How scammers use the fear of being rude to manipulate victims
An in-depth look at the Egyptian papyrus scam
Scammers often exploit the politeness and unfamiliarity of tourists to execute their schemes, one such being the infamous “papyrus scam” in Egypt.
This scam cleverly uses tourists’ fear of being perceived as rude to manipulate and entrap them into unwanted purchases.
The following interview details a firsthand account of such an experience, revealing how what appear as simple acts of hospitality and friendship can swiftly turn into a calculated scam targeting unsuspecting visitors.
Egypt has a reputation for being a place where tourist scams are common. John (a pseudonym) was well aware of this when he visited last year but says his initial positive impression of the country lulled him into a false sense of security and led him to believe these warnings were overblown.
He had just gotten out of a taxi near Tahrir Square when he was approached by a man offering to give him directions. He described the man, who claimed to be a museum curator, as looking like “an intellectual” and having exceptionally good English language skills.
Scamurai: How did he initially approach you?
John: He clearly saw me as I was walking and he came up to me and said “Hey, my friend, how are you? Welcome to Egypt,” that sort of thing. He asked me where I was from.
I said I was from London and he said he had a son that studied in Manchester. He asked me where I was going and told me to follow him. And it was genuinely the correct way, because I had already had it on Google Maps.
The unfortunate thing was that this guy’s shop was right on the way. He asked me to come in so he could quickly give me a business card.
Scamurai: How did he explain that he was a museum curator but also had a shop?
John: In that particular case, I didn’t really clock it.
Scamurai: You get to the shop, what are you thinking? Any alarm bells?
John: Not really. It was so perfectly executed. I assumed he would quickly fish out a business card from somewhere and I’d go on my way. I go into the shop and he disappears. I have no idea where he went. I didn’t see him again after that. Perhaps he left and tried to scope out the next victim. There was another guy, who was also a very good English speaker. He was incredibly charming and very well spoken, again one of the best English speakers I’ve heard throughout Egypt.
Scamurai: How does he explain the other guy disappearing?
John: At that point, that wasn’t part of the conversation. He gives me a bit of papyrus. This is where alarm bells start because nothing really comes for free, especially not in Egypt, right?
I say thank you but I don’t want it. He tells me he doesn’t care about money and it’s just a little gift to welcome me to Egypt. I don’t even want it but I don’t want to be rude after him insisting I take it.
Then one of his mates comes in and gives me some tea, which was a masterstroke because then I have to wait for it to cool down. I can’t leave until I drink the tea, and therefore I’m stuck there.
We talked a bit about Egypt. We talked about the UK. Then he started getting out some of his papyrus paintings. He went to great lengths to get loads and put it all on the floor. It was impossible to stand up and leave without stepping on one of these papyruses. Maybe that was a part of it as well.
Scamurai: Is he talking to you at the time? Do you notice any sort of change in his attitude?
John: There’s no change in the attitude. He said he wanted to show me some of his paintings and he puts them on the floor. But the moment he says that I know it’s going to be a very forced sales tactic. I tell them they’re nice but I don’t want any. I say I’m quite poor and don’t have any money.
He insists it’s not about money and he just wants to show me the paintings. He started asking me which ones I liked the best. I tell him they’re all very nice but he keeps asking me to pick one. I like cats so I picked one with the cat. He picks it up, takes a random brush from somewhere and starts writing on it. It’s hieroglyphics or something but he tells me it’s my name.
And I’m just sitting there knowing I’m done for because he’s personalised it for me and now I’m going to be forced into buying it. But I thought at least it probably won’t cost more than ten pounds and I’ll just pay him so I can leave with my head held high and without being too annoyed. I asked him how much it was and he still claims he doesn’t want any money for it.
Then he asked me to pick a second painting. At that point, I started to get a bit agitated. I tell him thank you but I don’t want any more and I’m not interested. But he keeps insisting so I pick one. He immediately gets it up and writes my girlfriend’s name on it. He’d asked about her name and the names of family members when we were talking before. I ask him to just tell me how much he wants.
He asks me how much I’m willing to pay and I say twenty pounds. He looks at me and says “200?” I repeat 20 and then he shows me a sign on the wall I hadn’t noticed saying each papyrus is 150 pounds. I tell him I don’t want it and he starts getting a bit aggressive and saying that he’s already put my name on it and I have to buy it. I offer him 50 pounds and we agree on 60.
