when i was in Barcelona last year for vacation, a very strange thing happened to me.

two men came up to me in the middle of the streets and they were asking me for directions. and then another man approached and flashed what i presumed to be a ‘police badge’ and he started questioning me, asking if i know if those two men are wanted for fraud, if i have my passport with me, where i am staying and all that jazz.

what he didnt know is that before the ‘interogation’, i’ve already seen these three men talking to each other. and come on! asking a tourist for directions!! how stupid are these scammers! in the end, i told him that i don’t have my passport with me and if he wants to see it, he can walk back with me (my hotel was about 15 mins walk away). i didn’t think he would so i just walked away.

seems that apart from the beautiful sceneries, Barcelona is also notorious for its scams and frauds. walking along the beach, there were immigrants (illegal?) selling pirated luxury items in a suitcase. one eye at the customers and another at approaching policemen. i’m not sure if this is something that could be ‘fixed’ by the government, but this definitely cannot be good for tourism.