At the Venice S. Lucia train station boat docks, there is a man who this month (May 2025) has started to appear trying to "help". He seems authoritative because it looks like he wears a type of uniform and "badge" and offers to help. Instead he pressures you into buying boat tickets, which are in reality discarded ticket receipts. He pressures you or by insisting that the boat is coming and you will miss it so you must buy now! Or by grabbing your luggage and moving it past the turnstiles, by capturing your luggage making you pay to get a "ticket" to pass the turnstile (which he "opens" after you pay). There are only three ways to buy the boat ticket, from the ticket booth with an attendant inside the booth. From the machines next to the ticket booth. Or inside the boat, from the mariner manning the ropes and boat door. Be aware, he targets the elderly.
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Bend, Oregon
2771 posts
Unfortunately, this is a common scam all over the world related to public transportation and confused tourists. In general, if anyone approaches you unsolicited offering to “help”, it’s a scam. It’s not hard to get some “official” looking clothes, or a fake badge. It happens in Paris metros also.