I just got back from two weeks in Europe. Our pre-trip research showed that we should be aware of the numerous scams that get pulled on foreigners. In fact, someone tried to pull the “dropped ring” scam on my wife, while were were in Paris. I got to thinking about the US - we get huge numbers of tourists visiting. Are there scams which are pulled on them, and if not, why not?
(I do know about the “where you got your shoes” scam in New Orleans, but I couldn’t really think of anything else thats common).
The crime stat profiles vary a lot between countries but in general, Europe is more tolerant than the U.S. when it comes to ‘petty crimes’, especially theft. Contrary to popular belief, the overall crime rate in most of Europe (including the UK) is much higher than the overall crime rate in the U.S. Crimes like pickpocketing, organized scams and even occupied home invasions are tolerated to a much larger degree by the public, police and justice system in Europe compared to the U.S.
However, the U.S. still leads by a large margin in violent crimes like murder. In short, if you want to have a few things stolen, Europe is a much better bet but, if you want to get killed, the U.S. is a better choice.
That said, there are some scams and semi-organized crime outfits in the U.S. that target tourists. High crime/high tourism cities like Miami, New Orleans and Washington D.C. are places you are most likely to find them. They usually aren’t scams as much as armed robberies that intentionally target people far from home and don’t know their way around well.
Miami once had a string of violent crimes that involved criminals intentionally hitting rental cars from behind and then robbing the occupants when they got out to look at the damage. New Orleans had a problem with European tourists getting shot and/or killed when they were mugged and assumed that they could just ignore the threat like they did at home or give them something token to make them go away. No, it doesn’t work that way for some hardened criminals there. If you don’t comply, they have no problem with shooting you on the spot. Ray Davies, a member of the band, The Kinks, was shot in just such a scenario.
Three card monte or “street games” are a common scam, though they target locals as well. The Miami airport once had a number of mustard squirters walking around, though I expect post 9/11 airport security to have eliminated that. On NYC’s 42nd street, folks with a partial command of English dress up as cartoon animals and demand payment for their efforts.
Generally, the Europeans excel in sneak thievery, scams, etc. because they have gun control. Petty criminals are less likely to have lethal weapons, and more likely to face severe consequences if caught with them or even caught inflicting bodily harm. (Britain, IIRC, has effectively banned handguns after a tragic incident where a man shot a dozen very young school children - Americans obviously have different priorities). American thieves use weapons or the threat of weapons, so tend to lack the subtlety of sneak thievery or petty cons.
For example, European cars like the BMW will lock such that the door cannot be opened from the inside without a key - anyone who breaks a window to get in will also need to crawl out that window. The trunk cannot be opened from the car without the key; the back seat release levers are inside the trunk. And, I presume the trunk cannot be easily pried open. (And on my Audi the seat release levers were in the cabin, but locked)
Also consider that most of the USA does not have heavily populated downtowns with people walking all over (and taking transit). People are more likely to drive from place to place, park, and walk in attractions like state parks far from the crowds of urban poor, or malls and theme parks which are private property and have security. Whereas, in European big cities the downtowns literally swarm with naïve foreign pedestrians.
I’ve seen it suggested that Paris is actually the world #1 tourist destination, and it certainly looks that way judging by the number of travel books at my large bookstore.
Anyway, while traveling I had my shoes cleaned in NYC, my wallet stolen from the security scanner in DC, and I bought a coca-cola at the airport in Berlin.
I think that it is a truism that where there are tourists, there will be people ready to relive them of their cash and valuables.
I suppose that some crimes are more prevalent in some places, but the generality is that when you are a tourist, you are a target for thieves. I should add that I was in Istanbul a couple of weeks ago, and apart from the taxi drivers (who seriously let their country’s reputation down) and in spite of the dense crowds in the bazaars, neither I nor anyone we met had any problems.
I get a little weary of people lumping the whole of Europe together when making comments like this. It really isn’t helpful or informative.
The above is simply not a supportable or informative observation. And I’ve not seen any stats to support it.
The stats included in the linked pdf don’t bear out your conclusions.
The above was conducted in 2010-2012 by CIVITAS who have no particular axe to grind and it takes the most accurate figures it can from 2006. There may be something more recent that contradicts it and strengthens your point. If so, please share.
For example. the rates of assault are lower in 14 European countries than in the USA.
For robbery, 21 European countries have lower rates than the USA.
For rape, 25 European countries have lower rates than the USA.
Burglary, which you mention specifically in your post, has lower rates in 17 European countries than in the USA
In fact, when you look at the tables and work out the average position for the UK, it is around 10th, for the USA 9th. The USA never appears in the bottom half of the table for any measure, whereas the UK (and many other European countries) do.
So in fact, according to the figures, most European countries have a lower average placing than the USA and 6 are placed lower than the USA in every single one of the categories. (Czech republic, Hungary, Greece, Norway, Slovakia, Poland).
