6 Tourist Scams in Hanoi

You match with an attractive profile on Tinder and arrange to meet in the Old Quarter. A woman shows up and guides you to a restaurant for dinner, then suggests heading to a nearby nightclub. The restaurant bill comes back outrageously inflated — think $150 for basic food — and the nightclub has a metal shutter that comes down once you're inside, trapping you until you pay hundreds more. This organized ring has been running for 5+ years with an estimated 30-50 victims per night, each losing $100-200.

You're walking through the Old Quarter when a friendly man crouches down and starts fixing your shoe — maybe he points out a broken sole or loose strap. Before you can say anything, he's already glued it and demands an enormous fee. When you protest, he gets aggressive and refuses to give your shoe back until you pay. This quick-hands hustle catches tourists totally off guard.

A woman carrying a basket of donuts or snacks on a shoulder pole approaches and hands you one to try. Once you've taken a bite, she demands a wildly inflated price — sometimes forcing you to pay for the whole basket. If you refuse, she causes a scene, drawing a crowd and relying on your embarrassment to extract payment.

You hop on a cyclo (bicycle rickshaw) for a scenic ride through the Old Quarter and agree on a price — say 50,000 dong. After the ride, the driver demands 10x that amount, claiming the price was per minute or that you misunderstood. He may grab your bag or block your path while demanding payment, knowing you probably don't want a public confrontation.

You book a Halong Bay cruise or overnight tour through a budget travel agency near your hotel. The pictures show beautiful boats and private cabins. When you arrive at the dock, you're herded onto a completely different, far cheaper vessel than advertised. Complaints go nowhere and refunds are impossible — you're stuck on the boat for two days.

You grab what looks like a legitimate taxi from the airport or hotel, and the meter is running — great. But when you arrive, the fare is staggering. The driver either had the meter running on a higher tariff setting, or the meter itself was tampered. Some drivers refuse to turn on the meter at all and then demand a huge flat fee at the destination.