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Travel With Ash is built on the foundation of true customer service! I take every trip personally, making sure every detail is perfectly planned. While I am Houston based, I can book trips to anywhere in the world! I get exclusive discounts on hotels and flights that you can find anywhere else! I can also plan all types of travel from vacations, business, groups, and weddings! Reach out now to start planning. …

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10 common travel scams, and how to protect yourself when traveling

Editor's Note

Travel can be a rewarding and relaxing experience — some of my favorite memories are from trips I've taken with friends or by myself.

However, scam artists are everywhere, and anyone can fall prey to a scheme — especially if you're in an unfamiliar place. Also, some scams specifically target certain groups of people, such as women, older travelers or kids.

The Federal Trade Commission received nearly 54,000 reports of travel scams in 2021, with $95 million in total reported losses for consumers and a median loss of $1,112 per person.

Safety is important when planning travel, so we've compiled a list of common travel scams, how to spot them and ways to protect your wallet and personal information while you're away from home.

This certainly isn't an exhaustive list of all the types of scams you may encounter while traveling, but it will give you an idea of some of the most common travel scams and how to spot them.

Timeshare and vacation club scams

Timeshare scams are easily one of the most lucrative travel scams. The FTC and many state attorney general offices have cracked down hard on this type of fraud, but it can still happen. These scams can be broken down into two main types: timeshare presentation scams and timeshare resale scams.

A timeshare is a real estate property that is sold to multiple buyers with each allotted a certain amount of time at the property each year (usually one week).

Oftentimes, timeshare sellers will host presentations with the promise of a free hotel stay or gift for those who attend. Do your research before you jump on what seems like a too-good-to-be-true deal.

Before attending a timeshare presentation, make sure you research the specific developer selling the timeshares. You can check out the Better Business Bureau website to look up complaints against the developer and get a better picture of other people's experiences.

Related: I suffered through a timeshare sales presentation for a cheap vacation

Timeshare scams can happen on the backend of a deal, too.

Once you purchase a timeshare, it can be very difficult to resell your share. Unfortunately, this is where scammers often lurk. Someone may promise to sell your timeshare quickly and painlessly for an upfront fee. Once that fee is paid, they either disappear or claim that they were unsuccessful.

If you do decide to go with a resale company, make sure to look up relevant laws in the state or country where your timeshare is located (or reach out to a lawyer to help). Also, when you do meet with a company, don't sign anything at the first meeting. Take any documents home and read through the fine print before you make a decision.

Multilevel marketing scams

Multilevel marketing scams, or MLMs, work similarly to pyramid schemes with a direct sales model that encourages existing members to recruit new members, while also paying into the parent company for special access. For travel, you're asked to pay a monthly price for credits you can apply to the cost of the cruise or a vacation. However, after you've paid every month, you still need to add more to cover your "upgraded" cruise fee. But wait, there's a way around this, says the company. Simply sign up some friends and family for the same plan and you'll get more credits. The more people you sign up, the better. And of course, the people you've brought on board with you can sign up more members, too. And yet, the cost of your dream vacation is still just out of reach, so you have to keep signing people up and paying monthly, and so on and so on.

You may have seen this model with vitamins, diet cookies, lawn fertilizer or other pay-to-play MLMs. Before you commit to one of these for cruises or travel, look carefully at what you'll be paying upfront before you bring on any other "investors." In most, if not all cases, you can get the same, if not better, value from booking directly with a cruise line or authorized travel agent.

Internet search scams

In a recent article, Travel Weekly identified "flyer beware" scams where an internet search for an airline customer service phone number results in second-party numbers. These phone numbers seem legitimate. However, instead of connecting you directly with the airline, they instead route you to unofficial call centers that don't reveal their affiliations. Then, they bill you not only for exorbitantly priced tickets but also for high charges -- often in the $500 range -- tacked onto the nonrefundable airline tickets.

To counter this scam, it's important to look closely at the listings when you search for an airline's customer service number online -- the first option that pops up isn't necessarily the official one. Copy and paste the number into the search bar to see its official registration. Also, click through the link to the website it's associated with, and then find the homepage. It should then be clear where you've landed.

Once you arrive at your destination, there is a new bucket of deceits you need to be alert to, including the taxi scam. This common scheme happens when you take a taxi or another car service in an unfamiliar destination where rates are determined by the distance of the drive. Your driver may take a much longer, often circuitous route to get to your destination in order to maximize the cost of your fare.

