Almost every scam a visitor meets in London works the same way: it takes a normal situation, adds time pressure, and makes you decide before you can think. The cup game on the bridges, the clipboard in your face, the ticket seller outside the theatre and the rickshaw with no meter are four versions of one trick.
None of this makes London a dangerous city. Our overview of how safe London is sets out the actual numbers and covers the two big categories, theft and unbooked minicabs. This page goes further into the confidence tricks themselves: how each one is set up, who is standing where, what it costs when it works, and what the law says about it.
The recurring lesson is that the person running the trick is rarely working alone. What looks like a lucky stranger, a supportive bystander or a fellow tourist is usually part of the arrangement, and once you see the shape of it you stop being a target.
If money has already gone
- Crime happening now
- 999 (free). Police non-emergency: 101 or report online
- Fraud and cyber crime
- Report Fraud, the national centre operated by City of London Police: 0300 123 2040
- Card payment gone wrong
- Tell your card issuer the same day and ask about a chargeback
- UK credit card, item over £100
- Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes the card issuer jointly liable with the seller
- Foreign-issued card
- Section 75 covers UK-regulated credit agreements, so ask your own bank what protection you have
- Unlicensed street trading or a rogue shop
- The borough council's trading standards team
The cup and ball game on the bridges
You will meet it on Westminster Bridge, near Tower Bridge and on the walkways along the South Bank. A man crouches over a piece of cardboard, moves three cups or matchboxes around a small ball, and invites people to say which one hides it. A small crowd is already betting and winning.
The crowd is the trick. The "winners" work with the operator, and their job is to prove the game is beatable. The ball is not under any cup by the time you choose, and you will be allowed one cheap win to draw you in before the stakes rise. There is no version of this in which a stranger takes money off the board.
It is also illegal. The Gambling Commission has published the case of two men charged under section 33 of the Gambling Act 2005 after an off-duty officer saw the game being run on Tower Bridge; one pleaded guilty and was fined £535 at the City of London Magistrates' Court. Westminster City Council has used public space orders on and around Westminster Bridge since 2016 to give officers a faster way to move the groups on.
Two further points. Because you are technically betting on an illegal game, there is nothing to reclaim afterwards. And the huddle round the board is an excellent place to have a pocket emptied while you watch, which is why the game and pickpocketing so often appear together, as our page on how pickpockets work explains.
Walk past on the far side of the bridge, not round the edge of the crowd. The outer ring of onlookers is where bags get opened. If you want a photograph of Parliament from Westminster Bridge, take it from the Lambeth end, where the pavement is wider and the groups are fewer.
Clipboards, petitions and the fake collector
Someone approaches with a clipboard, a printed sheet and a story: a charity for deaf children, a school trip, a petition about a local cause. They ask you to sign, then to write an amount next to your name, and the amounts already on the sheet are all £20 or more.
Genuine street fundraising in Britain looks different. Paid fundraisers working for a charity wear branded clothing and a visible identity badge, they ask people to set up a regular direct debit rather than to hand over cash, and they can name the charity and its registration number. Charities of any size in England and Wales are registered with the Charity Commission, whose register is public and searchable, so a collector who will not give you a registered name is telling you something.
The clipboard also has a physical purpose. Held at chest height it blocks your view of your own bag, and the second person in the pair is usually behind you. This is the single most common distraction technique reported around Oxford Street, Covent Garden and the Southbank walkway.
The answer is to keep walking and say no without stopping. You are not being rude by British standards; approaching strangers in the street for money is the thing that breaks the etiquette, as our page on British etiquette describes.
Rickshaws: the only London vehicle with no fare rules yet
Pedicabs, the decorated rickshaws that play loud music around Soho, Leicester Square and Piccadilly, have been the one form of passenger transport in London with no regulated fare at all. Stories of visitors charged hundreds of pounds for a ride of a few hundred metres are not exaggerated, and because the driver was not licensed there was little to complain to.
