Common money scams in the Dominican Republic, and what they cost you

This is the one that can cost real money, and both the UK and Canadian governments flag it. The FCDO's wording is a single actionable sentence: bank card cloning and identity theft are a risk, so keep your payment card in view when paying, or pay in cash. That matters because the local habit in many restaurants is for a server to carry your card away to a terminal. Ask for the machine to come to the table, or walk to the counter yourself. Canada adds the mechanism: tampered card readers that quietly save your card details during an otherwise legitimate purchase, which is why the charge often appears weeks or months after you have flown home.

For ATMs, use machines inside a bank branch, a hotel lobby or a shopping mall rather than free-standing street machines, cover the keypad, and glance at the reader for anything irregular. Decline help from anyone who offers it at a machine. Then do the thing that actually limits the damage: turn on transaction alerts, check your statement while you are still travelling rather than after, and consider a card with a low limit for the trip. The Dominican Republic cash and cards guide covers how to carry money here.

The structural fact to know is that regular Dominican taxis do not run meters. There is nothing to insist on and nothing to check, so the fare is either what you agreed before the door closed or what the driver says when you arrive. Settle it first, out loud, every time. In Santo Domingo and Santiago, Uber, DiDi and inDrive remove the problem by fixing the price in the app, and they are the easy default. In resort areas like Punta Cana, a prebooked transfer or your hotel's own taxi is simplest, if pricier.

Two notes from government advice. The US State Department recommends asking a hotel or restaurant to call a taxi for you rather than hailing one off the street, and using a well-known company or a ride-hailing app. Australia's Smartraveller advises using official airport taxis or a rideshare for airport runs, and travelling in daylight where you can. Motoconchos, the motorbike taxis, are cheap and tempting; US government employees are prohibited from using them, which tells you what you need to know. The full picture is in the Dominican Republic taxis and apps guide.

Every arrival and departure needs the E-Ticket, a digital form filed online before you fly. It is free, and it is filed on the official government portal at eticket.migracion.gob.do. That single fact is the whole defense, because a cottage industry of lookalike sites, some of them buying the top search results, will file it on your behalf for a fee. They are not doing anything you cannot do in a few minutes, and handing your passport details to an unnecessary middleman is its own small risk.

The rule generalizes: if a government form is free, any site charging for it is not the government. Check the domain before you type anything, and be suspicious of a search result labelled as an ad. The requirement itself is straightforward and covered in the Dominican Republic E-Ticket guide.

This is not a scam, it is a pricing convention, and it catches almost every first-time visitor. Many Dominican restaurants add 18 percent ITBIS tax and a 10 percent service charge at checkout, roughly 28 percent on top of the menu price, and the menu will say so in small type: impuestos no incluidos. A 150 peso beer rings up closer to 190. Nothing improper is happening, but if you budget from menu prices you will be out by more than a quarter across a week.

The part worth acting on is the tip. That 10 percent service charge is the tip, so you are not expected to add another American-sized one on top, though rounding up for good service is normal. Check the bill for the service line before you decide, which is covered in the Dominican Republic tipping guide. As with prices generally, pay in the currency on the price tag: paying dollars for a peso price hands the seller the exchange rate.

Almost everything here costs tens of dollars and is avoided by the same short list: keep your card in sight or pay cash, agree the fare before you get in, file the E-Ticket only at the official government site, and read the bill before you tip. The one worth active care, because it can reach real money and you will not notice it at the time, is card cloning, so guard the card and watch the statement.

Two smaller ones. Street money changers are best skipped entirely, given the counterfeit and short-changing risk; use bank ATMs or a licensed casa de cambio. And Canada's advice flags a distinctly local one: unofficial lawyers, known locally as pirate lawyers, wait near tourist police stations in areas like Punta Cana and offer help to detained foreigners at excessive fees, so if anything goes wrong, contact your embassy first. For getting and spending money well while you are there, see the Dominican Republic cash and cards guide and the Dominican Republic cost guide.

Common questions

Quick answers.

More on Dominican Republic

The little money things nobody warns you about.

• Taxis in the Dominican RepublicThe key thing in the Dominican Republic: taxis do not use meters, so you agree the fare before you get in. In the cities an app removes the guesswork, and for resorts a prebooked transfer is simplest. Here is how it works.
• Do I need cash in the Dominican Republic, or can I use cards?Short answer: cards at resorts and hotels, and peso cash for small vendors, taxis and corner stores. Dollars are accepted in tourist areas, but pesos give better value. Here is how to handle it.
• Tipping in the Dominican RepublicIn the Dominican Republic, a 10% service charge and an 18% tax are added to restaurant bills, so the total runs well above the menu. A small extra for your server is customary. Here is what you actually owe.
• Do I need the E-Ticket for the Dominican Republic?Short answer: yes, and most people miss that you need it twice, once to arrive and once to leave. It is free and takes about ten minutes. Here is the official site and how not to pay for it.
• Dominican Republic hotel taxes and fees, explainedShort answer: roughly 28% more than the rate you were quoted, which is a bigger jump than almost anywhere in the Caribbean. The unusual part is that both charges are fixed in law rather than set by the hotel, so for once the numbers are not a range. Here is what stacks, and what changes when your stay is all-inclusive.
• Staying connected in the Dominican Republic.If your week is an all-inclusive in Punta Cana, the resort wifi is probably all you need and we would rather tell you that than sell you something. If you are leaving the gate to drive, hike or move between towns, the answer changes.
• What does getting sick in the Dominican Republic cost a visitor?The Dominican Republic is one of the few countries where the US government states the money rule in a single sentence: medical care here requires upfront payment, even in emergencies. The second sentence it supplies is the size of the tail: a medical evacuation to the United States can cost well over 50,000 dollars.