{"id":84742,"date":"2023-12-02T10:44:07","date_gmt":"2023-12-02T10:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/?p=84742"},"modified":"2023-12-02T10:44:07","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T10:44:07","slug":"traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/","title":{"rendered":"Traveller warns tourists about a popular street hustle in Florence"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> Beware the fake artwork scam: Traveller warns tourists about a popular street hustle in Florence &#8211; and what to do if you fall prey to it<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The scam has been revealed by travel vlogger Sam Mayfair from Surrey\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The 39-year-old advises his followers to watch out for fake &#8216;artists&#8217;\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0New Yorker living in London reveals what she loves about UK shops\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each year, Florence attracts millions of tourists eager to gaze upon its stunning architecture and monuments.<\/p>\n<p>But amid the Instagramming throngs of visitors lurk hustlers desperate to rid them of their euros.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To help tourists keep hold of their currency, travel vlogger Sam Mayfair has revealed a popular scam to watch out for.<\/p>\n<p>The 39-year-old from Surrey shared the useful advice on his TikTok account, warning his followers of fake artists operating in the city centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/02\/08\/78314961-12795693-Travel_vlogger_Sam_Mayfair_from_Surrey_revealed_a_popular_scam_t-a-6_1701505628253.jpg\" height=\"491\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Travel vlogger Sam Mayfair from Surrey revealed a popular scam to be aware of when visiting Florence, Italy (above)<\/p>\n<p>In the TikTok video, as Sam explores the busy\u00a0Piazza del Duomo outside Florence Cathedral, he reveals a common scam called the &#8216;Italian Street Art Hustle&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>He says:\u00a0&#8216;One of the things you need to be aware of in\u00a0Italy\u00a0are street hustlers, especially the guys selling the art.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Now they&#8217;re not really interested in selling what they have. They&#8217;re more interested in getting you to walk on their art.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Revealing the scam to his followers, Sam shows a man standing in the busy square with photos of &#8216;artwork&#8217; on the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The scammer cleverly positions himself beside street vendors &#8211; including artists and caricaturists.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/02\/08\/78280903-12795693-Sam_s_created_a_video_showing_a_scammer_selling_paintings_outsid-a-1_1701505627269.jpg\" height=\"291\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/02\/08\/78280905-12795693-According_to_Sam_scammers_will_line_up_their_paintings_on_the_gr-a-3_1701505627284.jpg\" height=\"291\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Sam&#8217;s created a video showing a scammer selling paintings outside Florence&#8217;s cathedral (pictured to the left). According to Sam, they will line up their paintings on the ground in the hope that tourists will stand on them. They then make a scene and demand money<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/02\/08\/78280901-12795693-In_the_video_Sam_shows_the_scammers_cleverly_positioned_near_gen-a-4_1701505627291.jpg\" height=\"688\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>In the video, Sam shows the scammers cleverly positioned near genuine artists selling paintings and caricaturists\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sam explains:\u00a0&#8216;They will set up in a busy location and pathway, put down maybe five or six pictures in the hope that you won&#8217;t be paying attention and will step on it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;And as soon as you step on it, they&#8217;ll start to make a scene and demand money from you.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>He adds: &#8216;Believe it or not, it&#8217;s very easy to do, especially in busy locations like here in central Florence &#8211; so just watch out.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Sam told MailOnline Travel: &#8216;Florence is an amazingly beautiful city and I highly recommend visiting for the culture and beauty. But just like most tourist attractions around Italy, keep your wits about you as pickpockets and street scams are everywhere.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>To help further identify these hustlers he says &#8216;genuine artists&#8217; tend to be set up away from throngs of people and have prices on their work.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He adds: &#8216;Unfortunately, these scammers have lookouts and work very hard to avoid police detection.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/02\/08\/78313829-12795693-Sam_claims_Florence_isn_t_the_only_Italian_city_to_attract_scamm-a-5_1701505627814.jpg\" height=\"279\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/02\/08\/78313821-12795693-Sam_says_he_saw_pickpockets_at_the_Trevi_Fountain_in_Rome-a-2_1701505627280.jpg\" height=\"279\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Sam says Florence isn&#8217;t the only Italian city to attract scammers. He experienced them outside the Vatican City (pictured left) and at the Trevi Fountain in Rome (pictured right)<\/p>\n<p>The travel vlogger claims the best thing to do if you accidentally step on these pictures is to &#8216;walk away or call the police if they are threatening you&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Florence isn&#8217;t the only Italian city to attract scammers. Sam says: &#8216;I came across scammers in Rome and outside the Vatican City.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The one most tourists fall for, he claims, is the &#8216;free bracelet scam&#8217;, where scammers will try to tie bracelets that are hard to get off onto tourists&#8217; wrists and demand money from them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But, he says: &#8216;The\u00a0Trevi Fountain is the place you are most likely to get pickpockets so keep an eye out and stay alert. They are very good at what they do!&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>For more from Sam, visit him on\u00a0<\/span><span>YouTube\u00a0<\/span>and<span>\u00a0<\/span><span>TikTok<\/span><span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/travel\/article-12795693\/Beware-fake-artwork-scam-Traveller-warns-tourists-popular-street-hustle-fall-prey-it.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beware the fake artwork scam: Traveller warns tourists about a popular street hustle in Florence &#8211; and what to do<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84741,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[688],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Traveller warns tourists about a popular street hustle in Florence - happy LifeStyle inc<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Traveller warns tourists about a popular street hustle in Florence - happy LifeStyle inc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beware the fake artwork scam: Traveller warns tourists about a popular street hustle in Florence &#8211; and what to do\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"happy LifeStyle inc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-02T10:44:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-Florence.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/\",\"name\":\"Traveller warns tourists about a popular street hustle in Florence - happy LifeStyle inc\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-02T10:44:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-02T10:44:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Travel\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/category\/travel\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Traveller warns tourists about a popular street hustle in Florence\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/\",\"name\":\"happy LifeStyle inc\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"mediabest\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mediabest\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Traveller warns tourists about a popular street hustle in Florence - happy LifeStyle inc","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Traveller warns tourists about a popular street hustle in Florence - happy LifeStyle inc","og_description":"Beware the fake artwork scam: Traveller warns tourists about a popular street hustle in Florence &#8211; and what to do","og_url":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/","og_site_name":"happy LifeStyle inc","article_published_time":"2023-12-02T10:44:07+00:00","author":"mediabest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-Florence.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mediabest","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/","url":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/","name":"Traveller warns tourists about a popular street hustle in Florence - happy LifeStyle inc","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-12-02T10:44:07+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-02T10:44:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/travel\/traveller-warns-tourists-about-a-popular-street-hustle-in-florence\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Travel","item":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/category\/travel\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Traveller warns tourists about a popular street hustle in Florence"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/","name":"happy LifeStyle inc","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"mediabest","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mediabest"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happylifestyleinc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}