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India is always a kind and hospitable country. Tourists are welcomed happily and the general public will go out of their way to help tourists and make them feel safe. But there is always an exception to this rule. Especially in tourist places frequented by foreign tourists as this involves big money and foreign exchange. Hence,there will always be scoundrels and scammers to cheat the unsuspecting travelers. To escape these frauds, foreign tourists must be well informed on everything. Here are some of the most common tourist scams in Tiruvannamalai and other tourist places in India.
1) FAKE BEGGARS
The begging scam is popular in all temples and tourists places in India. In Tiruvannamalai, you can see these fake beggars near hotels, restaurants and especially near Ramana Ashram, Tiruvannamalai temples and in the Pradakshina (Girivalam) road around Arunachala Hill.
The fake beggars disguise themselves as holy men, sadhus, mentally retarded, handicapped, homeless and orphaned children. Many of these fake beggars are women and children too. Begging is a big business in Tiruvannamalai and other tourist’s places in India. It will make you sad to see a fake female beggar with a baby begging for money and children begging for food, clothes and books. They will earn your sympathy and guide unsuspecting tourists to small shops to buy them milk, food and books. These beggars have a contract with the shop and they return these products to the same shop and get money from them. 99.9% of these beggars are fakes and scams. They make a living by begging to foreign tourists and travelers visiting Tiruvannamalai.
Both foreign and Indian tourists encounter these beggars every day and everywhere. Women especially must be careful with these fakes, as many times they are harassed, eve teased and attacked by these fake beggars.
True sadhus never beg and they get their free food, medical checkups and clothing from many ashrams and other kind people. The government of India takes many initiatives to help them. But unfortunately fake and lazy people prefer to beg and make a living rather than to work and make a honest living.
2) FAKE SADHUS & FAKE SWAMI’S
The most popular scams in Tiruvannamalai and in other holy cities in India, is to scam tourists and devotees using fake spiritual claims. It is common in Tiruvannamalai to build small temples, ashrams to create, promote and do propaganda for fake swami’s claiming siddhi, and other super natural powers to earn the tourist’s trust, mislead them with false promises and later cheat them of their money and wealth. They will make them do Pooja’s and take money from tourists in various forms. They trap few ignorant foreign tourists for propaganda and mislead people into thinking that they have international tourists as their devotees to gain trust with the public. There is a large group of people and even mafia who are involved in these activities and they publicize and do propaganda in social media to create faith among the locals and also the international tourists.
Decline to allow anyone to put flower bracelets or red / black / yellow string on your wrist while saying “it’s a gift or has special power”. These are not free and once you accept them, you will be asked to pay.
Also sometimes,when tourists walk up to Skandashram or Virupaksha cave at the top to Arunachala hills, many fake guides,sadhus and mafia will tell you that there is a great swami / saint sitting nearby and meditating.They will ask you to go and get his blessings. These are all well organized and orchestrated scams to cheat unsuspecting tourists.
Note: Foreign tourists are advised not to be trapped into fake religious rituals and fake people claiming super natural powers.The importance of Arunachala and Ramana Maharshi is to seek the self inside you and not to be lured by the outer gimmicks and publicity of these fake people claiming siddhi and super natural powers.
3) DONATIONS AND CHARITY SCAMS
Another common scam that is used in Tiruvannamalai and all other tourist places in India is requesting foreign tourists for donation as charity for orphanage, elderly homes, animal shelters, handicapped and disabled organizations, education, religious events, building temples, schools etc. Most are fake people and fake organizations. They are not even registered with the government of India.
If you wish to donate to any organization, check with the ministry of social welfare online to check if these organizations are registered with them. Many will show certificate’s which are fake or invalid.Many will show basic trust deeds as proofs, which are of no use and they can be got by anyone easily. Check online on government websites for the registration. Many organizations will even show you a physical place and even real people, but the money you donate will never reach them. The owners of these fake organizations will use them for themselves.
Many scammers will use names that sound a lot like the names of real charities.
BE CAREFUL ABOUT DONATIONS! DON’T ENCOURAGE CHEATERS !!!
4) ORGANIZING TOURS / RETREATS / PRADAKSHINA (GIRIVALAM) / HIKING / CAMPING ON ARUNACHALA MOUNTAIN & INNER PATH
This is a scam used by guides and tour operators. Many foreign tourists are fooled by guides and travel agencies promising a tour / camping / Hiking / Pradakshina ( Girivalam – Circumambulation) in the inner forest path of Aruanchala hill. The government of India has banned entry into the forest sanctuary of Arunachala hill and also has banned Pradakshina in the inner path of the mountain which previously was used by many tourists to do Pradakshina (Girivalam). Many new foreign tourists are unaware of these government rules and pay huge amounts of money to guides and travel agents who promise them for touring / camping and retreats inside the Aruanchala hill forest sanctuary. Many tourists have been penalized by the police and huge fines have levied for trespassing.Some tourists are even arrested and taken into police custody for trespassing. The guides will escape and never offer any help when caught by the police. It is a unnecessary hassle and harassment for foreign tourists and a huge loss of time and money.
These guides and travel agents also take many new tourist guides to unimportant places to benefit their own needs. So tourists make themselves aware of the real tourist spots in Tiruvannamalai and not solely rely on guides and travel agents.
The only legal path for Pradaskhina ( Girivalam – circumambulation) of Arunachala hill is the main road around the hill. For those who wish to climb Arunachala hill to visit or meditate in the Virupaksha cave and Skandashram can walk the single path leading from Ramana Ashram up to the hill. The gates to climb the hill is opened from 6 am to 5 pm (17.00)
5) LOVE & MARRIAGE
Tourists and devotees travel to Tiruvannamalai for spiritual growth and blessings in the holy land of Arunachala and Ramana Maharshi. It has a peaceful and fairy tale setting around it. There are many bad men con-men, both youth and elderly who use love and marriage as a profession to lure innocent and unsuspecting women into false promise of love and marriage only with the intention of sex ,money or visa to live in another country. They introduce themselves as spiritual devotes or as a part of the travel & tourism industry in Tiruvannamalai. Most of them are poor or uneducated. They become friends with foreign tourists on social media or during their visit to Tiruvannamalai.
Many female tourists frequently find themselves wooed by unbridled flattery, followed by invitations for tea and coffee. Daily chats and calls continue with promises of love and marriage. Some tourists believe they have found love in this magical setting by allowing themselves to be fooled by men whose only intention is sex and money. These women decide to stay on, putting their lives at home on hold to spend more time with their Indian boyfriends.
Once they spend a few nights with the men, the women realize that these men slowly start requesting for money, stating all kinds of lies. Then, the illusion of love dissolves into a nightmare, leaving them broken-hearted along with loss of money. For many it is worse. They become victims of violence, blackmail and sexual assault.
Also, many foreign tourists, both men and women who wish to continue to stay in India for longer periods of time, try to marry a local Indian as a legal course to stay permanently in India. For few, the fake marriage arrangements in exchange for money with the local person become really bad and leads to blackmail, violence and sexual assault. There is a group that works as a mafia in this love and marriage scams.
Once can always see many people making contact on social media and always trying to impress foreign tourists with photos of Arunachala, Ramana Maharshi and Tiruvannamalai, to create a false impression that they are great devotees and spiritual person. While visiting or traveling in Tiruvannamalai, you can find many people pretending to help and trying to pick up conversations to get friendly with a selfish and ulterior motive.
Everyone knows about the scamming — But Tiruvannamalai, Rishikesh, Varanasi and other spiritual tourist spots in India are all great spiritual wonders of the world, which means – “Tourists and Money”. So nobody cares.
OTHER COMMON SCAMS AND THE NEED FOR GENERAL AWARENESS
- Taxicab / Auto rickshaws / Tour guides / Travel Agents
a) Tour Guides
Someone coming up to you saying they want to give you directions, or help you find something, is going to ask you for money after. If someone begins to tell you about the history or spiritual importance will work his way to be your tour guide and demand money later. As soon as they start talking, tell them you are not interested. They will say “No, no, I’m just being your friend”, but they are not your friends.
