Scams in China: the five setups, and how to end them
Five situations account for almost every report, and each one has a moment where walking away still works. This is a page about that moment.
The short answer
Most trips meet none of this. The ones that do meet it in five places.
- How common — Most visitors to China meet none of these setups; the reports cluster in tourist districts and at transport hubs rather than across the country.
- The five — The tea invitation, transport from an airport or station, tickets and guides outside a gate, nightlife, and unsolicited help with money.
- The amounts — ¥370 for tea recurs in reports, a nightlife bill runs into thousands, and an unmetered car from a station adds ¥150 to ¥400.
- Ending it — Four sentences in pinyin end most of them: bù yòng le, qìng dǎ biǎo, wǒ zhǐ àn càidǎn shàng de jiàgé fù, wǒ yào bàojǐng. Do not pay under protest; offer to settle at a police station.
- Complaining — 12315 handles consumer disputes, 12345 the municipal ones and 110 anything happening now, and the online 12315 form asks for a mainland mobile number.
What happens here is commercial rather than violent: scripted, priced, and concentrated in tourist districts and at transport hubs.
The amounts are usually small enough to swallow and large enough to spoil a day: ¥370 for tea is the figure that recurs; a nightlife bill can run into thousands.
Treat it as an etiquette problem rather than a danger. The people running these setups are selling, not threatening. Being rude costs nothing here; being polite can cost ¥900.
For the emergencies that are not commercial, our emergency guide has the numbers.
The five setups
How each one starts, the line where you leave, and what it usually costs.
1. The student, the exhibition, the tea
A friendly approach in English near a landmark: a student who wants to practise, or an art student whose teacher is showing work nearby. The exhibition is two rooms, and the tea that follows is charged by the leaf. Bills of a few hundred yuan are routine, and the number arrives at the end.
Leave when: the destination is a teahouse, a gallery with no other visitors, or anywhere you are asked to go through a door rather than stay in the street. You are allowed to say no to the invitation and keep walking.
2. Transport from the airport or station
A driver approaches inside the terminal and quotes a fare, three times the real one. The variant is a licensed car with a meter the driver insists is broken, or a route that circles the ring road twice.
Leave when: the driver will not start the meter, or cannot show a licence card. Walk to the official taxi rank, or order through Didi where the fare is agreed before you get in.
3. Tickets, guides, and today's closure
“The museum is closed today. Come, I show you a better place.” It works because it is sometimes true: sites do close for maintenance and do sell out by timed slot. The other version is a paper ticket sold above face value outside the gate, or a guide offering to skip a queue that does not exist.
Leave when: the ticket is not sold at the gate window or an official mini-program, or the closure is claimed by someone with a tour to sell. A real closure is posted, and the staff do not negotiate.
4. The bar, and the person who suggested it
A contact met online proposes a drink somewhere quiet. The bar is small, the menu has no printed prices, and the bill arrives in the thousands. A second person joins, and the bill grows.
Leave when: you are asked to go to a venue you did not choose, or the menu has no prices. Pay for what you ordered at a price you can read, and ask for the police if the number is refused.
5. Help with money, and the better rate
Someone offers to help at an ATM, to break a note, or to change money above the bank's rate. In the ATM version the helper watches the PIN. In the exchange version the notes are counted twice, by two pairs of hands.
Leave when: anyone stands close enough to see the keypad, or offers a rate the bank does not. Use an ATM inside a bank branch, and exchange at a bank counter.
Five, not fifty. A report that fits none of them is usually a pricing disagreement.
What it costs, by scene
Amounts people report, not a price list.
| Scene | Amount reported, November 2026 | Where it happens | Stop action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tea invitation | ¥200 to ¥1,500; ¥370 recurs | Around major sights and pedestrian streets | Refuse the invitation; if seated, ask for the price list and call 110 |
| Airport or station car | ¥150 to ¥400 above the meter | Terminal exits, station forecourts | Official rank, or Didi with the fare agreed first |
| Fake ticket or guide | 1.5 to 2 times face value | Outside gates, especially at timed-entry sites | Buy at the window or the site's own mini-program |
| Bar bill | ¥1,000 to ¥5,000 | Venues suggested by a new acquaintance | Choose the venue yourself; leave before ordering |
| Money help | Whatever is in the account | Street ATMs, currency counters | Cover the keypad; use a branch ATM or a bank counter |
Indicative, November 2026, drawn from reports in travel forums and from cases people describe to us. Nobody publishes a register of these, so treat the figures as orders of magnitude.