Then this audacious guy picks up another one, says it’s for my brother and then writes a load of nonsense on it. Then he adds I can pay cash for this one. I walk out having been scammed out of about 80 pounds.
Scamurai: Once you’ve handed over the money, what’s his reaction?
John: He doesn’t really have one. He just looks like he’s just conducted a normal business transaction. Bear in mind, of course, that after I paid for the first two he gave me a third one and demanded cash. So he wasn’t actually done at that point.
Scamurai: Why didn’t you just get up and walk out sooner?
John: First of all, he was very charming. I did not want to be the one that was being rude, even though I knew he was scamming me. Secondly, when he was writing my name down, I thought if it’s just five or ten pounds I’d rather pay it and not be rude. I was actually thinking to myself while I was making the payment, whether or not to use a card that didn’t have enough money in it. I don’t know why I didn’t do it.
Scamurai: You pay for the third piece of papyrus. Then what happens?
John: Maybe it wasn’t even part of the scam, but he asked me to convert some foreign currency he had to Egyptian pounds. And he wanted the exact conversion. I did actually have it so I gave it to him.
Scamurai: So this guy scammed you and then you helped him change his money?
John: Yes.
Scamurai: Why?
John: I don’t know.
Scamurai: Did you say thank you when you left?
John: Yeah. I was obviously incredibly pissed off, mostly with myself, but I said thanks and bye.
It didn’t really clock until an hour or two later that it was a really well-executed scam. I kept thinking that I fell for it and I should be ashamed of myself. I felt very sad for the next couple of days. It obviously kind of put a downer on the rest of my holiday for sure. And, frankly, I couldn’t wait to be out of Egypt.
Scamurai: Did you run into any other potential scams after that?
John: I didn’t, but in Egypt, it’s a bit difficult to work out what’s a scam and what’s not.
For example, I went to a shop to buy some souvenirs. There was a little Egyptian flag and the guy demanded six pounds for it. I said it was too much and he started shouting “what is it to you? You’re a foreigner, you can earn this money very quickly!”
It wasn’t even just the scams. There are a lot of very icky sales tactics and tipping culture.
Scamurai: Even when you go to the pyramids, there’s people trying to sell you things on the actual site.
John: There’s people randomly standing outside the pyramids asking for tips while not doing anything. It’s really odd.
Scamurai: In Luxor, people kept coming up to me saying it was great to see me again. When I looked at them in confusion, they’d say they worked at the kitchens in my hotel and we’d seen each other that morning at breakfast.
John: I had that exactly in Tunisia. The guy came over, slapped me on the back and asked if I remembered him from breakfast.
I wasn’t actually at a hotel that morning.
Scamurai: I’m not too sure how the scam works but I assume they offer you a taxi back to the hotel or something and then it’s super overpriced. I also found in restaurants people kept giving me the wrong change after I paid the bill. I’ve never had that anywhere before but it happened about three times in Egypt.
Has this experience changed any of the ways that you approach your research into scams?
John: It makes me understand the victim’s perspective a bit more and what happens in their head. I can’t relate much to the longer form scams like romance scams though.
Scamurai: Do you not think it employs similar tactics?
John: Not really, because if you’re in a romance scam, you’re texting people, you do have the time and you are in a place where you can be more analytical with exactly the kind of communications you’re receiving and question everything.
In that particular situation, I was in a physical place and the guy was being very pushy. There wasn’t really much I could do apart from play along and get out as quickly as possible.
Scamurai: But I guess lots of scams employ similar tactics to win people’s confidence.
Take pig butchering, for instance. One thing scammers do is to establish a connection with the victim. For example, if the victim lives in Los Angeles, the scammer maybe says they went to university there. And then they might recommend certain restaurants or cafes.
John: That’s very true. In my case, his son studied in the UK. He talked about different areas in London like he knew them.
Scamurai: We looked up this shop in Cairo later on and we found a lot of reviews that showed this had happened to lots of people. It’s still going on. There was a review describing the same thing posted just a couple of weeks ago.
Any advice for people, not just travelling to Egypt, but dealing with these scams in the street? What do you wish you’d done differently?
John: Don’t get lulled into a false sense of security. Of course, you’re going to meet people who are very nice, and of course, you’re going to meet people who are not at all nice. I think the best thing to do is if someone approaches you on the street, tell them to piss off.
In terms of being forced into these kinds of shops, running out is probably your best course of action. Don’t feel bad about it.
That was the main issue for me, right? I would have felt quite bad for being super rude if I just ran out.
But in hindsight, I really should have just done that.