Unfortunately if you do need a guide, make sure that you always negotiate a price before any services are performed, otherwise you may be asked to pay an inflated price at the end. In addition, always be wary of anyone who approaches you to give you advice, directions, or help. They are sure to ask for money, even if they deny it!
Do not trust any of the tour guides blindly. They will all claim and tell lies that they will take you to places that most people don’t know, but you should to pay them more than the usual fee. Don’t trust the guides that say that they will take you to the forest areas and inner path of Arunachala mountain as these places are banned by the government of India.
They will claim that they know people who are siddhi’s and powerful people, and also will try to take you to places of special power, pooja, horoscope, astrology etc and try to take away money from tourists in many ways.
These guys can be extremely manipulative in nature and can charge you hefty amounts if you agree. Avoid these people at all costs and travel by yourself. You can take the help of bystanders, pedestrians and local people if you need to search and visit this place. Tourists do not really need a guide to travel and explore Tiruvannamalai.
b) Taxi
Most Taxicabs in Tiruvannamalai are safe, but yet there are people who will charge money atrociously and arbitrarily for dirty, cheap and small taxi’s which will have bad drivers and the Air condition will never work. On thing, that the tourists must be careful during covid-19 is to check the travel pass provided by the government during covid- 19 travels from one state to another. Many taxi operators and drivers will tell lies that they have the pass and will try to show a fake pass. Many foreign tourists have been harassed by the police when the taxi is stopped and found to have a fake pass. If caught with fake pass, the foreign tourists will be sent to expensive hotels for quarantine and will be asked to do covid tests at a very high price. The whole trip can become a nightmare if you take the wrong taxi.
One of the other common tourist scams in Tiruvannamalai and the rest of India is, when traveling in your taxi or auto rickshaw to a hotel / resort /spa / shopping or tourist spot of your choice, the drivers will behave kindly and caring and then advice you that these places are not good and that they know a place that is much more better and cheaper too. In some cases, they will tell you that the place you chose has shut down or tell you scary lies to make you change your mind. The best way to get out of this situation without creating a fuss is to tell the driver that you’ve already paid an advance and your friends or family is waiting for you there.
They may then even try and take you to a different place with the same name, so it’s best to investigate and be aware of every place in advance. Unfortunately, India is not the best place to ask your taxi or auto rickshaw driver to take you to the best local food or shopping in town he’ll just take you to his relative’s place. If you get to know a driver and use him often, then you can start to build trust. But always be aware and never have blind trust on any one while traveling in Tiruvannamalai.
c) AUTO RICKSHAW
Tiruvannamalai Auto Rickshaws generally do not run on meters and there is no fixed price.Many Auto Rickshaw drivers are honest. But there are many who are will try to cheat and ask where you want to go and then quote an arbitrary and high prices to foreign tourists as fare. If you feel the price if unfair and very high, then walk away to get another auto rickshaw.
The other scam with auto rickshaw driver’s is that they will try to make a conservation and then start saying they are poor and how they suffer with their family and children with no money. They will say all sorts of lies and make up all kinds of false stories. Recently, a tourist from Netherlands narrated a horrifying incident where the auto driver openly proposed to have sex with her.
d) Travel agents
Many Travel Agents in Tiruvannamalai are unauthorized agents and will try to organize tours in a very unorganized and costly method. But eventually tourists will be taken to unimportant places and made to travel in cheap vehicles and bad hotels. These travel agents get a commission from everyone and only work in their own interests. Foreign tourists must always make travel arrangements only from reputed and authorized travel agents.
Do not book train tickets or flight tickets with individual travel agents or unknown travel agencies as they may provide fake train and flight tickets. Before paying, check your PNR number with the Airways or railways to confirm the ticket.
