istanbul scams

Istanbul scams

We've met a lot of Turkish people here and they have been almost

universally friendly, welcoming and genuine. Also, most of them have

wanted to help us to spend our money in their (or their brother's,

uncle's or cousin's) carpet shop (or caf�, or travel agency, or...).

But you soon learn to treat the endless sales approaches as they do:

as pure sport. The tourists float past like fish in a stream, and they

try to catch them. It's a fun game, and as long as both parties treat

it as such, entertaining and often enlightening conversations can take

place.

Unfortunately however, this city has its share of scumbags just like

any other. Yesterday we were trying to get to the Syrian embassy by

taxi before the embassy opened (so that we would have a chance of

getting to the front of the queue for our visa before it closed 90

minutes later). We allowed our attention to wander for a second and we

were robbed as a result. We made several key mistakes: we didn't check

that the driver had zeroed the meter when we started the journey (he

hadn't); we didn't have the right change for the fare (we only had a

50 Lira note, and we knew that the fare was going to be around 10

Lira); we allowed him to drop us off on an adjacent street and confuse

us by reeling off walking directions for the last 100 metres in

Turkish; and--most crucially--we didn't keep our eyes on the 50 Lira

note as we handed it over. Because the meter hadn't been zeroed our 10

Lira journey was actually going to cost 18.80 Lira. A bit pissed off

by this, but relieved that we were at least going to be reasonably on

time at the embassy, we handed him the 50. An instant later he had

palmed it, and it had magically turned into a 5. Instead of getting 31

Lira in change, we were now being asked for an additional 13. In the

confusion he actually convinced us that we hadn't handed over a 50 (it

is only painfully obvious after the event) and so we complied (paying

the balance in Euros because we had only had the 50 Lira note to start

with), even apologising to him. At the end of the exchange, and

allowing for the correct fare, we had been robbed of about 25 quid

(USD 49). Not the end of the world but deeply annoying that we had

been so stupid. We just hope the b@stard enjoys his ill-gotten gains

and that Allah forgives him.

Another widespread scam in Istanbul is much less harmful and almost

good fun. The city is full of shoe-shine guys who carry a box

containing their brushes, polishes and a little step. They wander

around all day looking for shoes to shine. The going rate is around 1

to 2 Lira and the good guys are always busy. They do an excellent job,

too. Unfortunately, as with the taxi drivers, there is also the less

honest variety. They find it a bit too much of an effort to charge a

fair price and do a decent job, so instead they prey on good-natured

tourists and overcharge by a factor of ten times. The scam goes like

this: a shoe-shine man is walking through the city, without a care in

the world, his box hanging from his shoulder. Suddenly, his brush (his

livelihood!) falls from the box but he doesn't notice, and walks on.

Coincidentally, the brush has fallen right beside some tourists and

they see it. They call the poor man back and hand him his brush. He is

quite literally overcome with gratitude and he shakes them warmly by

the hand. He then insists on giving them a free shoe-shine as thanks

for their kindness. The shoe-shine takes quite a long time, during

which he strikes up a conversation with them. It emerges that the poor

man has had a run of bad luck, and (to cut a long story short) he has

a sick child in hospital in Ankara and he can't afford to visit the

child or pay the medical bills. The only thing he knows is shining

shoes, and so even though this was promised as a free shoe-shine,

would the customer mind please coughing up 10 Lira so that he can look

after his family? (Remember a shoe-shine costs 1 to 2 Lira). The

tourist is embarrassed, confused and in 25% of cases, hands over the

money.

After a week in the city we had seen this identical scam done so many

times in front of so many tourists, that we decided to do us some

scumbag hunting! We had discovered by chance that the nearest

supermarket to our hostel is a prime spot for this scam. It is on a

reasonably quiet, small square into which several streets merge. Lots

of tourists end up here and get a bit disorientated when they arrive

at the square, so they stop to work out where they are. The perfect

place for a bit of brush dropping. We decided to hang around here and

see if we could get scammed. Amazingly within 30 seconds a brush

dropped at our feet, as if to order. This was too easy! Instead of

picking it up we followed our target to see what he would do when not

called back. He sort of slowed down and started to take great interest

in a nearby shop window. We slowed down too, refusing to pass him.

Eventually, with an Oscar-worthy bit of acting he pretended to

remember something that he had forgotten and turned round. He made the

mistake of making eye contact with us and saw that Glenn was looking

straight at him. Glenn smiled and asked him how many people were

fooled by his little act. He beamed back and said in very good English

"20 to 25 percent!" He was proud and not a bit remorseful. Glenn

thanked him for the information and we went our separate ways.

It had been so easy, so we decided we had to get this on film. The

next evening we came back to the same spot, with the camera set on

Movie mode, held at waist level. Literally the instant we arrived on

the street we were again picked up by a scammer. The video below shows

how he moves into position right in front of us, checks over his

shoulder three times, and deftly knocks the brush off its hook by

tapping it against his leg. When it falls Glenn focuses the camera on

the brush, daring him to come back and pick it up. In the top-right of

the frame you can see that he stops quite quickly, hesitates as he

realises he is rumbled, then decides to come back for it anyway. Right

after the end of the video he did a big grin for the camera and walked