Common Tourist Scams in Phnom Penh (and How to Avoid Them)
Bag-snatching — the crime to know about
This is the one thing every tourist in Phnom Penh should know going in. Drive-by bag-snatching from passing motorbikes is the city's signature crime against foreigners.
- How it works: a passenger on the back of a motorbike grabs your bag, phone, or camera as the bike passes. The bike doesn't slow. Victims are sometimes pulled off the kerb or out of tuk-tuks.
- Where it happens: Sisowath Quay (the riverside), the streets around the Royal Palace and Wat Phnom, BKK1 (the expat district). Anywhere quiet enough for a bike to come up behind you.
- When: morning, day, evening, night. Not strictly a night-crime.
- Defence: bag on the side away from traffic, strap across body, phone not in your hand on the street, no camera dangling around your neck.
- If it happens: don't chase. Don't fight to keep the bag — bikers have dragged tourists into the road. Let go. File a police report at the nearest station for your insurance.
Scams and tourist traps
- Tuk-tuk overcharging: agreed price first. PassApp is the answer.
- Begging children at tourist sites: organised. Don't give cash; if you want to help, donate to Friends-International or ConCERT Cambodia.
- Fake "monks" asking for donations: real monks don't ask. Polite decline.
- Drinks-spiking in some Street 51 / Street 130 bars — rare, but possible. Watch your drink.
- "Tour to my friend's gem shop" after Killing Fields — refuse. The gems are massively overpriced.
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