Destinations › Chile › Santiago › Scams
Santiago, Chile
15 reported scam patterns travellers run into in Santiago, what they look like, and how to sidestep them.
Men presenting as plain-clothes police asking to inspect a wallet or currency for counterfeit notes, and removing cash during the count.
Reader overlays on street cash machines in the centre and the nightlife districts, and cards taken out of sight to be processed at bar counters.
Drivers soliciting rides near the arrivals gate and baggage reclaim rather than at the official counters, charging heavily inflated fares and, in the worst cases, robbing the passenger.
Phone snatching from the hand in the centre and at metro entrances, frequently from a moving bicycle or scooter.
Organised distraction theft in Plaza de Armas, on the metro and around Bellavista — a spill, a dropped item or a helpful stranger, with a second person on the bag.
Hire cars invoiced on return for damage that was present at pickup, with an insurance excess that was not disclosed at the counter.
Drivers and street guides steering visitors to lapis lazuli and craft shops that pay them per head, framed as a recommendation.
Valley, vineyard and mountain day trips sold through hostel desks and street agents that run with a smaller vehicle and a shortened route, or are resold on.
Glass and resin sold as lapis lazuli at street stalls and on the craft streets.
Bar bill inflation in Bellavista, with drinks ordered by a companion appearing on the visitor's tab.
Touts at Mercado Central steering visitors to the central restaurants at several times the price of the surrounding stalls.
Note-switching by unlicensed changers, and shortchanging on high-value peso notes.
Unofficial drivers in the airport arrivals hall offering fixed dollar fares well above the metered and app equivalents.
Men attaching themselves to visitors in the main plaza and around the hill parks, presenting a fee once the walk is over.
Short-let apartments cancelled at short notice in high season and relisted at a higher rate.
