Barcelona, Spain, is one of the most beautiful and exciting cities you can visit in Europe. Unfortunately, it is also one where you can expect to encounter plenty of tourist scams, according to multiple studies and experiences from visitors. If you don’t want your vacation in Barcelona to get spoiled, check out some of the most common tourist scams you might encounter there.
“Guess Where the Ball Is” Scam
There are several variations of this scam, but the most common one includes a person on the street organizing a guessing game. They will place a ball under one of three boxes, shuffle them, and ask the audience to guess where the ball is. Their partners will be the first ones to guess and will be rewarded with a prize for that. After that, they will ask an unsuspecting member of the audience to play the game, and while they are focused on tracking the box movements, other participants in the scam will try to pickpocket them.
Petition Scam
This scam usually involves an individual or a group approaching you on the street and asking you to sign a petition for some cause. This can then go two ways. You will be asked to make a small donation, or one of the scammers will try to steal your valuables while you’re in the middle of filling out the petition sheet.
Fake Tourists
You will encounter plenty of tourists in Barcelona, but not all of them might be genuine. Some scammers pretend to be tourists and will approach you with a story that they had their valuables stolen or got in some kind of trouble. They will try to play on your sympathy for fellow tourists and ask you to help them by giving them money.