Scams – the "homeless mother scam"

Tom from North Carolina wrote in to tell us his experience in Rome. He saw a woman ostensibly carrying a baby in her arms (all he saw was a rolled up blanket) and a child about 10 years old approached me begging in a very confined sidewalk area. The pitiful expression on her face would make an old grown man cry. He suddenly remembered warnings he had read – while the tourist digs in his pocket for some coins the kid circles around and slits the backpack or pocket. Fortunately he was carrying his daypack with camera, etc. in front and his

Got any scam experiences you’d like to share with the Beetle? Then e-mail them to: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk