BEWARE! Car rental scam in Italy

Thank you - this is why I am avoiding driving in Italy. Also because of the traffic zone fines. Also because of the bad parking situation.

Where was this?

What time of the day? And as Dave asked 'where'?

The yellow sticker must be something new. My car did not have it nor do I recall seeing any cars with one

And what is the #1 scam?

Maybe the yellow stickers are the practice for Enterprise, because I've never noticed one in my rental cars, although I've never rented from Enterprise.

Dave.
I'm not sure an isolated incident would be a reason for me not to drive in Italy or anywhere else. I'm pretty sure this type of scam is not that common, otherwise I would have read or heard about it, instead this is the first time I heard of such scam.
If crime is a concern for you, I can guarantee that you're are more likely to be robbed of your wallet in a bus or metro, than in your rental car.

Thank you - this is why I am avoiding driving in Italy. Also because of the traffic zone fines. Also because of the bad parking situation.

This scam occurs everywhere, including the US, it certainly isn't confined to Italy. It's also not that common.

Would you avoid going to London or New York because of the risk that you might be mugged or skip Paris or Barcelona because of the possibility of being pickpocketed? The fear of crime often far outweighs the reality.

OP, I'm sorry that this happened to you, but like the others here, this is the first time I've heard of this scam, so it's either very new or not as common as you were led to believe.

Why was your husband not wearing his passport and credit card on his body ( like in a moneybelt, or at the very least a secure pocket)? In your situation, I would not have gotten out of the car. All rental cars should come with an emergency number you can call. Some cars (like the one we had last week in France) have an On Star like system. I wonder, if your husband had pulled out his phone and told these guys he was calling the police, if they would have hung around.

I'm sorry this happened to you; however, as others have said, it's not common, and I have never seen or been in a rented car with that yellow sticker, and I rent cars very often.
So, although it's very unfortunate this happened to you, don't worry that it's not common and not a reason to avoid driving.

I'm confused. Where was this?

I've never heard of such a thing and am in Italy driving frequently.

Why would your husband take his money belt off to fix a tyre?

Are you accusing the car rental companies of flagging cars so that the thieves pick them out, or that the thieves work for the car rental companies?

i rent a car with friends for two weeks every year. Never heard of this scam, never heard of a yellow sticker, never heard of the OP before.

OMG - this is just more fodder to start a silly thread...let it die.

That's why it's the number 2 scam.

The number 1 scam is fake scams posted in the internet.

Robbed at a gun point in Italy a common scam? Since when?

The scam has been posted here before but never first hand. Always second or third hand. We have never encountered the yellow sticker on the gas door. And again this reinforces the idea that you should never have important documents in loose bags. Even when driving I use the money belt.

If the OP "refused" to go to the "garage," how does the OP know, "They take you to an isolated area where they rob you at gun point?" Don't you actually need to go to the garage first before stating something as fact?

I rent cars all the time in Italy. Never from Enterprise. Never experienced the "neon yellow sticker."

I can think of lots of reasons to be careful when renting a car in Italy, but I'm not inclined to believe any "BEWARE" post that comes from a first-time poster who offers scattershot details.

Unfortunately, the internet is full of fakes and shills. The average customer has to learn to live with the sharks.

No troll, it seems, as this same report has been posted on TA, and the OP has legitimate reviews on that site. Posted to Fodor's as well (OP is a first-timer to that site). In case anyone is interested in the responses to those postings...

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187768-i20-k10951738-WARNING_Car_rental_scam_in_Italy-Italy.html

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/italy-car-scam.cfm

One of the European respondents on one of those sites - who has had something similar happen - is someone I've made acquaintance with on various travel forums and is credible. Hmmmm.

Sounds truly horrible but cannot imagine a common occurrence in Italy.
Nor does it sound like a SCAM, more like a very serious robbery.

Where did this happen, in Milan?

And yellow sticker on the gas cap, I definitely have never had one of those.