Overall, the average placing of the USA is the 3rd worst (behind Sweden and Belgium) Take out homicide at it leaps up to 4th worst (the UK sneaks in front)
So can you find European countries with higher crime rates for certain crimes? Yes.
Are there some European countries with higher overall crime rates than the states? arguably yes, but just a couple and not the ones you’d think.
Are there massive differences between European countries? Yes.
Does the USA look to have low crime in comparison? No
Should I be expected to get picked up on baseless assertions? Oh yes.
Also, when Americans visit Europe they tend to come to the center of touristy cities like Paris and Barcelona. There’s a good amount of pickpocketing and scamming going on there. But despite being the smallest continent (right?), it’s still a big place and most of it isn’t like this.
Although I was once relieved of my wallet within an hour of arrival in Barcelona and barely managed to avoid the same in Paris (I felt something strange, put my hand in my pocket to check on my wallet, turned out there was another hand already there doing the same), I’ve never had any problems in any other large or small cities in Europe. Or North America, for that matter.
However, two US cities stood out: in Atlanta people would talk to me on the street and I thought they wanted money. But no, just conversation. In San Francisco the same except that they did want money and got somewhat rude if I didn’t want to give them any.
I’ve had cab drivers in two different US cities try to pull the “You broke my $100 sunglasses” scam on me.
NYC cab drivers used to be notorious for the “meandering route” that ran up the meter. They even would try to pull it on locals by telling you that the most direct route was closed because of a broken water pipe or something. This was up until the 80s or so. In the 90s, during the crackdown on crime and the big New York clean-up, it mostly stopped, because the fines for the companies caught doing it made it not worth it. Cab fares went way up, though. Now, so many people would check routes and road closings on their cell phones, I don’t think drivers could get away with this against an American, even one not from NYC.
OK, so what is this one?
A group of guys I know drove to NYC to see college basketball. They pooled their money and one of them approached a ticket scalper. After purchasing six seats, they found out at the gate that the tickets were counterfeit. Punchline: the six guys work together; they are cops.
From a little Googling, there’s a “Broken Glass” scam where you put broken glass into a bag then bump into someone and drop the bag. It sounds like broken glass when it hits the ground (naturally) at which point you demand compensation for the bottle of wine or medicine or Ming Dynasty vase they just “broke”.
A version of this is done with sunglasses in a bag. Drop bag with pre-broken sunglasses and demand payment. I don’t know how it works with a cab driver, I guess they leave the bag in the back seat and accuse you of sitting on it?
This is still a huge scam in Las Vegas. Anytime you get picked up from the airport, if the taxi takes you through the tunnel under the runway to get to the strip it costs you an extra $5-10.
Also in Las Vegas, I recall a recent story of prostitutes offering free tricks to rich looking foreign men, the end game being to steal everything they can out of the mark’s hotel room.
Do counterfeit goods count as scams?
It’s been quite some time since I was in NYC, but there were people in battery park selling “Louis Vutton” bags, and “Omega” watches, etc. You’d have to be pretty dense to not know you’re buying fakes though.
I saw an episode of a show called Scam City for NYC, which showed a fairly intricate fake perfume racket, and in that case potential purchasers were told they were genuine.
One of the younger siblings of a kid in my high school was running the “can of lemonade” scam.
Take empty lemonade can. Half fill with water. Place on footpath. Wait for high-school student to kick it over. Run out with broken-looking-face and explain that thoughtless high-school student has just kicked over can of lemonade.
Illegal taxis aren’t inherently a scam (sometimes they’re just a consequence of a taxi cartel successfully getting the government to ban any competition), but some drivers prey on ignorant visitors and charge outrageous fares and possibly add equally outrageous service charges and fees.
The Chinese I work with marvel about how they like to travel to the USA to buy luxury goods cheaply (they’re taxed heavily here), and all of the foreigners like to come to China specifically to look for cheap, counterfeit luxury goods. And “LV” bags are the typical example used in such conversation.
I’ve had people try to pull that rose scam on me here in downtown Dallas on more than one occasion. One time I just hammed it up to my GF at the time. I said to her in a most overly dramatic fashion: “Oh no! You must think I’m a horrible boyfriend! Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?!”
A dejected scammer just did an about face and walked away. 
I have heard of this happening in Trinidad especially the taxi drivers harassing people leaving the airport, they quote an outrageous price that the traveler is not aware is 10-20X the going rate. I guess you could argue it isn’t a scam per se since the traveler is agreeing to the price, but they are also not aware of the usual rate or that they could take a shared taxi or maxi for much less money.
I’ve also heard some drivers if they think they have a gullible traveler will quote prices in USD hundreds of times the going rate, for instance telling someone it will be 50 USD to go somewhere versus the going rate of .60 USD. I’ve had a couple drivers over the years try to pull something like this on me and I just laugh and leave their car.