Shanghai scams

Written bybibishanghaion 23 March 2010

In Shanghai, like most of big Chinese cities, foreigners are ideal targets for some few scams. Be carefull to the following ones, very common and very effective. It mainly take place in touristic places like (People's square, Nanjing East road, the Bund, Xintiandi, Huaihai road,ect….)

The following scams are the most common and usually happen as follow. Be aware that there can be some modifications and, in general, Chinese people would not come up to you in the street if it is not for money. Then, watch out for attractive strangers with promises of great drinks deals at authentic places it usually result in big bills and dealing with the managers. Scams rarely get violent.

Tea ceremony

It is usually executed by a very nice couple, supposely on holidays in Shanghai, usually very elegant and friendly, speaking good English. They stop you in street and speak for a while, about different cultural aspects of China, and so on. After a while, they propose you to go with them to a tea ceremony nearby.

The tea ceremony is usually a small tea tasting of about 6 different teas and will cost between 50 and 100$ per person.

The English practice

It is usually executed by a single girl or a group of supposely students. Conditions can vary a lot but the idea is always the same. They accompany you for a while supposely to 'practice their English' as they have few opportunities to do so with foreigners. Then, they propose you to go and have a coffee somewhere quieter (it can be a tea house for the tea ceremony, an art exposition, or a bar/restaurant).

She will order drink and food for both of you. At the end bills usually turn around 100$.

The shoe polishing

This is less of a scam but can put you in uncomfortable situations: a man or a women put quickly a drop of shoe polishing on your shoes. Not speaking chinese, you can not say no and they finish to polish your shoes. At the end, they usually ask for 10$ for something done badly and you did not ask for. When trying to say no, there would be other people coming around and saying you have to pay.

Pay 5 to 10 RMB and leave.

If you're victim of a scam

If you find yourself in these situations, you can contact a local police station. They would normally send an agent with you to the location of the scam and you can get your money back.

We do our best to provide accurate and up to date information. However, if you have noticed any inaccuracies in this article, please let us know in the comments section below.

List of Shanghai's guide articles

Comments

Voyjer10 years ago(Modified)
I once followed a sales person (lady) in Shanghai to buy a fake watch, after we entered the shop (a gentleman join us) it was closed (and locked) behind us. Leaving me to negotiate on shaky grounds. Eventually they negotiated down to the normal price (maybe I paid a few RMB extra), but overall besides feeling uncomfortable nothing happened to me. Never the less, I will NEVER follow any heckler off the streets of Shanghai.

harrybarry11 years ago(Modified)
I\'ve been reading a lot of stories of people like me who were victim of the infamous shanghai scam. However, they didn\'t really focus on what to do after it happened to get your money back. I did manage to get my money back, so I hope that this will help some people who have experienced the same thing. In my case it was the sexy massage scam, but I guess it might be helpful if you were victim to other scams (e.g. teahouse) as well. There can be a few reasons why you don\'t want (or cannot) take the police back to the place where you were scammed: -Lazy cops. The police of Shanghai knows that these scams take place every day, but they don\'t do anything about it. They might not be very enthusiastic about joining you, because it means they actually have to work. Some of them rather sit behind the desk all day. -Some acts of prostitution occurred during the scam (happy ending with massage scam). In this case, if you are honest to the police you will be prosecuted for prostitution and probably not enter China again anytime soon. -You don\'t feel like meeting these bad people again. In any case, if you manage to get a police officer to come with you it is questionable if you will get all your money back. It will be your word against theirs and they can probably communicate with the police better than you. That leaves you with two other options; cancel the transaction with your credit card company (what I did) or get your money back with your travel insurance (in essence you got robbed). When you paid with cash the latter will be your only option. For both cases you will need an official police report of what happened. This is relatively easy; as long as you say that you don\'t remember where you got scammed you can write your story on some document yourself, and the police will give their nice stamp on it. Just to be sure I ensured that the story included the following details: -They mentioned a price beforehand -They spoke to me in East Nanjing road and got me into a taxi to the destination (true in my case) -Don\'t mention where they took you, even if you remember. -Don\'t mention any sexual actions performed during the massage scam. -The amount you were charged -That they used physical violence when you wanted to leave after paying the amount you agreed on beforehand. Even when these things didn\'t all happen I would still mention them. Adjusting the story a little so these f***heads don\'t get your money is not a very big crime when you ask me. With this \'police statement\' I was able to convince my credit card company that I was forced to make this transaction and they were able to cancel it. I had to block my credit card as well because of some company policy, but I guess it depends on your credit card provider. If you paid with cash, or if your credit card company cannot cancel the transaction, you can use the \'police statement\' to try and get your money back from your travel insurance. I went to the Waitan Police Station just of the East Nanjing Rd, and I brought a friend who speaks Chinese. It was fairly easy to get it, to my surprise. I hope I helped somebody with this story!

Guest13 years ago(Modified)
At present, there is one particular scam which attempts to pull on the heart strings of it's unsuspecting victim. The scammer will suddenly fall or trip, and the nice person you are, you'll want to go and help them up. However, once doing this, they will hold onto you and cause a scene claiming that you broke their already broken leg or arm and demand that you pay up! These can take on any form, from a young man or woman through to an elderly grandma or granddad. Beware.

luckylehana14 years ago(Modified)
I think Shanghai is very safe than most of the places in the world. These are very small things when you compare it to the violence and duping of US.