London!
We're glad you're enjoying our videos ❤️
Thanks for looking out for us Jess!
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Great tips, thanks!
Oh yes, British people even get scammed by some of these sometimes. If it’s a street person harassing you, start walking towards a Bobbie, they’ll stop.
A bobbie?
@@NnoitraluverIt’s the informal name for UK police officers
@@DoriZuza The name is derived from the name of Robert Peel who created the Metropolitan Police. Bobby is a more informal version for Robert.
Thank you for the tips!!!!!😊
Thanks for watching!
Thank you Jess! I will be in London next week, your video is very useful for me.
Glad to hear it !
Thank you very much for the information!
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Thanks for posting this useful video.
We're glad you found it helpful ❤️
Thank you so much for the tips!!
You are so welcome!
I'm visiting now and your videos have me well-prepared!
Wonderful!
Good advice , Just remember if it's to good to be true it most probably is . Phone theft is common if your not using your phone put it out sight
Thank you for the tips Jess - you can never be too careful
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Well done Jess, totally agreed with you for all the info provided!!
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Another great video !
Glad you enjoyed it!
Another great video! 👍
We're glad you enjoyed it!
Great tips Jess ! Will be going back to London in May 2024, 9th time in 10 years !! I am always careful with my stuff but that phone scam is something I will bare in mind -never heard of that one. Jess you are one of my favorite people on UA-cam -Lovely and a vegetarian like me !!!! Thanks for those insightful tips !!
So glad to hear it! ❤️ don't forget we have our top veggie-friendly reccs in our guides. Shop.loveandlondon.com
@@loveandlondon Yes, I have a few places I am going to try thanks to you ! Can't wait to come back to London and try those veggie items !!
I plan to be in London in June 2024. My first time.
I've seen 3-card monte games all over Europe and in the States. Every single time, the guy will pick the right card and someone in the crowd distracts him and the dealer moves the cards. the dealers never work alone.
I’ve been to London a number of times and always felt safe. Unfortunately, a friend’s phone got stolen this summer exactly as described in the video :(
It happens !
Truly, thank you Jess! Your vids are always detailed and rgiht to the point. Thinking of visiting London (and some other areas) next May, but already checking almost every video to get a better idea of most vital tips. Really happy you're still over there!
P.S.: Maybe I'll message you once trip is closer. Best of lucks!🎉
We're glad you're enjoying our videos ❤️ be sure to grab one of our guides too! Shop.loveandlondon.com
Jess
Just like NYC even though I live in Brooklyn. Rickshaws I see while leaving Madison Square Garden. They will charge an arm and a leg
Tickets to any where I use ticket master.
Cool video I think your London videos are great 👍🏻
Good advice 👍
Thank you for sharing
Thanks for watching!
omg somewhat tried to steal my phone by showing me a newspaper while sitting on table. Thank god i had a local with me and she knew exactly
Thanks for sharing God bless
Watch your sun glasses too! There was a pair on the table at the end of the video.
I don't travel with my electronics overseas and even very rarely in the States. The stuff is easily stealable and hackable. I'm just not dealing with it.
I remember the time my father and a colleague were on business in the US and got their laptops stolen from the boot of their hire car.
The WiFi one isn't one I've heard of before. That's annoyingly smart of the scammers. Ugh!
We were just in London and happy to say everything went wonderfully....Fantastic city with some great people. Just before London we were in Paris and saw the ball & cup scam.
As we passed I told the people playing it to just give the guy €20 and walk away and you'll be better off.😂
😂😂
@loveandlondon One other thing...Not sure if you have covered this in your videos. While in London on 2 separate occasions we witnessed women walk into the bike lane and get absolutely smashed by bikes. Maybe a video on this would help some people??
I like this vid. Good tips.
Thanks for watching !
Jess, love the blue trousers, looking amazing. I'd include the typical scam of selling dodgy stolen fake merchandise. See Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells Film - opening scene. London is great city! P.S love the green and blue nails :). Great Content!
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Love the you are so expressive with your hands
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Be careful when withdrawing money from an ATM. Turned around from the machine with money in my hand and someone ran past and whipped it straight out my fingers and was off. Gave chase but lost them in the crowds. Luckily, was only £10. Not just London, could happen anywhere.
Ha - didn't expect to see Steven Bridges!
Those rickshaws are the worst. Not only potential scamming but will literally drive directly toward you while taking photos forcing you to jump out of the way or be hit, just to "offer" you a ride. I was nearly hit at Parliament trying to record a video of Big Ben ringing.
Eek!
Yeah, someone in my group got her phone nicked by someone selling 'birthday/christmas' cards in the pub. I thought it was strange at the time, that they only showed them to our table. A few mins later, we realised the dog an bone was gone....
Deffo keep phones/wallets in pockets, bags or out of view!
I have used the Cheap Ticket sales office the actual one shown in the vlog with no problems at and have been able to see the top shows that i would not have been able to afford normally.
