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Watch out for tourist scams in Cabo
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Watch out for tourist scams in Cabo
Authorities in Los Cabos are reminding tourists to be vigilant in resisting offers from fraudulent tour guides, particularly those offering boat tours around the area.
During this peak summer vacation season, it has been reported that there have been a number of ‘coyotes’ showing up in private boats, aggresively approaching tourists and offering boat trips to destinations such as Isla Espiritu Santo, Balandra Beach and the Bay of La Paz – sometimes at extremely high prices and at other times extremely low prices in a scam.
“These ‘coyotes’ are operating without any legal permits and lack any formal training”, according to local permitted tour operators and they are asking for the authorities to intervene as these operators without any permits are increasing in reponse to an increased demand for tourist activities this year.
In some cases, tourists are offered what appear to be much cheaper options for tours only to find out later when they show up at the dock there is no boat, no tour and the scammer fled with their money.
The issue has recently come to light via foreign visitors posting on social media but only in a very few cases have victims been able to recover their money.
The most recent report of coyotes was noted in a survey conducted among tourist operators on the La Paz boardwalk, where they said that last week a fraudulent guide offered a group of five tourists a trip to Isla EspÃritu Santo, but ran away with 10,000 pesos.
Another issue this season has involved unlicensed sport-fishing boats offering their services to tourists for a much lower cost. A few pulled the “take your money and run’ scam while others who did take the tourists out did do on very old, oversold/overcrowded vessels in poor condition and without a permit, lacking any first-aid gear, life jackets or radios in case they needed to call for help.
Authorities emphasized that tourists should be aware of any supposed tours or tour operators that look suspicious or are overly aggressive and instead seek out certified tour guides. Be sure to avoid tour guides who demand the money upfront for a tour that will launch from a different location / dock or at a later time.
On a positive note, the head of the Business Coordinating Council of Los Cabos, Julio Castillo, commented that progress has been made to control and secure the main tourist area of Los Cabos in recent weeks, including the marina area, which is where most of the coyotes were detected.
He explained that in the first half of the year, the Comprehensive Port Administration received between 10 to 15 complaints each month regarding fraudulent tour guides and scams.
Since June however, only one complaint has been made and after which authorities were able to locate the scammer and the money was returned to their victim.
Authorities are keen to spread awareness as the number of tourist in Los Cabos continues to grow, with up to 7 million expected this year including more than one million US tourists who have booked an upcoming winter vacation in the region.
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