Common money scams in Colombia, and what they cost you

This is the one that makes Colombia different from the other guides on this site, so it is worth stating plainly rather than gently. The US Embassy in Bogota's own current guidance says criminals use drugs you cannot see, smell or taste, slipped into drinks or food, to make someone helpless so they can rob them, and that these are especially dangerous mixed with alcohol. Scopolamine is the substance most often named. US security reporting places these incidents in nightlife settings, bars and clubs, with people who look wealthy targeted, and says the approach commonly comes through dating apps. What leaves is your phone, cards, cash and sometimes more, taken while you are unable to object. There is a real medical risk here too, not just a financial one, which is the honest reason to take it seriously rather than treat it as a wallet problem.

The escapes are entirely about the moment before. Never accept a drink, food, a cigarette or gum from someone you do not know well, and never leave a drink or plate unattended and come back to it. Canada's advice adds the detail that undercuts the obvious defense: victims often build a relationship over several dates in public places first, and the drugging comes after trust is established, so meeting in public a few times is not the safeguard it sounds like. Be wary of inviting someone new to where you are staying, or going to theirs. Tell someone at home who you are meeting, which app, and where. Both men and women, alone and in groups, have been targeted. If a night goes wrong, the embassy's other instruction applies: do not resist a robbery, because your phone is replaceable.

Colombia has one transport rule and it is absolute: never hail a taxi off the street, anywhere, and least of all at night. US security reporting names the crime directly, the paseo millonario, or millionaire's ride, an express kidnapping in which a passenger is driven around for hours and made to withdraw money at a series of ATMs before being released. It says these and other taxi crimes commonly involve a cab hailed from the street. Canada's advice puts express kidnappings and assaults in unlicensed taxis. The State Department prohibits US government employees from using street taxis at all, which is the clearest signal available about how seriously to take a rule.

The replacement is easy and cheap. DiDi and inDrive are the everyday choices, with Uber and Cabify also working, and all of them give you a driver on record, a tracked route and a fare set in advance. If you want a licensed yellow taxi, summon it through an app rather than flagging it down. From Bogota's El Dorado airport, use the authorized taxi desk inside the terminal or a pre-booked transfer, not the line outside; Canada notes that El Dorado permits only authorized taxis to collect passengers at its terminals. One more habit from the same advisory: note the plate number and driver's name and send them to someone as you set off. The Colombia taxis and apps guide has the detail.

Two separate problems meet at the cash machine. The first is ordinary card skimming, which is why the rule here is to use ATMs inside bank branches or malls, in daylight, rather than street machines. The second is that the express-kidnapping scenario above ends at a sequence of ATMs, which gives you a genuinely useful piece of preparation: lower your daily withdrawal limit with your bank before you fly, and keep less in the account the card draws on. That caps the worst case in advance, whatever happens, and costs you nothing. Colombia has no fee-free ATMs and per-withdrawal charges are steep, so plan fewer, larger withdrawals inside banks rather than frequent small ones, as the Colombia cash and cards guide explains.

Then there is the person who wants to look at the money you are carrying. Travelers and Colombian press report people posing as police, sometimes in plain clothes claiming to be detectives, who stop foreigners to check documents or inspect cash for counterfeits; Bogota police have arrested people running exactly this. It is not in a government travel advisory, so treat it as reported rather than official, but the escape is clean and worth memorizing. Real officers do not demand cash on the spot or ask to see how much you are carrying. Ask to see their placa, offer to walk together to the nearest CAI, the small police posts found every few blocks, and do not get into a vehicle or hand over your phone. Carry a photocopy or phone photo of your passport rather than the original. On card machines, always choose pesos, and note that some Colombian ATMs convert without asking, so check the screen.

Now the item that goes the other way, and it is the most valuable thing on this page in pure money terms. As a foreign tourist, you are exempt from the 19 percent IVA on your hotel room in Colombia. It is not a discount you negotiate, it is an exemption you qualify for. The catch is that plenty of hotels add it anyway, either because the booking system defaults to it or because nobody asked, and it is not refunded automatically. On a two-week trip that is a meaningful number.

Getting it is simple if you do it at the right moment. Show your passport and entry stamp at check-in, say you are a foreign tourist and ask for the IVA to be removed, and then read the bill before you pay rather than at the airport afterwards. Booking through an international platform that has already charged you does not always apply it, so check the invoice either way. While you are reading bills: restaurants add a voluntary 10 percent tip and will usually ask whether to include it, which the Colombia tipping guide covers, and airport and tourist-area exchange counters can shave 6 to 8 percent off your dollars, so an ATM inside a bank is the fairer route.

What separates Colombia from the rest of these guides is that vigilance is not the tool. You cannot watch your wallet carefully enough to beat a drink you did not see prepared, or negotiate your way out of a car. So the list is short, and every item is a decision made in advance: never hail a taxi off the street, never accept a drink, food or a cigarette from someone you do not know well, withdraw inside banks in daylight, lower your daily withdrawal cap before you fly, and tell someone where you are going and who you are meeting. The local phrase for the whole idea is no dar papaya, do not hand someone an easy opportunity, and it is the frame Colombians themselves use.

If something does happen: emergency services are 123, you file a report, a denuncia, at a Fiscalia office or online, and Bogota, Medellin and Cartagena have a tourist police unit used to dealing with foreigners. Report it even if you expect nothing back, because your insurer will want the record. Call your card issuer immediately and freeze the account. And to be clear about proportion: most visits involve none of this, Colombia is a genuinely rewarding place to travel, and the reason to read a page like this is so the few decisions that matter are already made before you are tired at an airport. For getting and spending money well while you are there, see the Colombia cash and cards guide and the Colombia cost guide.

Common questions

Quick answers.

More on Colombia

The little money things nobody warns you about.

• Do I need cash in Colombia, or can I use cards?Short answer: cards in cities for hotels and nicer places, and peso cash for markets, small shops and taxis. Use ATMs inside banks or malls for safety. Here is how to handle it.
• Tipping in ColombiaIn Colombia, restaurants add a voluntary 10% tip that the server asks you about. Say yes and that is the tip, no extra needed. Here is what you actually owe.
• Taxi apps in Colombia, and the one rule that mattersIn Colombia the how-you-get-a-taxi matters more than which app. Here is the single rule to follow, the apps locals actually use, and how to leave Bogota's airport without the roadside gamble.
• Do US citizens need a visa for Colombia?Short answer: no visa, but yes to one free online form. US citizens enter Colombia visa-free for up to 90 days; the catch is Check-Mig, which every traveler files before flying. Here is how it works, and how not to overpay for it.
• Staying connected in Colombia.Colombia is cheap and easy on this front: a Claro SIM costs a few dollars, covers more of the country than anything else, and takes a passport and a few minutes.
• What does getting sick in Colombia cost a visitor?Colombia's big-city hospitals rank among the best in Latin America, and a visitor pays local prices for them, usually in cash. The two things to respect are the map, which thins out fast, and the elective-surgery trade, which carries a real warning.