Scam City
| Scam City | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Adventure, Reality |
| Presented by | Conor Woodman |
| Narrated by | Conor Woodman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Worldwide |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | Travel + Escape, National Geographic Channel |
| Original release | June 3, 2012 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Scam City is a television show which started airing on Travel + Escape in June 2012, and has subsequently aired on the National Geographic Channel, and in Australia on the subscription channel Nat Geo People. Host Conor Woodman travels to some of the world's most popular cities in an effort to expose the darker side of tourism.
Scam City was nominated for Best Popular Factual Series at the UK Broadcast Digital Awards in 2014 and in 2015 for Best Factual Series at the Canadian Screen Awards
Woodman meets with questionable characters ranging from unethical cab drivers to aggressive pimps as he witnesses and experiences the travel experience of parting with personal property and money. He intentionally falls victim to these alleged scammers and says "yes" to every sex worker and pocket jeweler in the city. The show aims to expose the local adaptations of common scams - from pick pockets, expensive cab fares, to bars luring people in with adult entertainment at a high cost.
After the transmission of Scam City in Istanbul, the city's authorities responded by making several arrests. As a result of the programme several 'clip joints' in the city were shut down and so-called 'false friends' who were operating in them were arrested.
In the Istanbul episode further scams are exposed at the Blue Mosque where touts trick tourists into paying for unofficial tours and then coerce them into buying goods such as carpets that they do not want. As a result of the program, Turkish authorities moved to change the laws to prevent tourists being targeted in this way.
According to Prague's police department, all events depicted in the Prague episode were staged and the scammers were actually hired actors, as Czech Prima TV first revealed in October 2013. The Prague Police spokesperson, Ms. Jana Rösslerová, happened to see the episode on TV and immediately informed her colleagues. The Prague Police started to investigate the "crimes" depicted in the episode. They found and interrogated people featured in the documentary and checked all places where the crimes should have taken place. The result of their work was discovery that the whole reportage was fiction and staff shooting the documentary hired actors and extras for the roles of scammers. According to the police, the nightclub depicted as a haunt of prostitutes and blackmailers had been closed for several years, and the company Eurotaxi, used as an example of taxi overpricing in Prague, had gone bankrupt in 2011, a year before the show was created.
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Wikipedia