The age of Google Maps makes it easier to thwart one of these scams, even in an area you're not familiar with. Whenever possible, pull up the route on your smartphone's map app to make sure your driver is actually taking you on the most direct route.

If you suspect you're being led astray, ask for them to take the more direct route, then get a receipt and also take a picture of the registration number or the driver's ID card so you can follow up with local authorities or your credit card company later if need be.

Related: How to avoid getting scammed by your taxi driver

In addition, always take licensed cabs or taxis, or use a reputable ride-hailing app (the latter is a good way to know the price in advance and have proof of your journey request).

'Incorrect change' scams

If you're traveling to a place with an unfamiliar currency, someone may try to take advantage of this by giving you incorrect change or insisting you gave them a different bill than you did. This is especially common in places where cash is used more regularly and different bills look similar.

To protect yourself, research the currency at your destination before you travel so you're familiar with it when you arrive. Also, count your change before walking away to make sure you get the right amount.

Ticket scams

People will often try to sell tickets to attractions, buses, trains and more outside of venues and transportation stations. They'll claim the tickets are discounted or offer them as a way to jump the line. However, these tickets can be fake or expired when you try to actually use them. Also, as technology has improved over the years, so have these fake tickets. They can look almost identical to the real thing.

The best way to avoid this is to always purchase any tickets — whether to a concert, a tourist attraction, a bus, a train or a ferry – from an official ticket booth or the official website. Or, work with your hotel concierge to secure admission to hard-to-access venues.

'Attraction closed' scams

You may come across someone claiming an attraction you want to visit, a show you want to see or even a train or ferry you have tickets for is closed. Then they'll direct you somewhere else where you'll be pressured to pay for tickets or buy something.

No matter what someone outside a venue or transportation station tells you, always get your information from the ticket booth or official website as to whether something is closed.

If you made a reservation or bought tickets for a certain time, it's more than likely open. After all, why would an attraction sell you a ticket for something that's closed or unavailable?

'Free item' scams

We've all heard the phrase "if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is."

When you travel, you may be approached by someone with "free" merchandise. Maybe they offer you free food and drinks, or maybe they try to put a bracelet around your wrist. In major tourism areas, you may be asked if you want your picture taken in front of certain attractions or with dressed-up characters on the street.

Be cautious anytime anyone offers anything that is "free," because you'll often be required to pay for it after the fact. If someone approaches you and tries to put something on your body, refuse firmly and give anything they did put on you back to them immediately.

Credit card-skimming scams

No matter who you are or where you go, there's a chance someone could use a card skimmer to steal your credit card information.

Card skimming comes in many forms. Some scammers use a skimmer attached to an ATM or gas pump. Sometimes restaurant workers may skim your card when you pay the bill. You may even have your card skimmed with a handheld device.

Credit cards have come a long way over the years in terms of payment security, and pretty much every credit card out there will have fraud protection. That doesn't mean credit card fraud isn't still a major concern.

When you're using your card at an ATM or at the pump, pay attention to the card reader. Does it stick out farther than normal? Is the card reader loose?

Some gas stations put a seal over the card reader panel so you know it hasn't been tampered with, so check that as well. If anyone makes an excuse to be close to you (which is already a bit of a red flag because of COVID-19 and social distancing measures), they may be trying to steal your card details with a handheld wireless device.

Credit card skimmers can also use near-field communication and radio-frequency identification devices to steal your credit card information.

While it's not nearly as common as people using skimmers on ATMs or other card readers, it can still happen. Contactless credit cards and EMV chip cards are not immune, either — cards still come with a magnetic stripe that RFID readers can grab information from and NFC devices can read your contactless card.

Of course, chip and contactless cards both have built-in safety nets that make it harder for scammers to actually use your credit card details once they have them. That doesn't make it impossible, though.

The best thing you can do is monitor your accounts for suspicious activity and make sure you keep your wallet in a secure place (your back pocket does not qualify) while you travel. If you want to go all-out against contactless scanners, you can buy an RFID-blocking wallet, but there is debate in the payments security space over whether they are a worthwhile purchase.

When I travel, I make sure to log in to my bank apps (never on public Wi-Fi, though) once per day to make sure no unauthorized charges have popped up. If you do notice suspicious activity on your account, many issuers allow you to request a freeze on your account via the app or online.

Related: How to spot and report credit card fraud

Related: 15 TPG editor-approved passport holders to buy before your next trip

Public Wi-Fi network scams

Free Wi-Fi networks can be a godsend when you are traveling — especially if you don't have a roaming data package for your phone.