For those that don't bother to click through on the other threads, the OP posted on other well known forums. He/she does not have much of a history on any of them but seems like this event did actually happen to them.
As far as other commenters 1 said it happened to them in Barcelona and another in Belgium ; no one yet in Italy.

Nor does it sound like a SCAM, more like a very serious robbery.

Except that it doesn't appear to have happened at gunpoint. They state that they refused to go along to the "garage" as they were afraid that might happen. Sounds like it was distraction theft, and that the OP either wasn't wearing his valuables or had them "picked" from his person. It's unclear exactly where those were for the thieves to get their hands on.

I have a difficult time believing that this happens to "many tourists" though (as least in Italy) as reports would appear much more frequently on travel forums if that was the case? First time I've seen this one on this forum.

I don't doubt that it can happen. Earlier postings had it occurring when stopped at a traffic light or in heavy, stop and go traffic. That is reasonable. If it was the #2 in Italy I think there would be more first hand reports on this site and others. Robbing at gun point would be more difficult giving the difficulty of obtaining hand guns in Italy but anything is possible. Reasonable alert but not a panic button.

OP-It would be helpful to know....where was this?

Performing a copy-n-paste on all three travel forums does not guarantee truth. I know for a fact that TripAdvisor and Fodor's do not care about user veracity. It's up to readers to decide what they believe. TripAdvisor is home to hundreds of fakes and industry shills. Their forums are very easy for trolls to penetrate and maintain a posting history. They are the gorilla in the room and readers need to be very careful which usernames they choose to believe.

As an experienced traveler, I can tell you this: If I'm the victim of a crime in Italy, every word of my story would be documentable. I would be able to prove almost every detail, without question, and probably have back-up photos of many of the details, including i-Phone photos of the men who stopped to help me.

Those of us who love are travel in Italy are not going to deal with crime lightly. We know that crime exists, and we will do our best to warn others when a warning becomes necessary, and we will make ourselves available to answer any questions. We will do everything we can to ward off any suspicion or perception of non-truth. IMO, any "BEWARE" post that does not meet that level of integrity and intent, should be viewed as suspect.

I think my Red license plates , with a F instead of a I, surely gives me away. Never had a problem. But I don't let Italians drive in my trunk anyway

OK folks, calm down. I only posted this to warn others since I could find NO other warnings on any State Dept sites, etc. This DID happen to us, I have all the documentation, police reports, etc. to prove the veracity of the report. & the US Consulate DID tell us it was the # 2 scam, so I thought the info should be out there for folks. I didn't ask if that was for Milan, all of Italy or all of Europe. I happened in Milan. The Consulate is the place where we were told that the "garage" is an isolated place where you get robbed at gun point (this point I don't know for a fact since we refused to go there). Now.... having said all this. Please do not hesitate to travel to Italy or drive. We had 3 weeks of no problems & have driven in many countries, Europe & Asia. We find that this gets us off the beaten track & we've had wonderful experiences with locals in out of the way places. My husband & I are experienced travelers. I have backpacked by myself all over Europe, Asia & Central America for almost 40 years & now my husband & I are continuing to do the same. Again... I just wanted to warn folks to just be aware. Thank you for your time.

To help other travelers if that is your intention more specifics on exactly where you were (road/intersection, etc...) and time and date would honestly be more helpful since this is definitely not a common occurrence happening throughout all of Italy.

If I got mugged in Brooklyn at midnight walking along the Brooklyn Bridge Park pathway for example would be much more helpful than a blanket Beware of being mugged in the United States or beware of being mugged in New York City.

In Italy small time scams like pickpocketing and similar are fairly common mainly because Italian justice is very lenient on prosecution of these type of crimes. What you are describing appears far more sinister and something I don't think the Italian police and courts would take as lightly.

Great response, mojopdx, and thanks for the additional details. I'm very glad that your unfortunate event wasn't any worse than it was, and that you very reasonably did not let it spoil an otherwise great trip! As it looks like you could offer a great deal of useful advice that you've picked up over your years of travel, I also hope you come back to share some of that. :O)

All kind of bad stuff can happen anywhere. Even being killed by criminals while visiting a country in your rental car because they think you are a jeweler carrying precious merchandise.

