How to avoid travel scams in Chennai

As amazing as India is you may encounter some of these scams in certain parts of India. Just be cautious and use your common sense to guide you. Here are a few more tips to protect yourself from any unwanted hassle.

Overview

Taxi scams are quite common. Some taxi and tuk-tuk drivers have struck deals with hostels, hotels, homestays etc. to lure tourists into their accommodation. The drivers will get a nice commission depending on the number of tourists they bring. Some of them may resort to tall tales if you ask them to drop you at a certain place. Do your research beforehand, know the routes and insist on them dropping you at the said location. Do not allow detours, and track your movements via Google. If not go for standard taxi service such as Uber, for places like airports where this sort of thing usually happens.

The poor student scam

Another innovative scam is the poor student that approaches to take you sightseeing in return for school books. Most likely these children have been employed by another party to scam money out of sympathetic tourists. The school books will be extraordinarily priced but one will feel obligated to pay them after having provided you with services. So be wary of getting people to show you around, especially if you are travelling alone. Unless it's a trustworthy source, never offer to take anything from random strangers no matter how friendly or genuine they seem.

Upgrades scams

When travelling on public transport be careful of anyone in a captain's outfit offering to take your money for an upgrade. Upgrades are possible but it is best done at the counter itself to save yourself from this sort of petty theft. A few ways to identify a real captain from a fake one is to note whether he has a stack of papers that detail the seating arrangements. Real train officials especially the captain will carry a badge with them. Always verify and authenticate by having a look at the badge and details such as name and ID number. A captain will come towards each passenger, if anyone detours to you specifically that is the time to get your guard up!

Donations

At major attractions be careful when people ask for excessive donations. These requests could be made by priests, in return, they will offer you a special pooja or give you special access to some sort of religious ritual. If you are genuinely interested go ahead, but if you feel the asking amount is excessive or you feel uncomfortable it's OK to refuse. Some holy men or children may approach you and tie special strings on your wrist saying it's a blessing given for free. However, don't be fooled as soon as the string is tied, they will retell some story and try to get you to pay for it. Just flat out say no to these types of situations.

Getting receipts

Get receipts when you arrive at a place of stay. And subsequently, ask for receipts if you do pay for anything in advance while there before the final bill is settled. If you don't sometimes a whole heap of extra payments can suddenly crop up on your final bill. To avoid this sort of thing always book via reputed sites especially home stays or budget hotels. Don't go looking for random accommodation and settling for places, some days you may get lucky and find a great place but on other days not so much. Always plan and do some research and read reviews before settling on any accommodation. Chennai corporate housing is quite popular for accommodation nowadays, and places like Somerset Greenways in Chennai are well-known.