However, public Wi-Fi hot spots are almost always lax on security. That means someone can steal personal information while you use the network, including bank and credit card account information if you log in while using them. If you do use a public network at a coffee shop, airport or other public space, be wary of logging in to any sensitive sites like your bank or medical profiles.

Related: How to secure your data when using public Wi-Fi

A virtual private network is a popular way to ensure your connection is secure no matter where you go. These work by routing your internet connection through a private server (owned by your VPN company) so that data transmitted comes from the VPN rather than your computer.

This hides your IP address and encrypts your data so that hackers and other entities that might want to snoop through your personal information hit a dead end. It's a great investment whether you travel all the time or just like to visit your local coffee shop that offers free Wi-Fi. They generally cost less than $20 per month (and that's at the expensive end of the spectrum).

Not all VPNs are created equal, so do your research on the best one for your needs. Can you find a VPN that costs less than $10 per year? Yes. Is that VPN worth it? Debatable.

In addition, if you have a smartphone or other device, make sure it's password protected. Most people likely have some sort of passcode set up on their phone — especially since the inception of fingerprint and facial IDs on smartphones. You may not think about the importance of a strong password on your personal laptop or tablet, though.

Set up a password or PIN on all your devices so if the worst case happens and they get stolen, someone will have a much harder time breaking into them.

Bottom line

Travel scams are more common than you might think — tens of thousands of U.S. citizens alone report being scammed each year.

Scammers are smart, and many scams target specific groups of individuals who may be more vulnerable while traveling, such as women traveling alone, older travelers and kids.

Travel is meant to be a fun and rewarding experience, and getting scammed can put a real damper on any trip.

Knowing the kinds of scams that exist can help you protect yourself and your traveling companions while you are away from home. Hopefully, this guide has outlined how to spot some of the most common dangers.

Additional reporting by Melissa Klurman.

Pokémon: 5 Harsh Realities Of Traveling With Ash (& 5 Perks)

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10 Most Well-Written Anime Characters of All Time

10 anime where the main character should have ended up with the villain, 50 strongest anime characters of all time, ranked.

Ash Ketchum has been fortunate enough to have friends accompany him on most of his journeys across the wonderful world of  Pokémon , whether they have their own agendas or just want to come along for the ride.

RELATED:  Pokémon: 10 Ways The Anime Series Is Clichéd

Most Pokémon 's seasons have a balanced character dynamic, where everyone involved in the traveling party learns at least something from the others. Traveling with Ash and his Pokémon isn't always a walk in the park, although it certainly has its perks.

10 Harsh Reality: Walking Is The Exhausting Main Form Of Travel

Although modes of transport exist in the  Pokémon world, be they vehicles or Pokémon, Ash has always chosen to walk whenever possible, allowing him to explore each and every region almost in its entirety. While this gives more content and story for the anime series, in reality, this would likely become tiresome after a while, given that there are quicker alternatives out there.

Anyone who accompanies Ash on his adventures will have to get used to a lifestyle of camping and consistently staying on the move, with the exception of Sun & Moon and  Pokémon Journeys for the most part, with both series being formatted in different ways.

9 Perk: Traveling With Ash Allows His Friends To Broaden Their Horizons & See The World In A New Light

Ash's Pokémon journey has been a long one and he has had the joy of meeting so many new people and Pokémon along the way, in part due to his exploration of nearly 100% of every region he has visited. While he has been accompanied by the likes of Brock and Misty in regions away from their homes, he has also had travel companions who are from and native to the region he is currently in.

However, with the likes of May and Dawn in Hoenn and Sinnoh respectively, despite them being from those regions, they still see and learn so much more than they had previously had the opportunity or motivation to before. Traveling with Ash gives them a chance to see the bigger world, starting with the rest of their own region, allowing them to broaden their horizons and perhaps even go beyond in the future.

8 Harsh Reality: He Relies On Other People To Look After Him

Whenever Ash's mother interacts with him, it is clear that she takes good care of him when he's home, meaning that he is used to having people caring and fussing over him. Over the years, Ash has been lucky that for his longer journeys, he has had a traveling companion that fills that void, in terms of cooking and cleaning, Brock and Cilan are prime examples.

RELATED:  Pokémon: Every Flying-Type Ash Has Owned In The Anime, Ranked

Throughout the anime, Brock has shown incredible patience with Ash, where most people would lose their cool, demanding that he take more responsibility for himself.

