MONEY BUSINESS
Tour guide goes ballistic after rip off bureau de change gave his client just half of his cash
A FURIOUS tour guide in Bali screamed at a bureau de change teller after they gave a tourist just half of his currency in a common scam.
He told the man that he was "embarrassing" the country which had "worked hard" to build a safe reputation for travellers.
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A video, which was uploaded to Twitter on Saturday, shows the teller being dramatically told off by Balinese tour guide Bonik Inganau, who reportedly stepped.
reports the tourist tried to exchange euros for Indonesian rupiah at the teller’s kiosk but was handed about half of what he should have received.
The guide then stepped in to admonish the teller in Indonesian.
Bonik said, translated by Coconuts Bali: "You’re embarrassing us bro. We work hard to build Bali’s reputation."
Dodgy currency exchange set-ups are part of one of the biggest scams preying on tourists in Bali.
Mostly located around the island’s major shopping malls, they advertise "no commission" and the best exchange rates.
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But part of the scam is they "accidentally" drop notes behind their counter before handing cash back to the tourist, which ends up being much less money than originally offered.
Bonik told Coconuts Bali the holiday island was full of unauthorised money exchanges intentionally set up to rip off tourists.
He explained: "I just want authorities to do something about it so that it doesn’t seem like this issue is being neglected.
"It’s an open secret that these unauthorised money changers are scammers anyway."
Bonik, who is based in South Kuta, has been working as a tour guide for two years.
He told Coconuts Bali he was angry "irresponsible people" often gave the island a bad name.
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He added: "I’m a tour guide. I make my living in the tourism industry.
"Building a good reputation is not an easy thing to do, especially in this day and age. I work so hard promoting the safety and comfort in Bali, but there are these irresponsible people.
"It’s like they are assaulting all of us who have worked so hard to build that (reputation)."
On Twitter, where more than 340,000 times, social media users praised Bonik and shared their own experience with tour guides who were keen to keep people in the tourism industry in line.
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One person said: "My guide in Bali once defended me, and I’m a domestic tourist.
"Same language was used: we work so hard to preserve tourism in Bali."
Someone else added: "I have experienced something similar to the tourists I guided at the time, but the way he dropped a 100 euro bill and said only 900 euros.
"And I saw it when he dropped it. And I think things like this that will damage the image of Bali Island."
Currency changers often scam tourists by counting notes so quickly they can’t follow or by replacing notes with smaller ones.
Tourists should check calculations carefully and, if possible, count twice the cash given by the teller before handing their own money over.
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Other scams in Bali include card cloning, which one woman discovered after noticing a £700 cash withdrawal after paying with her card on the island.
Brits also need to check their passports before going to Bali.
New rules mean any damage to the document could see you banned from travelling, with a model finding herself stuck in the country due to water damage.
This article was originally published by and has been reproduced with permission.
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