Turkey: High Risk — watch out for shoe shine & carpet shop scams.
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High Risk: Shoe shine & carpet shop scams. Istanbul's classic scam: a shoe shiner drops his brush ahead of you, you return it, and he insists on shining your shoes for an inflated fee. Unsolicited "friendly local" invitations to tea almost always end at a high-pressure carpet shop. Politely but firmly decline both.
Turkey: High Risk — watch out for shoe shine & carpet shop scams. Istanbul's classic scam: a shoe shiner drops his brush ahead of you, you return it, and he insists on shining your shoes for an inflated fee. Unsolicited "friendly local" invitations to tea almost always end at a high-pressure carpet shop. Politely but firmly decline both.
A well-documented, actively-run scam catches tourists here regularly — read the note above carefully so you know exactly what to watch for.
Agree on prices before getting into a taxi, be skeptical of unusually friendly strangers steering you somewhere specific, and never sign anything or accept food/drinks from someone you just met. The single biggest risk for this destination is noted above — general street-smarts cover the rest.
Not at all — millions of tourists visit safely every year. Knowing the one scam pattern that catches people most often is simply the best, cheapest defense there is, since it's designed specifically to look harmless until it's too late.
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