7 Perk: Ash Is Always A Loyal Friend To Those Who Join Him & Welcomes Them Into His Family

For all of Ash's shortcomings, one thing that cannot be questioned is his loyalty to his friends, both human and Pokémon. Traveling with Ash means that everyone spends a lot of time together, but this leaves plenty of time to bond and become a tightly-knit group .

When Ash travels with Brock, in particular, there are countless episodes where they stop to eat and call out all of the Pokémon to join in. The image of the Pokémon running around and having fun while the trainers sit, watch, and talk is evidence enough that they enjoy their downtime just as much as their adventures because they are all enjoying it together.

6 Harsh Reality: The Journey Generally Revolves Around Ash & His Gym Battles

Ash Ketchum's impulsive and impatient personality can result in travels being rushed somewhat, all in the name of Ash getting through his Gym Challenge as quickly as possible . Although Ash always progresses through every region in a logical order, going through towns and cities in a similar way to how a player would in the games, the general direction of their travels is influenced primarily by Ash's wishes.

RELATED: 10 Best Cat-Like Pokémon In The Anime, Ranked

His traveling companions have a general idea of what they are signing up for at the start, but even if they are taking a detour along the way, Ash's first thought will often quickly revert back to his Gym battles.

5 Perk: Ash Will Accommodate Other People's Goals If It Isn't Too Much Of A Detour

Ash understands that his traveling companions will often have different goals and objectives to achieve along the way on their journey, but his friends often have to check with him if they want to make a detour. If this detour appears interesting or isn't too far away from the next city and Gym, then Ash will often agree to it.

Especially when it comes to Pokémon Contests, Ash is happy to turn to cheerleading and take his mind away from Gym battles briefly, albeit with him still sneaking in training whenever he can. As long as his friends' plans don't completely contradict his own, he will lend his complete support.

4 Harsh Reality: Ash Can Be Immature & Impatient, Often Inciting Arguments

One fact about Ash that often confuses or angers fans is that he never really ages, staying as a 10-year-old child throughout the entire anime. This means his personality can sometimes be all over the place, displaying immaturity, impatience, petulance, and much more that would be especially annoying and frustrating to deal with as a traveling companion.

Ash is often so consumed by his determination to be and beat the best, that everything else becomes secondary to him. His friends call him out for being "dense" and "immature" especially, which can lead to arguments.

3 Perk: Travel companions Can Learn From Ash's Love For Pokémon & His Tenacity In Battle

Although Ash will often disregard other people's advice when it comes to battles, his devotion to his Pokémon and his determination in battle can be inspiring to witness, for anyone. Ash has on many occasions earned people's respect from his relentless and determined attitude and approach to everything .

RELATED:  Pokémon: The First 10 Pokémon To Join Team Rocket

There has always been at least one traveling companion of Ash's that learns from him on their journeys and adapts their own attitudes and processes accordingly because of him. Dawn and May were both beginner trainers at the start of their journeys, learning from Ash and progressing quickly.

2 Harsh Reality: Ash's Impulsive Personality & Good Heart Means That He Will Head Straight Into Danger Without Thinking

Ash's love and devotion for his friends, both human and Pokémon, has led to him risking his life in order to protect others, whether it's leaping onto an escaping vehicle or simply running in the way of an opposing Pokémon's move . While this is honorable, his determination to save others from danger will often thrust him and those with him headfirst into that danger.

Although Ash and friends emerge safely, in the end, every time, these dangerous moments put their health and wellbeing at risk, with the Pokémon obviously being more susceptible.

1 Perk: Traveling With Ash Will Ultimately Result In An Unforgettable Experience

For all of the danger, trials, and tribulations that Ash and friends have to go through on their journeys, they are still blessed with memories that will last them a lifetime. They have encounters with all sorts of Pokémon including Legendaries, they get to experience all that the regions have to offer and get to meet all sorts of weird and wonderful people.

Following Ash on his journey allows his companions to see the world with friends  while sticking to a general plan in terms of Ash wanting to complete his Gym Challenge and earn all of the badges.

NEXT:  Pokémon: 10 Harsh Realities Of Being A Water-Type

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Nicholas Kristof

Forget the Yacht. The Best Travel Is on Foot, Through Wilderness.

By Nicholas Kristof

Opinion Columnist reporting from Mount Hood, Ore.

Some folks think the best way to travel is by private jet. Or yacht. My choice: by foot.

Some think that the best thing about America is its wealth, technology and modernity. Others point to its Democratic institutions. But I’m with the writer Wallace Stegner that America’s “best idea” is our spectacular inheritance of public lands — purple mountain majesties — amounting to about 40 percent of our nation. As Stegner said of our national parks: “Absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best.”

