As the Christmas holiday begin throughout the world, the true marker for its arrival in Cartagena, Colombia, is the increase in price gouging and straight-up scams in the beautiful port city. Cartagena is enjoying the influx of foreigners and domestic traveler’s as well while also enjoying the boost in cash. The only problem is the city is plagued with unscrupulous business owners that are charging inflated rates to unsuspecting tourists.
Argentine Scam Victims
Through social media, two Argentine tourists reported the excessive charge they were victims of on Thursday afternoon at a cocktail bar in Playa Blanca, an island area of Cartagena.
The tourists claim they were charged seven million pesos for consuming two lemonades. “We went to Playa Blanca yesterday, ordered two lemonades, each costing 35,000 pesos, so the total should have been 70,000 pesos (around 15 to 20 dollars). We paid with the mobile card machine and returned to Cartagena. This morning, while we were in the taxi, we received a text message notification of the transaction on our bank account, and we saw that there were two extra zeros. They charged us seven million pesos (around 1700 dollars!) instead of 70,000 pesos,” one of the tourists said.
The tourists have asked for the support of authorities to punish the cocktail bar and to refund the extra money they were charged.
Island of Baru Tourists
“We arrived this summer and went on a tour of the Rosario Islands. We bought mango lemonades, and the man showed us on his phone that the prices were correct. But when we checked our bank statements today, there were additional zeros,” said the anonymous victims of the alleged scam.
The other case of fraudulent charging occurred on Baru Island, where a family reported being charged five million pesos (over 1200 dollars) for five meals and drinks. They stated on social media that they were charged 1,475,000 (close to 400 dollars) pesos for the five red snapper fish, which comes down to 295,000 pesos per fish.
In addition, they were charged an exaggerated amount for the drinks. Each caipirinha and piña colada cost 125,000 pesos, each lemonade cost 75,000 pesos, and beers were priced at 20,000 pesos. They were also charged 1,200,000 pesos for waiter service and 415,000 pesos for restaurant service.
In other words, watch out for those extra zeroes in Cartagena, CO. Do yourself a favour, perhaps, carry cash to be done with the issue at the time of paying up for a meal.