Philippines Vacation Guide • Part 4 of 10
Philippines Safety Guide: Scams, Safety Tips & Crime Prevention
Protect yourself from common scams, stay aware of your surroundings, and travel safely through the Philippines.
Philippines Safety: What Foreigners Need to Know
Is the Philippines safe? Philippines safety largely depends on where you go and your behaviors, such as what you wear, how you hold yourself, your awareness level, and how respectfully you act.
Cultural disrespect gets noticed
Once sitting on the steps of a statue on Manila Harbor, nearly every person in passing cars stared. This was a first trip and the assumption was they were staring because of different nationality.
After about five minutes a guy walked past and angrily said that sitting there was disrespecting the famous Filipino man represented by the statue. Then it became clear why everyone was staring.
Foreigners and crime
Occasionally foreigners get murdered in the Philippines, and it is nearly always related to money in some way. Most crimes against foreigners are sneaky crimes such as scams, pickpocketing, or stealing your bag or phone off a table you are sitting at in a shopping center or bar.
This happened once in a Manila bar where a bag with phone and camera was stolen from right under the nose after one beer too many by a dyed blonde woman.
The viral pickpocket video
Another time when filming a video for YouTube in Bacolod City, a woman tried to pickpocket and her hand was grabbed while it was in the pocket. The video went viral with over 2 million views on Facebook when a local Bacolod guy edited it down and posted it.
A local TV station and radio station picked up the story, which helped grow the channel significantly.
What not to wear
In a developing country like the Philippines where there is fair poverty and virtually no social security, do not wear expensive jewelry like gold watches, bracelets, and necklaces, especially at night in dodgy areas.
Ensure you do not carry a lot of cash and leave your wallet or mobile phone in your back pocket where pickpockets can easily get to them. Hotel safes exist in the Philippines, so use them.
Common taxi scams
Scams are rife in the Philippines. Common taxi scams include:
The “I am lost” scam: Driver pretends to get lost and keeps stopping to ask people, keeping you in the taxi longer and creating a bigger fare.
The “rigged meter” scam: Meter has been tampered with to make the price go way above what it should be. Coming out of Manila airport, confronting the driver and only paying about half the fare on the meter worked, but it was still over what it should have been.
The “foreigner excess price” scam: Driver pulls out a laminated sheet with fares for different nationalities. Americans, Australians, Koreans, Japanese, and Europeans at the top with highest prices, Filipinos at the bottom with the cheapest fare.
The “lend money for petrol” scam: Driver stops at a petrol station on the way and asks you to pay for it, saying he will take the amount for petrol off the fare when you reach your destination. When you arrive they take the full fare and unless you remember to ask for the petrol money back, they keep it.
The “19-year-old virgin” scam: Usually coming from the airport, the driver tells you he has a “good friend” who happens to be a 19-year-old virgin who would like to meet a foreign man. The driver insists you meet her no matter how many times you say no.
These taxi drivers end up taking the sucker who falls for this to sleazy brothels with old prostitutes who tell the sucker that the 19-year-old virgin was having her period that day. The taxi driver gets a commission.
Online romance scams
Online scams are widespread with some poorer Filipinas. Red flags include telling you they love you or saying you are handsome not long after meeting online.
They are trying to flatter you with lies to extract money. They also try to “tug your heartstrings” by telling you a close relative is sick and they need cash or the relative will die, or their mobile phone is damaged and they need money for a new phone to continue talking to you.
One very insidious scam involves getting on Facebook chat camera with guys from the West and mutually masturbating, but they film the guy and then threaten to send the film to his employer, workmates, wife, family and friends on his Facebook friends list.
Notable cases exist where hundreds of thousands of dollars have been extracted this way, but many thousands of cases would never be reported as those guys would be too embarrassed to admit it.
The house building scam
Another common Filipina scam is getting a foreign boyfriend or husband to build a house so they can live “happily ever after” together, but as soon as the house is built she does not let her partner in. Quite often the “brother” or “cousin” she had around was really her Filipino husband or boyfriend.
They end up with a brand new house, as a foreigner can only part-own land or a house in the Philippines, and the Filipina has to legally own the bigger share. These guys usually end up broke and devastated and go back to their countries as they have no legal recourse in getting back the house.
Think with your big head
Many more scams exist, but of course these types can occur in many countries. In poorer developing countries they are more rife.
Use good sense and think with your big head rather than your little head which will usually lead you astray.
Verify connections before meeting
Use FilipinaMeet’s verification features to ensure you are connecting with genuine Filipinas before your trip. Video chat and verify profiles to avoid romance scams.