From Wikitravel

[edit] Source of Maradona information

This text accompanied the Maradona information. I've moved it here. -- Hypatia 19:09, 29 Nov 2004 (EST)

The information on the Maradona is taken, with permission, from Joe Mabel's Bucharest Practicalities page (http://www.speakeasy.org/~jmabel/travels/bucguide.html ) and released by the copyright-holder under the appropriate license.

[edit] Please add more help

It is all very well to describe scams. But we should also tell how to avoid them and how to get out of them once you are in the situation. For example, "Rental damage": Can you rent jet skis witout leaving something as guarantee and if not what should you leave? And if they do take your passport hostage, will it help to call the police? --elgaard 11:26, 4 Jan 2006 (EST)

[edit] Hypnotism

Can we have a cite of some kind of this (here, not in the article)? It does sound rather strange... Hypatia 02:22, 31 May 2006 (EDT)

[edit] Taxi scam advice: print a map?

I'm kind of "meh" about this: If you can, go to a map website, print out the route, then hand this to the driver. Taxi drivers picking up fares at any international airport in the world are always looking for a good fare, and any opportunity to make it longer to justify their waiting time.

In many cities (practically anywhere outside Singapore in South-East Asia, for example), the fastest route between point X and point Y not only involves three U-turns and driving past squawking chickens through somebody's backyard, but changes depending on the time of day and the phase of the moon. If anything, the hand-a-map routine is a big whomping red flag that you have no clue. The previous advice of using fixed-price taxis and getting an approximation of the fare in advance is IMHO much better. Jpatokal 07:46, 25 December 2006 (EST)

Jpatokal's got it right. After all, the taxi driver knows the streets better than anyone else. 202.141.69.245 06:57, 17 January 2007 (EST)

Yes. I was once a taxi driver in Ottawa, and I'd say at least 70% of the customers who told me which route to take picked routes that were slower and more expensive than what I'd have chosen. Fine by me; the customer is happy and I get more money. Pashley 04:51, 13 November 2007 (EST)

[edit] Art school "scam"?

What? There's no scamming involved. It's 100% subjective what the price of a work is. If you like their work, then just fucking buy it. I don't understand how this is a scam. --88.192.83.11 16:03, 9 February 2008 (EST)

No, it's the way they get their customers that the scam. The "students" (who probably aren't students at all) befriend you seemingly innocently, practicing English, maybe a bit of a romantic vibe... but it's all just a set-up to get you into the gallery. Jpatokal 22:54, 9 February 2008 (EST)

I've expanded the art school section by a couple of sentences to clarify that they aren't usually actually students, and that it's a social pressure scam. Hypatia 09:58, 19 March 2008 (EDT)

[edit] a suggestion

Just a suggestion: for many descriptions of the scams, it would help to have a clearly-defined "how to recognize" and "how to react / how to protect yourself" sections.

Opinions? (unfortunately, I'm not feeling competent to plunge forward with this initiative) --DenisYurkin 15:38, 26 February 2008 (EST)

Perhaps informally: each section has a couple of paragraphs: 1. the form the scam takes and what the initial bait is and 2. how to react / protect yourself. Having an actual subheading for each of 1 and 2 seems overkill. Hypatia 10:00, 19 March 2008 (EDT)