The pattern is not the amount. Each needs your consent twice: going somewhere with someone, and paying a number you did not agree to.
How to end it in the moment
Four sentences, in English and in pinyin. Say them flatly and keep walking.
1. No, thank you. I am not interested.
Bù yòng le, xièxie. Wǒ bù gǎn xìngqù.
The first refusal is the one that works. Do not explain, do not apologise, and do not slow down.
2. Please use the meter.
Qǐng dǎ biǎo.
For a taxi. If the answer is no, get out before the car moves. Photograph the plate as you do it.
3. I will pay what the menu says.
Wǒ zhǐ àn càidān shàng de jiàgé fù.
For a bill that arrived higher than the menu. Ask for the printed menu again, and photograph both.
4. I am calling the police.
Wǒ yào bàojǐng.
Dial 110 and hold the phone up. This line ends most of these conversations within a minute, and the police do attend commercial disputes in tourist areas.
Save the four sentences on your phone before you land. Reading them aloud beats mangling them from memory.
How to complain afterwards
Three channels, and what each one is actually for.
| Channel | What it handles | How to reach it |
|---|---|---|
| 12315 | Consumer disputes: overcharging, false pricing, refusal to refund, counterfeit goods | The national platform at 12315.cn, or the hotline. The online form asks for a mainland mobile number |
| 12345 | Anything municipal, including tourism complaints, taxi conduct and hotel disputes | Hotline, by area code. Reachable from abroad on +86 and the city code |
| 110 | Extortion at the point of payment, threats, being held at a venue | Police. Ask for an English-speaking officer; one is usually found |
No Chinese number is the usual blocker. Three routes around it: the hotel front desk, which will place the call and let you use its number as the contact; a written complaint to the local market regulator, whose email is published on the city government site; and the booking platform, which for hotels and attractions has more leverage than you do.
Expect a reply within a week for 12315 cases with a receipt, and longer without one. Refunds are common when the evidence is a photograph of two different prices.
For card payments, your bank's chargeback route runs in parallel and on its own timetable. Our payment guide covers the transaction records WeChat Pay and Alipay keep.
What is not a scam
Four things that read as a trick to a first-time visitor and are not.
Bargaining
In markets and souvenir streets the first price is an opening, and walking away is part of the conversation. The price you agree is the price. This is not dishonesty; it is the format.
Service charges and tea fees
Sit-down restaurants add 10 to 15 per cent, sometimes labelled a service fee. In Guangdong a tea charge (茶位费) of ¥2 to ¥10 a head is standard and appears on the bill. Both should be printed, not announced.
Menu price, then a different total
If the bill exceeds the menu, that is a real problem with a real remedy, and it is a pricing dispute rather than a setup: 12315 handles it. If the difference is one dish you did not order, it is usually a language failure at the ordering stage.
Ordering by QR code
A code on the table opens a menu, you pay before or after. It looks improvised and is the standard system in most cities. If the code leads to a page asking for a bank password, that is not the restaurant's system.
If it already happened
Three situations, three different responses.
You paid, and the amount was small.
The fix: file with 12315 anyway if you have a receipt, and tell your bank. Under ¥200 the practical value is the record rather than the refund, which matters if the same venue appears in other complaints.
You want it on record for insurance.
The fix: ask the police for a written record at the station, not at the scene. Bring your passport and the payment record; this takes an afternoon and produces a document insurers accept.
Your passport or phone was taken.
The fix: 110 first, then your embassy for a replacement travel document, then the exit-entry bureau for the visa entry. Our emergency guide sets out the order.
Skip naming the venue online before you have the receipt. A place that knows you have published will stop answering.
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions people ask before and after.
Compiled 2 November 2026 from community reports collected between 18 October and 1 November 2026, the State Administration for Market Regulation's 12315 platform, and city 12345 service pages. Amounts are reported figures rather than official statistics, and no authority publishes a register of these incidents. Complaint procedures were checked in November 2026 and change by city.