Now that the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, travel has started to pick up again. However, there's a tourist scam to be aware of, especially if you're headed to Bali, a popular destination for backpackers and digital nomads. It has gained notoriety for the presence of unscrupulous money changers.
These money changers typically set up makeshift stalls along the main roads in Bali. The scam unfolds like this: a tourist (the victim) hands over a US dollar bill or Euro to the money changer in exchange for Indonesian Rupees. The money changer then gives the tourist the exchanged money in two separate stacks, one by one. After the tourist counts the first stack, the money changer provides the second stack, all while pretending to recount the first stack. Here's the catch: during this act, the money changer discreetly removes a few notes and places them in their drawer before returning the first stack to the tourist (the victim). The tourist normally will not notice that the 1st stack has less notes than what was originally counted and walks away getting scammed.
Sometimes, the tourist notices that he was fleece and demands the money changer to give back the missing notes but the money changer will claim that the notes taken away was for commission (10-20%) fee.