Scam City

Scam City is a show which started airing on Travel + Escape in June 2012 which crosses the globe visiting ten of the world’s most popular cities in an effort to expose the darker side of tourism. The host, Conor Woodman, meets with questionable characters ranging from unethical cab drivers to aggressive pimps as he witnesses and experiences the travel experience of parting with personal property and money. He intentionally falls victim to these alleged scammers and says "yes" to every hooker and pocket jeweler in the city. The show aims to expose the local adaptations of common scams - from pick pockets, expensive cab fares, to bars luring people in with adult entertainment at a high cost.

Scam City has also been aired on the National Geographic Channel.^[1][2]

In Australia, Scam City is shown on subscription TV channel Nat Geo Adventure, which airs on channel 628 on the Foxtel network.^[3]

Controversy

Prague

According to Prague's criminal police department, all events depicted in the Prague episode were staged and the scammers were actually hired actors, as Czech Prima TV first revealed on October 2013.^[4][5] The Prague Police spokesperson, Ms. Jana Rösslerová, happened to see the episode on TV and immediately informed her colleagues.^[6] The Prague Police started to investigate the "crimes" depicted in the episode. They found and interrogated people featured in the documentary and checked all places where the crimes should have taken place. The result of their work was discovery that the whole reportage was fiction and staff shooting the documentary hired actors and extras for the roles of scammers.^[6] According to the police, the night-club presented as a place with prostitutes and blackmailers has been closed for several years and the company Eurotaxi, used in the document as an example of taxi overpricing in Prague, went bankrupt in 2011, a year before the show was created.^[6]

Conor Woodman was requested by local police to give an explanation, yet he refused to do so stating he was too busy, and Interpol was requested for assistance in this matter. The city of Prague is, as of October 2013, considering to take legal actions against National Geographic for damaging its reputation.^[6]

National Geographic Channel insists that the documentary is not a fake, and that all persons depicted in the documentary were informed after the filming.^[7]

Czech video portal Stream.cz made miniseries inspired by the Scam City documentary. Their crew got into similar situations and were sometimes scammed with even worse results.^[8] They also revealed some errors in the statements made by Prague officials. For example, the notorious bar with prostitutes was still open at the time the original documentary was made.^[9]

Amsterdam

The next season a similar discussion occurred, this time involving the city of Amsterdam. The AT5 cameraman Frank Buis revealed this episode is also acted, and the scammers were hired actors. In the video he has posted to YouTube this has been confirmed by some actors^[10]

The mayor of Amsterdam Eberhart van der Laan made a public statement regarding this. On jan 29th he demanded rectification and, if necessary, the mayor said he would resort to legal action to have the city's good name cleared “The city has been insulted. This looks like scam television,” the mayor said.^[11]

Conner denies the accusation on his Twitter : 'O come on Mr Mayor! Convicted criminals we caught on camera in the Amsterdam ep say they were only 'acting'. You believe that?!! #whatever ' ^[12]

Season 1 (2012)

#	Country	Episode	Details
01	Argentina	Buenos Aires	Scams involve pick pocketing, clip joints, vice girls and taxi scams. Most prevalent is the counterfeit money scam.
02	Czech Republic	Prague	Scammers may disguise as beautiful girls, harmless hawkers and friendly taxi drivers.
03	Brazil	Rio de Janeiro	During Carnival time Rio's scammers come out to party (on tourists).
04	Spain	Barcelona	Creative thieves take what they can from unsuspecting tourists.
05	Italy	Rome	Conor uncovers an underworld feeding off the booming tourist scene.
06	India	Delhi	Conor meets medical 'doctors' who are very happy to treat his 'Delhi belly'.
07	Turkey	Istanbul	The exotic scenery of Istanbul gives a perfect environment for scammers to target vulnerable tourists.
08	Thailand	Bangkok	Conor uncovers a gem scam that involves a chain of scammers.
09	United States	Las Vegas	Tunnel dwellers who live in storm drains do plenty of scamming on the strip of Vegas.
10	Morocco	Marrakech	Marrakech can be maze-like without a guide, however are the guides as genuine as they seem?

Season 2 (2014)

#	Country	Episode	Details
01	United States	New Orleans	Conor discovers a range of scammers from street-level crooks to a sophisticated gambling racket with roots in organised crime(Razzle Dazzle aka Bingo Cajun)
02	Mexico	Mexico City	Conor heads out to discover more about the criminals who have killed, kidnapped and extorted their way through Mexico City's beautiful avenues.
03	United States	New York City	Conor finds that zero tolerance hasn't swept tourist scams from the streets (fake perfume, pick pocketing, Central Park Tourist Scam)
04	Netherlands	Amsterdam	Fake drugs,ATM Scams,Red light district, pick pocketing
05	Israel	Jerusalem	From questionable requests for charity at the Western Wall to pickpockets on the Mount of Olives, Conor discovers the darker side of Jerusalem.
06	India	Mumbai	In Mumbai, Conor experiences the mother of all taxi scams minutes after his arrival from the airport.
07	France	Paris
08	England	London	Conor goes undercover in his home town of London to discover a whole new side to a city he thought he knew so well.
09	Colombia	Bogota	Conor searches for a deadly zombie drug that renders its victims helpless as he explores the underside of Colombia's largest city.
10	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	Conor gets more than he bargains for when he goes undercover in Hong Kong searching for scams and becomes a sugar daddy to a young woman.

External links

• Official website

Further reading

Interview with Scam City's Conor Woodman^[13]

References