That is changing now. Under the Pedicabs (London) Act 2024, Transport for London has set out a timetable: driver licensing applications opened on 9 March 2026, operator applications on 1 August 2026, and from 30 October 2026 every pedicab driver and operator must be licensed and regulated fares come into force. Vehicle licensing follows, with applications from 4 January 2027 and all vehicles licensed by 17 February 2027.
The regulated maximum, once it applies, is modest:
| Charge | Maximum from 30 October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Base fare | £5.00 |
| Each additional passenger | £3.00 (no charge for the first) |
| Per minute of journey time | £1.00 |
TfL's own worked example is three passengers on a twelve-minute ride: £5.00 plus £6.00 plus £12.00, a maximum of £23.00. Drivers may charge less. If you are visiting before the end of October 2026, none of that is in force, so agree a total price out loud before you sit down, or take a licensed black cab instead; the licensed alternatives are compared on our page about taxis, minicabs and ride-hailing in London.
Tickets sold in the street, and websites that look official
Nobody selling theatre, concert or attraction tickets on a London pavement is doing you a favour. The tickets may be real and already used, real for a different date, or simply pieces of card. Once you have handed over cash there is nothing to trace.
Honest discounts come from three places: the box office at the venue itself, that venue's website, and the Official London Theatre booth on Leicester Square. Our page on cheap theatre tickets lists the day-seat and lottery schemes that actually save money.
Online, the risk is a site that outranks the real one. Look for membership of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers, the industry's self-regulatory body, which is approved by government as a consumer body for alternative dispute resolution and publishes a member directory. A seller outside that system is not necessarily dishonest, but you have less to fall back on.
Government services attract the same treatment. Look-alike sites charge a premium for an Electronic Travel Authorisation, and TfL has warned about operations offering to settle a driver's Congestion Charge on their behalf. Begin at gov.uk or tfl.gov.uk, never at a sponsored result. Our pages on entry requirements and the ETA and on the Congestion Charge and ULEZ link to the official routes.
The card machine tricks
These are the ones that cost the most, because they happen after you have relaxed.
The pre-set tip. The machine is handed to you with a gratuity already selected, often 15% or more, and the screen moves on quickly. In Britain a service charge is discretionary unless the menu says otherwise, and you are entitled to look at the screen before you tap. Our guide to tipping in London explains what is normal.
Being charged in your own currency. The terminal offers to turn the bill into euros or dollars there and then. Whoever handles that conversion picks the rate, not your bank, and it rarely favours you. Pay in pounds and the exchange stays with the institution whose fees you already know. We explain the mechanics on our page about changing money in London.
The declined payment. A member of staff says the card did not go through and asks you to tap again. Check your banking app before you pay twice, because two identical charges are hard to unpick later.
The venue with no prices. A doorman on a side street in Soho offers a club with no cover charge; the drinks are then billed at improbable amounts and the bill arrives with a service charge attached. Ask for a drinks list before you order anything, and if there isn't one, leave. Our guide to London nightlife covers the venues that publish their prices.
The bracelet, the ring and the "found" gold
Three small street tricks come round year after year, mostly around Covent Garden, Leicester Square and the approaches to the big museums.
In the first, someone ties a woven bracelet round your wrist while talking, then asks for payment and makes a scene if you refuse. In the second, a stranger picks up a gold ring from the pavement in front of you, decides it must be yours, and then offers to sell it to you cheaply. In the third, a woman hands you a sprig of rosemary or a flower as a gift and then demands money for it.
All three depend on physical contact and on your reluctance to be impolite. Keep your hands in your pockets when a stranger reaches for them, do not accept anything put into your hand, and walk on. There is no version where engaging ends well.
People who claim to be officials
Occasionally a stranger in plain clothes says they are a police officer and asks to inspect your wallet for counterfeit notes, or to check your cards. Real officers do not do this in the street to tourists.
Every Metropolitan Police officer carries a warrant card, and you are entitled to ask to see it and to look at it properly. You can also dial 999 on the spot and ask the operator to confirm that an officer is where they say they are. A genuine officer will not object to either.