Pretty good advise, being a big City you're always going to get scammers.
Thank you
Excellent vid! I reently found your channel and VERY impressed! A VPN question for you. We use a VPN (duh!) but you can;t connect to the VPN until you have internet. So, do you know if there is much risk before the VPN is active?
Hm not sure that's true?
I have been recently at London (Thank you kindly Miss Tiffany Foerbes for your helpful suggestions) my tip is as it follows: don, t dress as a tourist!
A jacket with a pocket handkerchief, suit pants (not jeans or shorts) an well ironed shirt , polished shoes and a cravatte will do the trick!
Glad to hear our Tiffany helped you! But just to add that more relaxed outfits (like jeans and shorts in the summer) are also okay, there are only certain places that are more high-end where you'll be required suit-pants etc :)
Delightful young lady and great video.
Glad you enjoyed it
About the fake wifi, this is actually the reason why i don’t usually connect to public wifi. I always have my pocket wifi device handy and full of data. Better spend for my own data than have hackers access my information through these fake wifis. Just the thought of it is already scary. Yikes 😢
Thanks for the very informative video Jess😘 till my next London trip (yes, i would definitely go back there sometime 😊)
We're glad you found the video helpful ❤️❤️
You absolutely can connect to public WiFi. It is safe to do if your careful because scammers can’t see your personal data just from some WiFi network, but still be smart and watch for fake websites
In the Jacobean play The Alchemist by Ben Jonson, two conmen, Face and Subtle, trick all sorts of people and get away with it. So this has been the case in London for at least four hundred years. All that’s changed is the tech.
The side dishes at an Angus Steak House.
£4 for Coleslaw!!!!
Never step foot in there !
I had a great time while I'm in London for 3 weeks definitely worth it all of your tips just had a bit struggle in metro and underground got confused for a while 😁
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Good stuff. I have a good phone plan with T-Mobile that always just works overseas and gives me data and texting under my existing plan in the U.S., no extra charge. I only pay extra for voice calls, like 20 cents/minute but I rarely make those. I usually text to communicate and the data is good for maps and such. I also bought a tether for my phone which hopefully discourages theft. I've heard of people driving by on scooters and snatching your phone from your hand! I guess if they yanked hard enough they could break the tether but I like to think it makes it less worth their while, they'd look for easier marks. I'll be in London August of next year!
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THANK YOU JESS, WILL VISIT LONDON VERY SOON~
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These scams are not specific to London. Scammers are present in most major tourist spots with similar scams.
yup!
Good info. But are you conducting an orchestra?
Yes
TodayTix is brilliant!
don't buy anything sold on Westminster bridge, I bought peanuts, super expensive!!!!
Your videos are very good; thank you. Question; how about money, can we use euros in UK?
Nope and if anyone will allow you to, you better run because you're getting ripped off!
I never connect to “free” WiFi. Nowadays data packages are very affordable.
I’ve seen some ladies in south bank giving away roses and asking for “donations”. I always say I don’t carry cash and they loose interest immediately.
@loveandlondon I saw you filming yesterday at Bankside. Didn’t want to interrupt the recording . 😂
Def say hello to Jess next time!! ❤️
Thanks Jess I always keep my phone in my pocket everywhere I go and always keep my surroundings
Good ! ❤️❤️
Those card games and tricks were around 50 years ago😢
You didn't menation the scam that is the Heathrow Express train - insanely expensive - use the Elizabeth line instead
😂😂 nah it depends !
Looking for the recommended bike tour mentioned? I checked your link for London tours - am I missing it?
Head to this section of our site! loveandlondon.com/category/london-tours-experiences/
The WiFi pineapple is a real thing people; it's an actual brand name. Solid data plan and a reputable VPN is the way to go when traveling. Even "secure" public wifi is typically not as secure as you might think, lots of known problems with it.
I think it doesn't matter which country or city you are in! You have to be careful of people in general!😂But great tips,thank you😊


Never deal with anyone on the street who wants cash.
The most beautiful city in Europe for me Dear Jess.🥰😍🤗
nah
I was just there for a day and enjoyed it. Thank you for all of your awesome videos. Could you please do a video explaining one of the biggest rip offs for American tourists? That is when you purchase anything ( not just limited to the Uk , but all over Europe ) they ask you to choose GBP or American $. As naive as I was on my first trip to the UK years ago, I was staying in a nice hotel. They pulled this number on me . I thought how accommodating and nice it was that they put the amount in my currency . Little did I know, they were scamming me because I was paying more than if I had chosen GBP. I was just there last week and had lunch at Farmer J’s. They gave me that option again and at Harrods . It infuriates me that they do that to us. Why isn’t this common knowledge? It’s robbery . We as tourists are already pumping money into the local economy and they want to take more. It’s evil.
