Travel Missteps: “It’s a Gift” Scam at Pompeii

The view of Vesuvius.

Pompeii is an incredible site. Covered over by Vesuvius’ explosion in 79 AD, it wasn’t rediscovered until 1748 and has had ongoing digs since then. I had spent a semester studying ancient Roman architecture and this frozen city is a perfect place to relive the past.

But like most amazing tourist sights, the entry/exit is swarmed with souvenir and chotskies sellers. After heading out of the bathroom an old local woman slipped a shell bracelet onto my wrist. She said it was a gift. Immediately I knew this was not the case, and tried to hand it back to her, but it was like her hands was magic and she wouldn’t take it back. The “gift” wasn’t for me…it was for “my friend, my sister, buy something nice for your mother!” She then started demanding money for the “expensive” bracelet. I was still shy back then, and I was essentially hidden from anyone else’s view in a corner by the bathrooms and had no way to get help. I was so stressed out, trying to keep an eye on my camera and bag just in case she was trying to pickpocket me. I pleaded “I’m a poor college student!” She then started screaming and I just pressed a 10 Euro note in her hands and ran.

A few minutes later, my father also turned the corner from exiting the bathroom and didn’t fare much better. He presented a ugly red-coral necklace to my mother. I just looked at it, and asked if the pushy old woman had also forced him to buy it. She had also cornered him, and he gave her 20 Euro to get past her.

This experience was frightening but in the grand scheme of things not as bad as other scams. It was a great lesson and I’ve learned better ways on how to handle the situation:

• Firstly, I am no longer shy and so know how to better speak up.
• One tactic is to simply be aware of the surroundings, and don’t let people place items in your hands. Its natural to try to catch something that someone hands you. But if you don’t accept the item, you don’t have to deal with the aftermath.
• Another option is to place the item on the ground and high tail it out of the situation.

In any case, just stay calm, and realize that the person is likely pretty desperate to try this scam.

Travel Missteps is an every-other week series on how sometimes part of the journey is making mistakes and getting lost.