However I wouldn't call this type of crime a common occurrence.

mojopdx,

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience in Italy, but thanks for the warning. If this is the #2 scam (according to the Embassy), it sounds like it's not well publicized. Perhaps it would be prudent for them to list that on the official government travel information website. Did they actually pull a gun on you?

I tend to use car rentals only when required to visit areas not well served by public transit, or where the transit schedules don't fit my itinerary.

However I wouldn't call this type of crime a common occurrence.

Right. It was the Consulate claiming that it was the # 2 scam that I might question since we don't hear much about it. As someone asked previously, it would be interesting to know what the #1 is? Knockoff products? Gold ring or string-thing rackets? "Help" at train stations? Survey-taking thieves?

Sorry that this horrible incident took place. But the solution is quite simple: If you find your rental car has one of those yellow stickers, just buy or borrow a red marker, and color the yellow sticker red. Then no one will know you have a rental car, and the thugs will leave you alone.

I have rented from Hertz since the 90s and have never had a sticker on the gas cap, what rental company did you use,Hertz has no rental fleet markings in Europe.
Mike

So sorry this happened to you. I did a lot of research before I rented a car for our recent trip to Tuscany (much of it on this great forum) but never saw this type of warning which would definitely made me reconsider venturing out on our own in the Italian countryside. We rented through Hertz, no identifying sticker, my only concern was when at the rental counter the agent commented that we rented a nice car. I wasn’t out to get a nice car, just an automatic drive but it did end up being a nice Audi. I am happy my husband didn’t read this warning before we traveled because we had a wonderful time with no issues and I am happy we ventured beyond our comfort zone.
I remember many years ago when there were similar warnings in the Miami, USA area and the rental car companies stopped identifying their cars as rentals, I am not sure why European car rental companies wouldn’t have followed suit.

Regarding the sticker...
Is it possible that the sticker was a fuel-type indicator? Like, the car was a diesel and the sticker on the gas cap was a reminder not to use regular gas? Or something like that?

I'm seeing some reports here and there of tourists putting the wrong stuff into their rentals (not just in Italy), and mentions of no stickers, stickers inside or outside the gas cap, or many locations on the car, as in this RS thread from 2014:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/bad-experience-with-auto-europe-and-hertz

Just a hunch? Could be this rental company had it happen often enough to put very visible reminders on the caps?

This post is just to answer some of the questions that have come my way. 1) This event happened in Milan, 1 Km from the rental car return. But this kind of distraction theft can happen anywhere, including the USA. 2) It was from Enterprise rental cars. 3) Yes, the sticker tells what type of gas to use. I guess other rental car agencies don't use these stickers. I think that's all the questions. So, again, please don't hesitate to rent a car in Europe or visit Italy. We had a month of driving all over northern Italy with no problems & have rented cars for over 40 years with no problems all over Europe, Asia, Africa & Central America. So do it & go have fun cruising the back roads! Happy Trails.

This sort of incident (tire damage to force the driver to stop somewhere down the road, followed by some sort of theft) was mentioned in print 20-40 years ago, perhaps more. I think it was happening occasionally in Italy then, but it might have been Spain instead or in addition. At that time, reports indicated that the tire was typically damaged while parked at a freeway rest stop, and the theft occurred when the tire became flat enough to be noticeable and the driver pulled over. I don't remember how the thieves were supposed to be targeting renters specifically.

And, yes, there was a period when this was happening in the Miami area; a few foreign tourists were actually murdered.

Putting the wrong fuel into a car is a bad thing. ERAC seems to have chosen a less than ideal way to alert renters to the fuel type. Perhaps putting the sticker on the inside of the fuel door, so the yellow sticker does not scream 'tourist', would be the better option.

There was a time in the US when the rental agencies put a bumper sticker on the car to advertise their brand. That came to an end when the outcry from customers of being victims of car prowls became so great that it put an end to that practice.

Having this happen once, is one too many, but statistically you seem to have done well. ( I know not much comfort for this occurrence)