Scam Busters

Regarding the letter “Ripped Off in Milan” (Nov. 7): This just reinforces the sensibleness of using a money belt. On our trip to Sorrento, Italy, my purse was cut off my back as I was standing in a parking lot (it only contained my translation book, as I always wear a money belt). In the same parking lot our tire was slashed.

Then our hotel clerk directed us to a tire dealer who was a friend of his. While we were standing less than 10 feet from our car, talking to the tire dealer, our camera case was stolen from the back seat. Now I’m wondering if that was also a scam.

As for money belts, I have unzipped my jeans and reached for my passport in public without any embarrassment. If the crime rate in a country requires us to do this, they should not be surprised if we wish to protect ourselves.

JUDY HOFFMAN

Westlake Village

We just had the ultimate rip-off in Budapest. After reading all the scams possible and being (we thought) fully aware of them, we got taken big time.

When I attempted to use my last Hungarian forints, amounting to about $40, in a duty-free shop in Budapest, I gave the clerk all my Hungarian currency, one of which was a 5,000-forint note (I thought). He smiled and declined to take it, explaining that it was a 5,000 note in Yugoslavian currency--and you don’t have to be very smart to know what that was worth.

We backtracked our moves and determined that the night before, we had given a cabdriver a 10,000 note for a 4,000-forint cab fare. He slipped the Yugoslavian 5,000 note in our change. It was dark, and to an unsuspecting eye it looked legitimate.

When we tried to convert it at the airport, they laughed and said Yugoslavian currency wasn’t even a listed one that had any value. Another travel lesson learned at not too high a price.

ELAINE MATZNER

Palm Springs