Spain is a seductive country that blends of sun, sea, sangria, and street food. The capital of Spain is Barcelona and this Catalonian capital is also home to Gaudi’s architecture Picasso’s art.
The country is straddling across the Mediterranean coast with a temperate and consistent climate. So it is a year-round destination for people around the world to come for work or vacation.
Nonetheless, there are some scams that you need to aware of if you don’t want to have any unpleasant moment happened to you while you are in Spain.
Holiday Club Scam
I was in Spain and a “free holiday scam” was used on me while I was walking along the beach in Barcelona. Suddenly a guy appeared in front of me and handed over a scratch card saying that he is from a “Holiday club”, I could win something by scratching the card. I scratched it and found that I have won a “free holiday trip”.
Before I claim my “prize”, I was told by that guy to either fill out a survey or attend a presentation by the holiday club. He also told me that it is not a timeshare pitch. What more he told was that a “holiday club” is giving me access to a number of discounted holiday trips.
I decided to attend the presentation that was quite dull and boring. I was asked to pay for the membership of that holiday club to redeem my prize, but I refused to pay off a substantial membership fee because if I had actually won something, I should have got it without paying anything.
Later when I followed it up, the company wasn’t there anymore and I was happy to know that I didn’t fall prey for it. This type of scam can be avoided by ignoring any stranger who is offering you a free gift or an expensive holiday trip through a scratch card.
Snatch Theft
Some major cities in Spain like Barcelona, Valencia, and Seville are having a very serious pickpocketing problem. When you are in these cities, most of the local people will greet you to come to their city and the second word most probably come out from their mouth is: “watch your wallet!”
I’ve even seen people have their cellphones snatched from their hands as they were taking a selfie in front of the Cathedral. Therefore, you need to be vigilant, don’t leave your phone or camera lying around.
Pickpocket Scam
We were walking up Las Ramblas in Barcelona. My dad was a few feet behind us on his own. A man ‘dropped’ loads of coins in front of him and naturally enough my dad bent down to help him.
Before we knew it he was surrounded by about five men and one tried to take his wallet out of his pocket. Luckily my dad yelled and they ran away. So you should always wary of dropped coins if you are walking anywhere in Spain.
Besides, there are also many pickpockets in the metro around the city. They are often the last people to board the train in the metro, so they can also be the first to jump out at the next stop!
While you are on the train, you need to take a good eye on your valuables by not steal away by these nasty pickpockets.
Subway or Metro
The pickpockets will stand by the door and when the door is closed they kind of step out. The time when they stand near the doors, they might have their hand in your pocket or their hand on your purse or something like that.
So by the time you realize they’ve got something, they have stepped out, the doors have already closed and they’re gone with your stuff. So make sure if you’re standing near the exit of the door, you need to take special care of your belongings.
Bag Slashing
They might slash your bag and that’s if you have a purse or a backpack. What they do is they will cut the bottom of the bag and take the stuff out of it or cut it from the side, reach their hand and get things inside.
You might not realize it at the time they cut your bag and when you found your bag is being cut, your belongings are already long gone.
To avoid this, you can use a belt bag to put in your valuables like your driver’s license, passport, credit card, and cash.
Bump On The Street
The pickpocket will come along and bump into you. They will immediately say excuse me to you. You may just think that this is not a big deal and you may excuse them with a nice smile. But what happens is that those pickpockets would have been lifted your wallet when they said excuse me.
So every time when someone bumps into you and says excuse me, you better check for your wallet.
There are more scams that you can find in Barcelona.
Marble Swiping Trick
When I was in Barcelona with a friend, we came across a huge circle of people crowded around a street performer-type man. He was swiftly rotating three tiny upside-down boxes on the ground in which he’d hide a marble under.
Random people in the crowd would pay an astonishing amount, usually 10-20 euros, sometimes 40, to guess which box the marble is under.
If they guessed right, they would win double their money. The performer must have given away more than 200 euros in the short 5-10 minutes that we were standing there. Sometimes the man would fumble and let the box lift up slightly so it was obvious to me where the marble is.
However, some speculators would still guess the wrong box and quickly lose their 20 euros. Were they just obliviously stupid? I thought not. Then, I was offered (more like, persistently shoved) 40 euros by the performer to “try” the game “for free”.
I refused under my “too good to be true” principle and quickly caught onto their scam: most, if not all, speculators who have won and lost money were confederates – they worked as a group, luring tourists into thinking that they had sharper eyes and that they can spot which box the marble is under when the performer purposely fumbles the box.
I would imagine that if I accepted their 40 euros, I would win a game or two, get hooked, then never guess another box right until my own wallet is empty. Their little trick must’ve been convincing though because afterward, my friend insisted that I should’ve taken the free money (until I explained the scam to her, that is).
Donation Scam
In Spain, there are gypsies who pose as deaf or mute people and ask you to sign a petition. They are playing a trick with your empathy. You may see they quite pity and there is no big deal for you to sign a petition to create awareness for these people.
However, once you sign the petition, they will want you to make a donation. They won’t talk to you, but they get in your way and look longingly. You can sometimes see groups of them all chatting to each other at the secluded alley when they are having a ‘break’ from work.
Ring Trick
Another scam there is common happened in Spain is the ring trick. A person leaves a ‘gold’ ring on the ground and a tourist finds it usually they will look about to see if anyone has lost it just recently.
The scammer will make eye contact and insist that the tourist keeps it. When this game of politeness finally comes to an end, the scammer will start to demands money from tourists for the ring, and then tries other excuses like need some money for food, metro, and etc.
Read also: Bracelet Scam Targeted on Tourist in Italy