Scammed On Vacation? Don’t Leave Without Doing These 5 Crucial Things

There is nothing worse than being on your dream vacation and realizing that you’ve just been scammed on vacation.

Vacation scams go up with travel demand, and travel is definitely seeing a surge in the past few years. Whether you find yourself without a place to stay due to fake accommodations, or simply find out you overpaid for a tour or event, getting scammed is a multi million dollar industry that nobody wants to fall victim to.

Thankfully, there are measure you can take once you realize you’ve been scammed. While anyone can get scammed, it’s what you do the moment you realize it that can make all the difference. Here are five crucial actions to take the moment you discover you’ve been scammed.

Scammed On Vacation? Here’s What To Do

1. Stay Calm And Assess The Situation

Panic is a great way to make rushed decisions that can hurt you more than help you. Instead, take a moment to breathe. Gather your thoughts, and evaluate the situation. Panic will not help you now.

Do This Immediately:

1. Evaluate: What was the scam? Was it a financial loss? Was it a safety risk?
2. Document everything: Names, dates, evidence, recipts, anything tangible you can remember, write down, or show proof of. If you can take photos, all the better. Do all of this assessment immediately.

2. Contact The Local Authorities

While authorities can’t always get you your money back or fix what went wrong, it’s important to inform them of what happened. With enough information, (sometimes from multiple people), they can track down scammers and/or help you find resources that will help your specific situation.

What To Do:

1. Report the scam to local police or your nearest embassy or consulate.
2. Depending on the severity, report the scam to local tourist authorities.
3. If it’s a financial scam, contact your bank immediately. Cancel all cards that were used so the scammer cannot continue to make charges on your account.

3. Alert Your Bank Or Credit Card Company

As mentioned, this is a critical step to ensure you do not continue to get scammed. Is it inconvenient? Absolutely. Is it critical, also absolutely. If a scammer got your financial information, it’s critical to stop them in their tracks before they take even more from you.

What To Do:

1. Call your bank or credit card company to report the fraud.
2. Ask them to freeze your account or issue a charge-back for disputed charges.
3. If you haven’t already done so, make sure you have extra security measures set up with your back such as authentication.

4. Use Social Media And Travel Forums To Warn Others

Help others avoid the same scams by notifying others. If you are in Facebook groups or on travel forums, make sure to share the scam, how it was executed, where, when, and what you did afterward to help the situation. Making other’s aware makes things like phishing scams much less effective.

What To Do:

1. Share your experience on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
2. Post in relevant travel forums or local groups (e.g., TripAdvisor, Facebook groups).
3. Be sure to include details, such as the name of the business, location, and the scam details.

5. Take Steps To Recover What You Can

Any steps you take to reduce the impact of your financial loss will go a long way to making sure things don’t go from bad to worse. In some cases, you’ll even recover the money you’ve lost, though that obviously doesn’t happen often. But you don’t know unless you try.

What To Do:

1. Contact the business directly that scammed you if you can and explain the situation and request a refund. Legit businesses that don’t realize what’s happening on their platform will often reimburse you if you can prove what happened.
2. If you were scammed by a tour operator, see if your travel insurance covers fraud or scams.
3. Look into travel insurance claims for reimbursement.

Bonus Tip

While it can be tempting to keep access to your bank accounts through your phone while you travel, it’s best to delete your banking apps and any wallet information. It’s tempting to pay with your phone on vacation, but it’s safer not to. Take a little in cash for local expenses, and use your card for the rest.

Phone theft is no joke when traveling abroad. If you are using your phone out on a busy street, it’s possible for somebody on a bike to ride by and grab your phone right out of your hands, or to have a pickpocket steal it.

Think about what you would want them to find there if they had full access to your phone. Deleting things like banking apps will make it much harder for thieves to access your accounts if your phone is stolen.

If you need to access your accounts, wait until you are safely back at your hotel to install the app, take care of your banking needs, and then delete the app again until you return home.

Safe Travels

While getting scammed is never fun, it can become a much less stressful situation if you handle it properly. With a little forethought and proper reporting, you may even get your money back.