You don't scam Indians?

November 29, 2011 4:00 PM

Can someone throw some light on this (possibly) tourist scam in Bali?

I was in a Bali a few days ago and encountered a variety of tourist scams during my stay there - currency exchange rate fraud, doctored taxi meters, folks looking to mess with my luggage - but there was a series of incidents that I couldn't quite understand.

While walking on the footpath and crossing a parking lot - at three completely separate parking lots - I was stopped by parking attendants and asked the following series of questions (my replies in brackets):

1. Are you from India? (yes)
2. But do you live in India? (yes)
3. Are you sure you live in India and not in Malaysia or some other country? (yes)

I didn't really stop for any of these exchanges. I just slowed down a bit and kept walking. In all instances, after answering the third question, I was able to walk away without any further questions.

What was going on?

posted by vidur to Travel & Transportation around Indonesia (4 answers total)

The rupee isn't doing that well right now - maybe Indians aren't worth scamming. The opportunity cost might be too high.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:13 PM on November 29, 2011 [1 favorite]

i am Indonesian and i really can't begin to guess on what the scammy purpose of the exchange is.
posted by joewandy at 4:46 AM on November 30, 2011

Were there other people around? Maybe they were trying to distract you while someone else picked your pocket.
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:32 AM on November 30, 2011

Response by poster: It was always a bunch of guys, even though only one did the talking.

Picking my pocket (or backpack) sounds plausible, though I still find it amazing that there is such a specific m.o. for doing that to Indian tourists.
posted by vidur at 10:30 AM on November 30, 2011