Avoid these SCAMS in ISTANBUL! 🇹🇷

We have spent the last 6 weeks in Turkey including a total of 8 nights in the heart of Istanbul and 10 nights in Beşiktaş. Although we have shown Istanbul in a pretty positive light we couldn't keep sweeping this under the carpet. There are so many scams around tourist areas throughout Istanbul especially around Taksim Square, The Blue Mosque and The Grand Bazaar.

Please note that there are far more scams than we covered in this video. In fact some of the bar/ nightclub scams haven't occurred in months due to the pandemic restrictions in Turkey. However, we will include the scams we missed in this video below.

The bar/ nightclub scam generally involves a local approaching you in the street by pretending to think you that you too are a fellow Turk. Unfortunately you (just like us) will stand out like a sore thumb, scammers can spot tourists a mile away. This local will then try to convince you to come to a bar or a club, should you choose to follow, you will end up surrounded by plenty of women. You will be having the time of your life, drinking the night away with beautiful women (generally from Eastern Europe). That is until you are presented with an extremely expensive bill that you will be forced to pay by a couple of 'friendly' bouncers/ security guards.

If a child (8-12 years old) comes up to you in dirty clothes and bare feet DO NOT give them money. These children work in 'teams' and are watched over from afar by an older person, this is who the money goes to, not the children.

Ultimately our one travel tip to avoid scams ANYWHERE is to NEVER give all your trust to someone in a new city that approaches YOU FIRST!

[michiganwannarbor]

One way to spot a scammer is When they start talking to you they will always claim to have a relative that lives in the same city as you do.

[furkankaymaz]

Thank you for helping the tourists to protect themselfs from the reputation killer, tricky, greedy people of my country.

[ivankjt]

Me and my girlfriend fell for the "come to my dad's store" scam.. it was just outside Blue Mosque and the guy brought us to 2 of his stores, one of which was selling fake handbags and Rolexes. The other was selling spices, nuts, turkish delight etc all at 4-5x the regular market rates. In retrospect it was dumb of us to follow him into the stores but we were rookie travellers and didn't know how to ditch him without looking too rude. The guy was very skilled at striking up conversation as well.

That was the only "scam" we really fell for but part of the reason was also because we didn't stay near the touristy areas. Besiktas was AMAZING and I'd highly recommend anyone travelling to Istanbul to stay there instead. You're near the amazing Bosphorus and the area is mostly just locals minding their own business. People are very nice and a lot of them speak English around there as well (as far as my experience went).

[CowboyJojosAdventures]

I didn't know about the shoe scammers, but the perfume, yes, they are relentless at trying to sell you stuff. Enjoyed the video very much and I will definitely keep these scammers in ind when we travel to Turkey one day. 👍🏽🙏🏽

[ageofechochambers]

You 2 are doing Turkey a favour, clean up the scammers.

[baglmonstr]

Almost fell for the shoe scam. Genuinely thought the guy dropped his brush, so when I picked it up and gave it to him he was "grateful" and offered to polish my shoes in return.
Dude, are you seriously gonna rub shoeshine on my fabric sneakers? I walked away saying no thanks lol

[explorinwithlaurin]

This is really useful information ahead of our trip! We love all your Istanbul content and seeing all the positive sides but it is good to be prepared for these things in advance! Thank you for sharing!

[ustafatih]

Hi, Mr. Gordon. We are sorry about this person. Also, Turkish people complain about it.
Stay safe.

[youtoob]

I dont bother visiting cities that allow for these scams to remain prevalent. Until they fix the problem, they won't be getting my $$$. I don't care if people tell me there are still good parts. People need to boycott places like these out of principle and force govts to do something about it. That's why I only enjoy going to Japan. The govt there wants tourists to have a great time.

[MattWhitingsEurope]

Very useful video, sadly there are scammers in every capital city in Europe, seems especially bad in Istanbul though. I once encountered the wallet scam in Kyiv which started off the same way as the shoe shine scam. Some sound advice for avoiding them!

[davidk]

If I met someone who sells carpets that can fly, I'll buy a bunch of them even if I was a backpacker... and keep it a secret

[munirhassan]

This is really strange because I always say the same thing I say in US. “Sorry I don’t have any money”

[santiagovera]

And why can’t you just put the cologne/ perfume on the ground if he don’t wanna take it back?

[islamyalinalp]

Government has to care of this issue more. im ashamed of these idiots. sorry to you meet them. and it is good to show that and warn people.

[muffledjuggler]

I just wouldn’t engage with anyone that approaches me. End of. Walk away and tell them to pees off.

[robertdominicanrepublic]

Yes, the more questions they ask the more they are sizing you up. They do the same thing here in the DR.

[Mulakulu]

I mean, the law isn't on their side with the "grabbing the perfume means you have to buy it", right? Why can't you just say "no" and just leave it on the ground if they don't take it back?

[equalitypeace]

I’ve got perfumes aftershave bags and any other crap you are selling and I also polished my shoes before I left my hotel 😂

[diyadel]

Today morning, while topping up istanbulkart at the Laleli University tram station, a man came to me and said he would help me. He showed me 50 lira for my two cards on the screen and then gave the cards back to me. When I tried to enter the metro, I realized that this man cheated and did not top up my two cards. Tourists beware of such cheaters.so that you can take the necessary precautions so that such criminals are caught and other tourists like me are not defrauded.

[ataroosa]

Yea this happened to me last week, they tried to insisted to give me a shoe shine. I just kept walking away and ignoring them