Scams in Vietnam, and the handful worth knowing
On this page
Most scam lists for Vietnam read like each other because their authors copy each other. Half of what they warn about stopped happening years ago. What is left is small, specific and mostly about price.
None of it is dangerous. All of it is avoidable with one habit: agree the number before the thing starts.
Which ones do travellers still meet?
Five, and they cluster in the same few streets — the Old Quarter in Hanoi, District 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, the beachfronts and the airport arrival halls.
| The trick | Where | What it costs you | The fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fast or rigged taxi meter | Airports, tourist streets | Two to five times the fare | Book in an app |
| Cyclo price "per person" | Hanoi Old Quarter, Hue | 200,000 to 500,000 dong extra | Write the number down first |
| The coconut yoke photo | Ben Thanh, Old Quarter | 50,000 to 200,000 dong | Do not take the pole |
| Note swap at payment | Markets, taxis, bars | 480,000 dong a time | Count in the light |
| Invented motorbike damage | Rental shops, beach towns | 1,000,000 dong upward | Photograph it on pickup |
How does the taxi trick work?
Two ways, and both are about the number rather than the ride. Either the meter runs fast, or the route grows while the meter runs at the normal rate. A trip that should be 80,000 dong arrives at 300,000, and the argument happens at the kerb with your luggage already on the pavement.
The tell is the start. A normal meter opens around 12,000 to 15,000 dong; one that opens at some large figure tells you the rest of the ride. Get out at the kerb rather than argue at the destination. Which cars are safe to take at all is a different question, and the safety guide answers that one.
The airport version is worth naming separately, because it is where the price is set before you have any bearings. Drivers approaching you inside the terminal are not the official rank, and the company name on the door is sometimes a near-copy of a real one, a letter or a colour off. Walk out to the marked line or the app pickup point.
What about the cyclo?
The three-wheeled cyclo is a genuine part of the Hanoi street and also the single most common overcharge in the country. The pattern never changes. You agree a price, you take the ride, and the price turns out to mean per person, or per fifteen minutes, or one way only.
Agree the whole number, for the whole party, for the whole ride, and write it on a phone screen where the driver can see it. Do that and a cyclo hour is a pleasant thing to have done. Skip it and you are negotiating in two languages after the fact, which nobody wins.
The same holds for a hired scooter, a boat, or a car with a driver. Settle the number, the hours and what it covers before anything moves.
Where does the money itself catch people?
At the moment of payment, and this costs visitors more than any deliberate trick. The 20,000 dong note and the 500,000 dong note are both blue polymer and close in size. In a dim shop, at speed, you hand over one instead of the other — sometimes by mistake, occasionally not.
Keep the large notes in a separate pocket from the small ones and count in the light. The money guide covers withdrawal limits and which ATMs charge what; this is the part of it that happens in a doorway rather than at a machine.
Two smaller versions: change given in a currency you did not pay in, and a market stall quoting a price per hundred grams when you assumed a kilo. Neither is common. Both vanish if you repeat the number back before handing anything over.
Is the motorbike damage claim real?
The damage claim is real, and it is the most expensive item on this page. A scooter comes back with a scratch it already had, and the shop wants a million dong or more to settle. Your passport is the leverage, which is why so many rentals ask for it.
Do not leave the passport. Offer a photocopy, a cash deposit, or another form of ID, and walk away from a shop that insists — plenty do not. Then photograph the whole bike before you ride off, including the panels under the seat, with the shop in the frame.
Anything that genuinely breaks later is cheap to mend at a roadside repair stand, and a receipt from one is evidence the damage was not yours. The motorbiking guide covers the licence question, which is the more serious risk of the two.
What is not a scam?
Several things travellers report as one. The lottery seller who approaches your table is the most frequent of them: a ve so ticket is a fixed 10,000 dong with the price printed on it, and nobody can overcharge you for one.
The packet of wet wipes and the dish of peanuts on a restaurant table cost money once you open them, which is normal here rather than a trick. A price that rises for a foreigner at an unmarked market stall is haggling, and the markets guide explains where that is expected.
Service charges on a bill in a smart restaurant are legitimate, and tipping is not obligatory anywhere. A driver taking you past a shop he has an arrangement with is annoying, not theft, and one firm no ends it.
What do you actually do about it?
Little, most of the time. The sums stay small in dollars: at about 26,000 dong to the dollar, the cyclo overcharge that ruins somebody's afternoon comes to around ten. Pay the number you agreed, put the money down, and go.
For anything larger, the hotel desk is the useful ally: staff will call a rental shop, a driver or a restaurant on your behalf, and a local voice ends most disputes in a minute. The safety guide has the emergency numbers for the rare case that is not a pricing argument at all.
FAQ
Is Vietnam full of scams?
No, and the lists suggesting otherwise mostly copy each other. What exists is a small set of price-based tricks aimed at visitors in four or five tourist districts, none of them dangerous and almost all of them ended by agreeing a number before anything starts.
What is the most common scam in Vietnam?
A ride whose price was never agreed. Taxis with a fast meter, cyclos that quote per person after the fact, and airport cars with a company name one letter off the real one are all the same trick wearing different clothes.
How do you spot a rigged taxi meter?
Watch where it starts. A meter that opens around 12,000 to 15,000 dong is normal; one that opens at a large figure has been set, and the moment to get out is at the kerb rather than at the destination. An app that quotes the total before you accept avoids the question entirely.
Is the money confusing enough to be a problem?
Yes, and this costs people more than any deliberate trick. The 20,000 and 500,000 dong notes are both blue polymer and similar in size, so a note handed back in dim light is easily the wrong one. Count in the light and hold big notes separately.
Should you leave your passport with a motorbike rental?
No. Offer a photocopy or a cash deposit instead. A passport held as security is what turns an invented scratch into a bill you cannot walk away from, and the rental has no legal claim on the document itself.
Are the tours sold on the street real?
Usually yes, but the name on the sign may not be. Well-known operators are copied shopfront by shopfront, so book through your accommodation or a company with a fixed office, and be suspicious of a price far below everyone else's.
What should you do if you are overcharged?
Pay what was agreed, put the money down, and leave without arguing. Nothing in this category is worth a confrontation, the sums are small in real terms, and a hotel or a restaurant with a reputation will usually settle a genuine dispute for you.