Scams To Watch Out For In Barcelona and Advice To Avoid It Happening To You! Part 2
Posted: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
by David Brydon
BCN Rentals
Part 2 of my scams to watch out for in Barcelona , and how to avoid becoming the victim of one of them!
Gypsy flower sellers. OK, I have no first hand experience with this one, but I've been told about it a few times and have read elsewhere. This is basically usually older women who want to sell you a rose or whatever. They are very annoying and insist and insist that sometimes you think it's just easier to buy the damn rose to get rid of them. When you get out the wallet to pay, they "help" you look for the right coins, and usually take a few more, or sometimes even notes. Now everyone thinks they'd be too smart to let this happen to them, but if you've ever seen a card trick and been wowed, then this is just as easy.
Flat tyre. OK, so this one is only if you have a car. Usually foreign plates or a hire can be spotted a mile off, so again it's easy pickings for these thieves. Most cars nowadays have central locking as well, which doesn't help. This scam usually happens just as you're entering Barcelona , but I've seen it happen right in the centre of the city too. You stop at a traffic light or zebra crossing and the person who crosses in front of you starts to gesticulate and talk rubbish pointing at the car. Ah, ok you get it, it's a flat tyre. No way! Open the door to crank your neck and they whip out the bag you left on the back seat. Or the phone you left on the dashboard. This often happens simply because people drive around with the doors open anyway most new cars centrally lock the doors as soon as you drive away.
Advice?! Always drive with the doors locked from the inside. If there are only 1 or 2 of you in the car (in the front) don't leave anything on the back seat that might look valuable, if you have space in the trunk/boot. I know this is not always possible so the last piece of advice is don't open the door when someone suggests you have a flat. Just smile and say thanks, and drive away. If you really feel the need, stop at the nest safest point (if possible where there are other people, like a garage, or a bus stop) and then get out and check. Even if it is a real flat, what's the worse that can happen (remember you'd have stopped the car, so won't be going at any speed to do damage or skid off the road? You'd probably notice anyway.
There is a nastier version of this scam, but I haven't heard of this for a long time, so I think it's maybe not occurring anymore. This does involve a real flat a stabbed tyre with a knife in a moment that you stop. Then later a motorbike pulls along side you, and points, etc. usually accompanied by another motorbike on the other side of the car, who is the grab man. I think cameras installed to aid traffic flow into the city helped eradicate this problem, but it may still be around in other cities. Same advice as above applies wait for a safe place to stop and stop.
Barcelona dance. This usually always happens to men, and almost always when they've had a few beers easy pickings for the pickpockets. This has changed a few times since I've been living in Barcelona depending on who the star player was at the time (it was the Rivaldo dance when I first got here). This involves a man or men approaching you and asking if you like football. General answer is yes. Do you want to do the Barcelona/Ronaldinho dance? Before you have the chance to reply, they say, look, you put your leg here, and I put mine like this and blah blah. This is the scam, the sometimes just blatantly try and trip you up, some have some kind of rehearsed method of an actual dance, but all boil down to the same thing. The contact means you don't feel them rummaging through your (usually back) pockets.
Advice? NEVER leave your wallet in your back pocket it's the easiest pocket to pick. This goes for all the time! Metro, walking around, supermarket, etc. even your own home town get out of the habit! The best thing to do is just say "No" when they ask if you like football.
David writes about Apartments for rent, Barcelona and Cheap barcelona apartments.
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