6 Tourist Scams in Yangon

You approach a money changer outside Bogyoke Market offering a rate of 4,800 kyat per dollar —

slightly better than the shops inside. You hand over $100 and he starts counting kyat notes. Midway through, he calls over a colleague to 'verify' your bill, and suddenly two or three guys are examining multiple notes simultaneously in loud, hurried voices. In the chaos of hands and bills moving, your $100 vanishes. You walk away with roughly half of what you were owed. Travelers on TripAdvisor and Reddit warn that these street changers work in coordinated teams specifically targeting foreigners.

You buy a ferry ticket to Dala — locals pay 100 kyat, but you're charged 4,000 kyat as a foreigner.

Fine, that's the official price. But the real scam starts on the other side. A man claiming to be an 'official guide' insists foreigners are required to have one. He arranges a trishaw ride for what you think is 4,500 kyat, but at the end demands 36,000 kyat. Then you're steered to 'donate rice for the poor' at a shop selling 40,000-kyat bags. One Myanmar Times journalist documented losing over 75,000 kyat in a single visit. Tripadvisor reviews consistently call Dala the worst tourist trap in Yangon.

You flag a taxi outside Shwedagon Pagoda for a short ride downtown.

The driver claims his meter is broken and quotes 10,000 kyat for a ride that should cost 2,500-3,500 kyat. If you insist on the meter, he reluctantly turns it on — but it ticks suspiciously fast. Some drivers take deliberately longer routes through congested side streets. At the airport, the markup is even worse: drivers at the arrivals curb routinely quote 15,000-20,000 kyat for a trip that costs 7,000-8,000 kyat via Grab. Reddit travelers consistently recommend downloading Grab before landing.

You remove your shoes at one of Shwedagon Pagoda's four entrance stairways, as required.

A friendly local offers to 'watch' your shoes while you explore. When you return an hour later, they demand 5,000-10,000 kyat for the 'service' — or worse, claim your shoes have been moved to a different location and you need to pay to retrieve them. The official shoe storage areas are free, but the informal watchers position themselves to intercept tourists before they reach the proper shelves. It is a low-stakes scam, but it is universal at Shwedagon.

You sit down at a no-frills restaurant on 19th Street in Chinatown — the kind with plastic chairs and no English menu.

The server quotes prices verbally: mohinga for 1,500 kyat, tea leaf salad for 2,000. Fair enough. But the bill arrives at 8,000 kyat because they added 'service charges,' drinks you did not order, and side dishes that were placed on the table unbidden. Travelers on Reddit report that some restaurants in tourist areas deliberately omit prices from menus so they can inflate the bill for foreigners, sometimes doubling or tripling the local price.

You are exploring downtown Yangon near Sule Pagoda when a well-dressed man approaches speaking fluent English.

He says he is a teacher and offers to show you around. He seems knowledgeable and friendly. Over the course of the afternoon, he guides you to specific shops where you are pressured to buy overpriced gems or handicrafts. At the end, he presents a bill for his 'guide services.' Multiple Reddit posts on r/myanmar documented this: 'In a rare incident in downtown Yangon, an English-speaking Indian man scammed a Vietnamese tourist as locals couldn't help due to the language barrier.' The scam works specifically because few locals speak enough English to intervene.