The same applies to anyone claiming to be a ticket inspector on the Tube who wants a card or cash. Transport for London's revenue inspectors wear uniform and carry identification, and fares and penalty fares are never settled with cash handed to an individual.
The licence sticker in the window proves nothing about your journey. Under TfL's rules a private hire trip counts as unbooked, and your insurance cover with it, whenever the arrangement is made on the street: you speak to the driver, the driver speaks to you, or a doorman walks you over to a waiting car. Book through an operator or an app, or hail a taxi showing its orange light.
Shops aimed at people who will not come back
Some stretches of central London have shops that exist because the pavement outside is full of people who will never return: souvenir shops selling counterfeit goods, sweet shops with no visible prices, and currency exchange windows advertising "0% commission" beside a poor rate.
The rules that apply are general consumer law rather than anything tourist-specific. Under Part 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, misleading actions and misleading omissions in dealings with consumers are prohibited, and enforcement sits with the Competition and Markets Authority and with each borough's trading standards team. That is cold comfort at the till, so the practical defence is to check the price before you commit, and to walk away from any shop where the price is only revealed at the end.
Our pages on souvenirs worth buying and on Oxford Street suggest better places to spend the money.
If it has already happened
Report it, even where you assume nothing will come of it. Fraud across England, Wales and Northern Ireland is handled by Report Fraud, a national centre operated by the City of London Police, which takes reports online or on 0300 123 2040. Everything else goes to the police, online or on 101, with 999 reserved for something happening in front of you.
Tell your card issuer the same day. If your card was used without your permission, ask about a chargeback, which is a scheme operated by the card networks rather than a legal right, and which has time limits. If you paid by UK-regulated credit card and the item cost more than £100, section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes the card company jointly liable with the seller for misrepresentation or breach of contract, up to £30,000. A card issued outside the United Kingdom is not covered by that Act, so ask your own bank what it offers instead.
Keep everything: the receipt, the time, the address, a photograph of the shopfront or the vehicle. Where the loss is significant, hold on to the crime reference number, which is what an insurer will ask for first, as our page on travel insurance and healthcare cover explains.
Frequently asked questions
Is the cup and ball game on Westminster Bridge a scam?
Yes, and it is also an illegal form of gambling. The Gambling Commission has published a case where two men were charged under section 33 of the Gambling Act 2005 for running the game on Tower Bridge, and one was fined £535. The onlookers who appear to win are part of the operation, and the crowd around the board is a common place for pockets to be picked.
How much should a rickshaw ride cost in London?
Until 30 October 2026 there is no legal maximum, which is why some visitors have been charged extraordinary amounts. From that date Transport for London's regulated maximum fares apply: up to £5 base fare, up to £3 for each additional passenger and up to £1 a minute. Until then, agree a total price before you get in, or use a licensed black cab.
Are charity collectors with clipboards in London genuine?
Some are. Paid street fundraisers working for charities wear branded clothing and identity badges and ask you to set up a regular direct debit rather than to hand over cash. Anyone asking for cash on the spot, or unwilling to name a charity you can look up on the Charity Commission's public register, should be refused. Keep walking rather than stopping to argue.
Is it a scam when a card machine offers to charge me in my own currency?
Choose pounds. That leaves the conversion with the institution whose fees you can look up beforehand. Where a terminal offers to bill you in euros or dollars, the rate belongs to whoever is processing the payment and is usually the poorer of the two. Look at the figure on the screen before you tap.
Who do I report a scam to in London?
Fraud is dealt with by Report Fraud, a national centre operated by the City of London Police, which takes reports online or by telephone on 0300 123 2040. Anything else goes to the police, on 101 or online, with 999 kept for something happening now. A problem with a shop, a street trader or a market stall can also go to the borough council's trading standards team.
Sources
- Gambling Commission - Tourists scammed by rigged street gambling game (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Licensing pedicabs in London (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Pedicab Fares Policy 2026 (checked September 2026)
- Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 75 (checked September 2026)
- Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Part 4 (checked September 2026)
- Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers - about STAR (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Taxis and minicabs: stay safe (checked September 2026)
- GOV.UK - Contact the police (checked September 2026)