Some people worship in a church, others in a temple or mosque. I attend the cathedral of the wilderness, for among wildflowers in an alpine meadow we can all connect to something grander than ourselves.

I don’t want to overromanticize the wild; my cathedral has no thermostat, so it’s always too cold or too hot, and it can be filled with mosquitoes. But wilderness still fills me with semireligious awe.

The 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza argued that God and nature were the same, and perhaps in an age of declining religious practice some can find in nature another kind of higher power to be inspired by. Like religion, wild spaces teach us humility and patience (certainly mosquitoes do). Wilderness puts us in our place, calms us, soothes our souls. Like prayer or meditation, walking through the wild gives us an opportunity to detach, to reflect, to self-correct.

So here I am in my alpine cathedral on the slopes of Mount Hood in Oregon, marking the end of summer with my wife, Sheryl WuDunn, as we backpack on the Timberline Trail. My family hikes this loop around the mountain almost every year.

We cowboy camp, without a tent — if rain seems likely we set up a small tarp — and fall asleep watching shooting stars. Then we rise with the first orange rays of the sun: A sunrise serves as caffeine. We stow our sleeping bags and hike, with no schedule or plan. When we’re tired, we rest and eat. When we’re thirsty, we stop at a rushing creek and fill a water bottle with snowmelt. When dusk approaches, we find a flat patch of ground and lay out our sleeping bags.

As we walk, we ponder. What I’m pondering is how lucky we are that our forebears more than a century ago — prophetic leaders like Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot — fought industrial interests and succeeded in preserving wild spaces for our public use in 2024, and our great-great-grandchildren’s use in 2124.

The original model for America was to privatize nearly all land, so by one analysis only about 15 percent of New York State is now publicly owned. But over time in newer states, with champions like Roosevelt, national parks and forests were created and more state and city lands set aside as well.

Today a majority of the land in states like Oregon, California, Idaho and Nevada is held by the public. Alaska is an extreme example: About 85 percent of Alaska is set aside for the common good.

I can’t help thinking that if we were to allocate land in today’s more calculating age, America might make a different choice and sell pristine spaces to the highest bidder, perhaps with naming rights to mountains and rivers. This might be Mount Musk, and we’d be outside the fence wistfully exchanging stories of the glaciers on a billionaire’s playground.

Perhaps that would be more efficient. Private landowners might do a better job controlling forest fires than the government. But what a loss for the nation.

On our first night out on this trip, Sheryl and I found a spot under soaring fir trees beside a babbling brook, as the mountain and its glaciers loomed over us. During the night, some large animal, perhaps Bigfoot, woke us by crashing through the brush, adding priceless atmospherics.

This was a spot that no billionaire could buy. It was ours that night, perhaps some other hiker’s the next night, and maybe on the third night Bigfoot had it all to himself. In our shared wilderness, there are no tiers of pricing as at Disneyland; we are all equal before the majesty of nature.

In some parts of America, private beaches are the playgrounds of the affluent. But Oregon beaches are all public, so earlier in the summer my family backpacked on the Oregon Coast Trail, which meanders from Washington to California along deserted beaches (and forced us once, when we miscalculated the tides, to make a run for it around a small cape to avoid the waves). Those glorious beaches are mine, are yours, are ours .

In many ways, America is a class society. Rich and poor live in different neighborhoods, shop at different stores, send kids to different schools and inhabit different worlds. But one place of true democracy is on our public lands.

My daughter and I hiked the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada over six years ( best parenting I ever did ), and the trail was the most egalitarian space I’ve seen. We met C.E.O.s, nurses, construction laborers and students, with none of the usual cues to judge status. We all stank.

In the course of writing a recent memoir , I came to realize that I probably had suffered a mild case of PTSD from covering too many wars and massacres. It was in this same period that I developed a passion for backpacking, and I suspect that I unconsciously prescribed myself wilderness therapy to heal.

It works. I see wild spaces as a place to think, to escape cellphones and editors (sorry, boss!), to connect with loved ones, to be dazzled and humbled by the vastness of space and the slowness of geologic time, to escape class divides, to purge ourselves of frustrations and political toxicity, to bare our souls, to be recharged.

Thank God for America’s best idea.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Nicholas Kristof became a columnist for The Times Opinion desk in 2001 and has won two Pulitzer Prizes. His new memoir is “ Chasing Hope: A Reporter's Life .” @ NickKristof