Prague is a beautiful and amazing city situated in the country of the Czech Republic. But sadly, the capital is inevitably filled with scammers who try to scam money from tourists.
Here are some scams that you need to watch out if you are planning to travel to the Czech Republic.
Taxi Scam
This seems to be the most common scam no matter which country you are travel to. While you are in tourist spots in Czech, there will be a lot of taxi parking around waiting for tourists. They will not be ashamed to overcharge you more than 10 times compared to the normal rate that they charged for.
This can be the most expensive taxi ride in your life if you didn’t aware of and simply get a taxi to take you off. so, it is best for you to avoid taking any taxi when you are in tourist spots. If you need transportation service, you can call UBER. Prague did have the UBER service and you can know the exact amount you need to pay when you take a UBER.
Prague – The Exchange Rate Scam
A few months ago, I was there on a nice sunny day to do my favorite activity, shopping. As I only had euros, I had to exchange them so I went to the nearest exchange office, right opposite the New Yorker in the city center. Handed 80 euros to the girl behind the counter. She smiled politely and gave back the crowns.
Previously I had seen outside the exchange office a big board stating that 1 euro was 24 Check crowns (this was a usual rate since I’d already exchanged money somewhere else).
Anyhow, I took the Check crowns and started counting. I had given 80 euros but I received only 1280 crowns. My maths skills have never been my strongest side, but 80 times 24 is 1920.
In amazement, I asked the woman why there were only 1280 and with a smile, she said that even though the rate is 24 crowns for 1 euro after the transaction fees were taken it was actually 16 crowns for a euro. I pointed to the board outside, as it stated, in big numbers, 24 crowns for 1 euro.
She pointed at the end of the board, where a 30% commission fee was written with such small numbers, that I barely recognized what it said. I asked her to cancel the transaction and get my money back, but she refused, stating that their policy wouldn’t allow that.
I lost my money, 24 euros. Let this be a cautionary tale to always read the small print!
Ticket Machine Scam
At the ticket machine in Prague train station my wife and I were slowly working out how to buy a ticket for our destination. A rather disheveled man offered to help us and took our coins and placed them in the machine.
He then said the machine jammed and asked for another round of coins. We know most of the scams but this one took us for about ten dollars, it was so innocent and so slick.
Refusing any help would be the only way to avoid being ripped off, but then we would never have enjoyed the help a woman gave us in Kyoto, Japan when she even put us on the correct train and traveled a few stations just to make sure we were OK. She asked for nothing,-just wanted to help!
Food Stand Scam
There are many food stands that sell food at tourist spots. Their prices may seem reasonable when you first look into it. But this is not the case until you realize that they are for weight per 100 grams. Let say you are getting the ham for 100 crowns, what they will do is they will chop you half a kilogram.
And if you get the potatoes with bacon and cabbage, they will also load it up and once again they will charge you the prices according to the weight.
FOr two plates of foods with one plate of ham and the other plate of potatoes with bacon & cabbage, you will easily get charge for 1000 crowns (USD $40). This is insanely expensive.
Convenient Store Scam
If you are buying things in a convenience store in Prague, you will need to be aware that the store owner will try to charge you for different prices depending on the conversation you are having with him.
If you speak the local Czech language, then you will charge with normal price. If you speak a foreign language like English, then you will be charged at a higher price.
I have come across this for few times as I went out with a Czech friend on a few occasions. I was wondered why the things that he bought tend to be cheaper than what I bought even we bought the same thing.
I then try to make an experiment where I try to buy a bottle of mineral water, they charged me 80 CZK (about $3). While my Czech friend went in and buy the same bottle of mineral water, they only charged him for 45 CZK (about $1.80). The price difference can be huge which is almost doubled what I’ve paid for.
Even if you buy a pack of cigarettes, the price can be almost doubled if they know you are a tourist. Sometimes even you only get a pack of cigarettes and pay at the cashier, they will give you your cigarettes plus a lighter that you are not asking for. And they will charge you even more for that.
For the cigarettes, it has stamped on the box saying that the price is fixed and nobody can sell them for a higher price. Obviously, all the stores in Prague are breaking the law as there is no enforcement implemented here.
So, when you are in Prague, if you go into a convenience store to buy something, better just paid and remain silent if you can’t speak Czech. Or, you may ask your friend who speaks Czech to help you to buy so that you can avoid getting scammed by the store.
Restaurant Scams
There is a lot of restaurants nearby most of the tourist spots in Prague. If I am you, I will try to avoid having my meal in these restaurants.
Most of these restaurants are having a vague and unfair price. Some of the restaurants may count each dish separately. Even if you only get a small portion for each dish, you will still have to pay for the price of the full plate.
They tend to make the menu look very complicated and hard to understand. But still, you better read the menu and try to understand how they charge. It is better for you to bring local people who can speak the Czech language so that you can pay less for your meal.
In some restaurants, people can be really rude and impatient. They may show you a disgruntled face even you are a customer in their restaurants.
If you are having a meal in these types of restaurants, you may get an unpleasant meal and is way overpriced.
In addition, you will need to pay for the 10% extra service charge and they never give you the printed bill.
Scam Artist On The Street
When you walk on the street in Prague, there may come someone normally is female who pretending to be deaf and mute. She will hold a card with her claimed that she is collecting money to raise for handicapped people. Some may have the leaflet of the World Wide Fund for Nature or UNESCO and they will claim that they are out to collect money that will be donated to these organizations.
They will have a donor sheet where they will hand to you and ask to collect your signature as well as your donation. Of course, all of these are complete lies.
This is really bad for these scam artists to pretend to be disabled or handicapped just try to scam money from tourists.
If you want to know whether they are real or pretending disabled, you can try to walk behind them secretly, and after a while try to scream in their ears out of nowhere. If they get shocked and you can tell they are actually pretending to be deaf.