Destinations › Indonesia › Yogyakarta › Scams
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
13 reported scam patterns travellers run into in Yogyakarta, what they look like, and how to sidestep them.
Reader overlays fitted to standalone cash machines in tourist areas, sometimes with a handwritten note on a working machine nearby claiming it is out of order. Machines inside bank branches are not affected in the same way.
Becak and taxi drivers offering a very low fare on the understanding that the route includes commission-paying shops, with the ride extended until a purchase is made.
Screen-printed and stamped batik sold as batik tulis, which takes weeks to produce and is priced accordingly.
The batik diversion: a friendly local reports that a site is closed or that an exhibition ends today, and steers the visitor to a gallery selling printed cloth as hand-drawn batik at hand-drawn prices.
Drivers soliciting at the station and airport concourse rather than at the official counter, quoting fixed fares well above the metered or app equivalent.
Bills along the main tourist street carrying rounds and covers that were not ordered, particularly where a group has been walked in by a street promoter.
Borobudur upper-terrace access sold by third parties when it is capped, booked separately and not included in the general ticket.
Bag and phone theft along Malioboro in the evening crowds.
Airport and station taxis refusing the meter and quoting fixed fares above the app equivalent.
Merapi jeep and sunrise tours sold at hotels that are downgraded on the day, or that omit the entry fees.
Police stops of foreign scooter riders without an international permit, resolved by an on-the-spot payment.
Collectors with laminated documentation working the main tourist street and the approaches to the palace complex.
Men attaching themselves to visitors at the palace complex and the temple sites, narrating unasked and presenting a fee for commentary that is included with entry.