Note: Most people in the travel industry, like taxi drivers, tour guides, auto rickshaw driver and people working in the travel industry in Tiruvannamalai will always try to get intimate with female tourists. So tourists must try to remain professional with them and never entertain personal interaction or reveal personal information to these people.
e) Billing Scams
Some restaurant, hotels.food joints, shops will bill you wrongly with a intention to cheat. Many tourists will not check the bills and pay the money. But if someone checks and finds that the bill is wrong with a higher value than the real value, then the manager or owner will quickly acknowledge the mistake and take the said items off the bill. But, again they will not change the service charge and luxury tax which was calculated on the previously inflated amount will remain. So ask for a new bill to avoid these scams..
f) Counterfeit / Invalid currency scams
Giving Counterfeit / Invalid / Torn currency when changing higher currency while shopping.
Since foreigners are not acquainted with Indian notes, scammers use this opportunity to fool these tourists into exchanging their national currency with fake Indian rupee notes. Scammers may approach you with offers claiming to provide better exchange rates but never fall for the offer and foreign tourists must only exchange foreign currency with the registered forex traders and money exchange people. Always get a receipt for the money exchanged in forex.
While shopping,there are few people who will take your money as payment and then say you haven’t paid enough, or give the change with a counterfeit money / Invalid / Torn currency in such a way that you will not notice them. So whenever you change or receive a change after shopping or paying anywhere, make sure you count and check the money after receiving the change.
g) Bribe scams
For the large part, Government officials and police in Tiruvannamalai will not disturg foreign tourists but sometimes, there are people who will try to take bribe from you if you are unfamiliar to Indian rules and regulations.
Many foreign tourist renting scooters have experienced this with the police stopping them and asking for license. As most tourists don’t have a international license, they may be forced to pay the bribe to be free of the hassle.
Be aware of tour guides and travel agents who claim that forest officials can be bribed to walk into the Arunachala mountain sanctuary or do pradakshina in the inner path of Arunachala mountain.
Be aware of any police person asking for bribes from unsuspecting tourists. Do not pay bribes and ask for proper identification and a clear explanation as why you must pay. Tell them to speak to your embassy / consulate regarding this. It will create fear and act as deterrent to the police not to ask for bribe or harass you.
h) Spa / Massages / Therapy scams
This is another common and funny scam. Many places in Tiruvannamalai will advertise and call themselves as Ayurvedic massage therapist and many other types of massage healings and therapy. It may be a big hotel or a small shop but in reality 99.9 % of massages are not Ayurvedic nor any professional massage therapy. They charge big amounts in the name of Auryveda message and mislead tourists. Also in India, take note that only female masseur will massage women and male masseur will massage for men. Foreign tourists are recommended to use the services of well recognized and authorized Ayurveda and regular massage parlors.
i) Local shops selling fake pashmina – Cashmere
As you take a stroll to shop in Tiruvannamalai, many shop owners and tour guides will ask you if you need a Pashmina – “Pashmina? Cashmere ? Only one thousand rupees!” You will know immediately that you can never get real cashmere that less and so you know immediately that it is a fake. You can negotiate him down to 500 but you’re still overpaying for the product which is a fake silk blend. They may be beautiful and cheap. But they are fake.
J) SIM card scams
When buying a Indian SIM card you need to fill out paperwork, give a copy of your passport, and a 2×2 photograph,( These days they take your real photo on the mobile and upload).Always go to a authorized phone store. If anyone says that they don’t need paper work and hand you a SIM card, beware! It may be a used SIM card or a fake one. As a tourist, it might be best to go straight to the main office of Airtel / Vodafone / Jio / BSNL or any service you prefer. As far as India is concerned, the most dependable ones are Airtel.
Final word-
To stay safe, foreign tourists must do a good research in advance about the place you are visiting in order to avoid unforeseen circumstances. On the whole, Tiruvannamalai and its people love and welcome foreign tourists. It is just only a few cheaters in the disguise of travel and tourism industry try to scam unsuspecting tourists, who have come to enjoy spirituality in Tiruvannamalai. Do not let these scams scare or deter you. Now that you are well informed about the common tourist scams in Tiruvannamalai, you will be well prepared to handle and avoid these scammers.