This is true no matter where you travel, when given the choice always choose to pay in the local currency, or you get stung on the exchange rates. Martin Lewis does great money saving programmes here in the UK and this topic comes up a lot. Hope you enjoyed your holiday here, despite this issue :)
@@MsGrockle Thank you! It was a wonderful visit. I’d just like more people to have this knowledge about choosing the currency of the country you’re in. London is always a good idea! ❤️🇬🇧
We have mentioned this in a few videos, and it happens to many nationalities not just American :)
@@loveandlondon That’s refreshing to know because I know how much we’re hated especially MAGA ones. Those are the ones who need to stay home . 🤮🤣I’m the opposite of the “ugly American” stereotype .
@@loveandlondon I had that in Ireland. They charged me in pounds instead of Euros, and what made it even worse was that I was paying on a Euro bank account, so I got their rip-off conversion charge from Euros to Pounds, and my bank's conversion charge from Pounds back to Euros. Fortunately I was able to get my bank to do a charge-back.
I am fresh victim of phone theft in London. And it wasn't even left on a table, it was snatched out of my hands a week ago by a biker on an oxford street bus stop while i was checking for bus timings on Google maps. The crazy part? It happened twice in two weeks during my stay in London, once in Camden, obviously an unsuccessful attempt, and then alas in Oxford street where i bid adieu to my phone, leaving me phoneless in a foreign country.
I've heard they sell the phone for parts so i guess its Rest In Pieces for my S22 Ultra. :(
@Jess - Please please tell your audience to not walk around in central london with phone in hands, or at least not walk alone because these scumbags usually target solo pedestrians.
Wondering was you standing next to me? I witnessed one , when I was in London ( 2 weeks ago?)standing to cross the road. It happened so fast, the person couldn’t do anything except to just look after the thief. ( I felt soo bad for him, then I thought to myself that could have been me).
@@juditmihalovits4641 Probably not me because I ran after the thief screaming 'stop that guy'.
But yeah goes to show how often these things happen. Every 10 mins apparently.
@@Jeevesie1988 and the cops have nothing to do to discourage such activities except 'advise' the public to not walk with their phones out in public. So much for being the one of the biggest cities in the world.
I think you won the phone snatch lottery. I've been here on vacation for two weeks and everybody has their phone in their hands, carelessly walking down the streets and in the tube, texting and oblivious to what's happening. Sorry to hear that; I'll be more cautious.
@@ronm9428 LOL @ phone snatch lottery 😂😭
Very similar to the scams in nyc
All the same scams, just variations and different destinations!
As you were demonstrating the phone trick, your sunnies looked a bit lonely...
Me: Hey Jess, do I need to buy tickets for changing of the guards?
Jess: You do nyot!
Love seeing outtakes, haha!
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"Hey, nice shoes! Where are you from?"
Yeah sure, my last year's worn out Costco sneakers are the talk of every town I visit.
Ugh the rickshaws. First time I went on it it was actually funny and fine price. Then I went on it again and they charged me £40 while saying it would’ve been £20 I think. Disgusting.
There’s also a scam of a woman who tries to forcefully give people a rose and then when they take it demand money. If you put the rose down she gets aggressive and violent. Had it happen to me
Maybe don’t connect to random WiFi
What does the packet of tissues left on a empty tube seat mean please? Someone leaves them, then comes back to collect at the next station?
No , just left by accident
It’s a form of begging , you are supposed to buy them at high cost.
They're just trying to sell them you can just ignore ❤️
Other than possibly the rickshaw, these are scams in just about any major tourist city. Don't think they only occur in London.
Sure! Our channel is about London only :) hence the name !
I learned the three cup trick from a magic set when I was 9. How on earth do people STILL fall for that?
hard time finding a hotel with 2 Queen or 2 Full size beds anything central- visiting from US
I turn off my wifi in London anyway and use data, it seems to take forever to get even a genuine connection.
Not London, but Paris. Saw the cups and ball game at the Eifell Tower. I had seen it the day before at Sacre Coeur. It was obvious that a couple were the guy’s shills.
Always think to yourself, that no one does you a favour without them coming out on top.
Refuse everything. Don't even give to charities.
Jess is a traveler to England's best friend 🇬🇧 😊❤
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Very nice city
there are at least 10 /15 people involved and gathered around the fool with the cups, they are all involved and will run away like little scared dirty rats if you call them out........don't forget if they are involved they will be dressed terribly in cheap knock off sportswear, the shinier the better for them. Bad taste clothing is a must and an easy giveaway for a Romanian scammer.
When I was in London in 1975 as a young and innocent Aussie I was taken by the three card Monto scam In Oxford St for 70 pounds. First and last time!
yikes!!!!
damn, I was unfortunately victim of the fake donation scams 😕
Hi, I cant help but notice you are American or Canadian with your accent. What brings you to London. I am living here 9 years and I dont enjoy it that much anymore. I am from Ireland originally myself. I would love a change like moving to New York but its not as easy for us to get a green card to be able to move and work there.
Jess moved here ten years ago! ❤️❤️