10 Common Travel Scams to Avoid in 2025!

Can’t wait to pack your bags in anticipation of your next trip? Great! Travelling feels more fun and safer when you know the possible travel scams to avoid in 2025. The real fun in exploring a new destination is being 10 steps ahead of travel scammers and their schemes.

Hence, we’re sharing these 10 travel scams to look out for, for a fun trip and to protect yourself from travel scams. This way, you can look forward to an unforgettable fun trip every time you travel. Ready? Let’s go!

Here are 10 travel scams to avoid and beat scammers at their game in 2025!

Watch out for these travel scams and you’ll be ten steps ahead, ready to beat them at their own game.

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QR Code Scams

No one wants to deal with payment hassles on their trip, so they’re happy to embrace any opportunity to get things done with ease. But here’s the problem, scammers know this and will try to position fake QR codes in public places for you to scan. This is done to redirect you to phishing sites, where they can steal important information on your device.

Want to beat them at their game? Always verify with the personnel attached to the facility you are in before scanning. Also, you can double-check to see if others have used it without challenges, before attempting to scan it. This way, you’re safe and can have a blissful experience at your travel destination.

Fake distress calls

This may be common with people who share information about their trip publicly, especially on social media. Scammers may see you as an easy target and try to fake a distress call from a loved one asking for your help. Unfortunately, they may have access to AI technology that allows them to impersonate these individuals and make you fall for it.

To prevent this, do less of sharing real-time information about your trips online, and ensure not to respond to weird distress calls pressuring you to take action without giving room for appropriate verification.

Local Rip-Offs

When in a new location, it’s easy for locals to quickly spot you and tell that you’re not from that vicinity. Ensure to be cautious about trusting strangers and always verify information with only accredited tour guides. Sometimes, wanting to explore solo can expose you to local rip-offs, where you’re overcharged for an item, or directed to more expensive facilities where they get a referral commission.

While this doesn’t mean you should be paranoid on every trip, it just means doing adequate research before ever stepping foot in a new location. Or better still, work with an agency like Vecta Travels to ensure only the best services on your trips. With every detail keenly taken care of, you can enjoy a seamless scam-free trip.

Exclusive shopping deals

Travelers often enjoy shopping for locally made pieces to remind them of their time there. Scammers know this and try to take advantage of it by creating fake online deals, where travellers can shop for exclusive items at cheaper rates. The problem with this is that, in most cases, you either lose your money purchasing those goods or get counterfeit items of inferior quality to what you were expecting. So, if you’re shopping online, shop only at credible stores offering reasonable prices for items that catch your fancy.

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Ride-hailing

It’s common for scammers to pose as your ride when in an unfamiliar location. Before you get in a vehicle because it pulled up just as you were expecting your ride, verify that the information aligns with what you have on your app. Don’t get so carried away with getting to your destination or talking on the phone that you forget to verify. This will save you from falling victim to potential scams, and rip-offs or harm.

Hotel/ticket booking scam

It’s best to have a trusted agent like Vecta Travels or a loved one you can trust handle the details of your hotel or ticket booking when you’re at a location you’re not familiar with. This is because scammers often take advantage of travellers in this situation by offering fake assistance, and asking to rebook hotels or flight tickets for a better alternative. If you’re unsure of the source of such messages or calls, it’s best to ignore them altogether or make appropriate verification before proceeding.

ATM shoulder surfing

Be sure your shoulder range is clear before entering your credentials at the ATM. Scammers usually try to hang around people, just so they could pick up vital banking information about them over their shoulders at the ATM. If someone is standing unreasonably close to you while using the ATM, politely ask them to step behind you or call the attention of security personnel if necessary.

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Currency exchange scam

Being in a new country often requires exchanging cash to the local currency for easy purchase. Ensure you’re familiar with the local exchange rates to avoid rip-offs when you need to do the exchange. At best use a banking facility if available, so you don’t fall prey to rip-offs or fake currency exchange.

Fake Sightseeing Tours

Also, it’s common to get ads or unsolicited messages from scammers about sightseeing tours to some destination. The catch may be that you don’t need to pay as much to get a visa or a bus ride ticket to the location, and all you need to do is pay a flat rate within a short timeframe.

While this may sound like good news, the problem is that you might just be setting yourself up for a scam when you jump on such offers without doing proper research.

Fake Vacation Offers

As life gets busy, we constantly look forward to some form of escape, hoping to visit a new destination to ease the stress. While this is okay, the problem is that scammers often take advantage of people’s need for an escape to craft messages on free vacations, or discounted getaway trips hoping someone might fall for them.

The easiest way to deal with this is to talk to your trusted travel agent about the best deals for a vacation trip if you’re on a budget. When the deals are too good to be true, you’ve got to be cautious, as they may even ask you to pay an upfront amount to lock in your prize, which in most cases, would be lost to the scammers.

Scammers are bad news but knowing how to manage them is good news. No one likes to be ripped off, so your best bet is to prepare to be ten steps ahead of their antics. For the best experience on your trips, contact us at Vecta Travels for all of your booking needs.