On TA they have a thread http://tinyurl.com/7apo897 about a scam known in other countries, but not widely known here before.

It works just about like this:

1) Someone drops money near you or asks you to hold his/her wallet.

2) You pick up the money or hold the wallet.

3) You are accused of taking the money or the wallet.

4) A fake cop arrives to the scene.

5) Amid the confusion, some of your belongings are taken.

6) The scam artists leave the scene.

What to do about this?

Easy: DO NOT touch the money or hold the wallet. If you wish to be a good citizen, warn the person who dropped the money.

Repeat: DO NOT touch the money or hold the wallet.

Have a great time in our town.

Excellent alert and advice. Thank you.

Than YOU, leading candidate for the vacant post of Chief DE for this forum.

In more general terms, visitors should always be wary of ANY strange thing happening near them. One thing I have read about is someone vomiting.

There is a chance that the "strange thing" is intended to direct your attention to same and away from your belongings.

Visitors should do exactly the opposite: should such a "strange thing" happen near them, they should concentrate on their belongings.

Just apply the normal precautions required for any large city and you should be just fine in our town. One good thing about these scams is that they never become violent.

Have a great time in our country.

The way I've heard it in Europe is that there is a great deal of money, and if they could only have some "good faith" money to allow you to hold the huge sum, everything would be OK.

We all know the ending.

That seems to be a different scam, Rastaguytoday.

In the same vein, travellers have been warned for years about BA taxis and told to trust only "radio" cabs. Any changes/improvements/scandals lately?

The overwhelming majority of BA's cabbies are honest, hard working fellows. However, there are a few bad apples and they can often be found waiting outside touristy places.

As I have said over and over, the advice to hail only radio cabs because they are safer makes no sense at all, because it is CALLING them what makes them safer.

Much more on the subject in this thread: http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...leta-hotel.cfm

Hi avrooster, I am about to travel soon to BsAs, thanki you for up dating regarding last scam in fashion.
It is always good to know.
unfortunatelly we all should abstain of any talking or contact with strangers.
regarding taxis , if a taxi is called by phone all the information
related to the call is registered in the central office and that
makes it safe.Also when calling dispacher he/she can quote rate, including how much is charged for waiting etc
Tourists should never leave unattended bags, camaras, cells , etc while in cafes or restaurants.
Even while walking Be alert, crowded intersections are places good for pickpockets when red light is on.( example Avenida Santa Fe & Callao,BsAs)
I recall than in Prague tourists often lost their wallets while watching
the famous clock routine in the main plaza ,same all over the world.

"same all over the world" Sad but very true! we are off to barcelona this summer which apparently is renowned for pickpockets, scam artists and other ne'er do wells and vagabonds.

There are no "new" scams only the old ones reinvented to quote an old American TV Cop show " lets be careful out there"

Yeah!

I remember the officer saying "be careful out there", every time after finishing his morning briefing.

Crellston: it may get cheap out here, sometime within the next few months or maybe a coouple of years, at the most.

I'll let you know, so we can partake some egg salad at the "Fervor" restaurant. LOL!!!!!

JIC drdawggy catches my mistake, obviously I erred above when writing "coouple" instead of "couple". LOL!!!!

And our thanks and kudos to dr_dawggy.

A service to us all - especially to us spelling challenged Fodorites whose errors never go unchallenged !

In case someone wonders, we are just kidding.

I only correct Marnie´s spelling in private. LOL!!!

I will look forward to that avrooster - maybe we should go for a steak this time?

Interesting comment re getting cheap out there. Are you expecting another devaluation? I have been keeping an eye on the fx rates lately and our British pound has be rising significantly against the Arg peso (although not enough to allow for your inflation rates). Mind you it has also been rising against the $ and Euro - why I don't know, as our own economy is hardly thriving!

Crellston:

I absolutely insist on the egg salad and I plan to eat ALL of it. LOL!!! Furthermore, we'll ask for separate checks. More LOL!

Again, just kidding, in case someone wonders, which is my way of healing the scars from a thread of several years ago concerning lunch at the Fervor restaurant.

Every once in a while, take a look at the following page, where it says "dólar informal". THAT is the real free exchange rate. To turn it into pesos vs. pounds, multiply by 1.618, or whatever prevails at the time in the international US$ vs. BP market. To be able to obtain that rate, you would have to bring cash dollars.

http://www.ambito.com/economia/mercados/dolar.asp

I expect a full-blown crisis in our country, sometime in the next few years. During the worst part of the 2002 crisis, we had dinner for 6 dollars. Now, the same dinner costs us 40 dollars.

The WSJ features a rather poor article on the exchange rate of the peso titled "Argentina hurts the Peso". I'll resend it to you, if you are not a WSJ subscriber.

The more distant the "dólar informal" rate is from government-controlled rate, the nearer we are to a crisis.

No matter what, you'll have a great time when you return to our country.

Thanks avrooster - the "dolar informal" rate certainly is a lot higher than the official rate. I can now begin to understand the issues, if not how or why the Argentine Central bank is maintaining an artificially high official fx rate.

For the sake of all Argentines I sincerely hope you do not have return to the 2002 crisis.

The egg salads are on me..

Seeing things from the dollar point of view, the "official" rate is kept lower, because it keeps inflation and/or inflation expectations relatively in check, with an emphasis on "relatively".

About the egg salad, I'll eat it all and will most certainly pay for it. I cannot risk finding any more "free lunch" posts. Just kidding. LOL!!!!!