My story in CHINA: TAXI SCAM

Black taxis can be useful sometimes if u know how to handle it. they are just a little more expensive than normal ones, but you have to fix the price before the ride with the driver. Of course u need to speak chinese. The driver can give his cell number to u and when u need a taxi u can just call him wherever u are asking to pick u up. personally i only experienced meter related scam on normal taxis. A scam I encountered is where con men dress as Buddhist monks come up to you and say "you have a kind face", give you Buddhist reading materials and ask you to buy them a drink.I got pissed over by the Teahouse scam in Bejing, people invite you to tea and the bill comes which turns out to be extremely high and they want you to help pay. I felt like I couldn't just walk out, but ended up agreeing to pay 1/3 of the bill which was still a fair bit. I also had someone in a Rickshaw taxi take me about, I had already agreed a really cheap price with him, he ended up taking me all over and wanted more after. I just gave him the agreed amount and walked off, he was pissed off!Not exactly a scam, but apparently in Guangzhou, if you walk on the side of the street closest to the road, there have been incidents where two people on a scooter will drive past you and the person on the back will snatch your handbag.We went to China guang Jou In 2007 . Got a taxi and gave driver the adress . My.bro noticed the drive was longer than usual turn out the driver took the longer way to the location and we ended paying 2x the $.Personally, I witnessed a lot more scam in Mexico, than in China. And I spent a lot more time in China than in Mexico. I also lived in Germany, Canada, Israel, Russia, Hong Kong, now USA... China is as bad or good as any other country. I found it to be better than many. People most of the time are very polite and respectful. You have at least as much chances to get scamed in New York as anywhere in China. So, people, do not be afraid, be smart and keep traveling! BTW I am Russian, not Chinese.My brother experienced the "rikshaw" one last year i believe it was. He and his girlfriend was in china and took a ride on one of those. I don't remember why but the "driver" asked/wanted them to ride separat rikshaws. They ended up in an alley, backstreet or something simular and he had to pay more than they agreed on. Where he alone he would have just ran, he said, but they had her so he didn't want to risk anything. They later learned that it's quite common that this happens to tourists.

It's not that bad in Taiwan. Outside the big cities, you've got to watch out for taxi drivers not willing to turn the meter on, but they're doing it to get 30 or 40 NTD, which is roughly just 1 USD. In some restaurants, after you order a dish, they might ask, "Would you like XX with that?". You might think they're just being helpful, but you'll get a nasty surprise when you get the bill. But I have to say, it's not common. The above is my own experience