Scam City

Scam City
Genre	Documentary, Adventure, Reality
Presented by	Conor Woodman
Narrated by	Conor Woodman
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	10
Production
Production location	Worldwide
Running time	45–48 minutes
Original release
Network	Travel + Escape, National Geographic Channel
Release	June 3, 2012 (2012-06-03) – present

Scam City is a show which started airing on Travel + Escape in June 2012 which crosses the globe visiting ten of the world’s most popular cities in an effort to expose the darker side of tourism. The host, Conor 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 hooker 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.

Scam City has also been aired on the National Geographic Channel.

In Australia, Scam City is shown on subscription TV channel Nat Geo Adventure, which airs on channel 628 on the Foxtel network.

Controversy

In 2013 a large criminal investigation of Prague's criminal police department revealed that all events depicted in the Prague episode were staged and the scammers were actually hired actors. The Prague Police spokesperson, Ms. Jana Rösslerova, happened to see the episode on TV and immediately informed her colleagues. The Prague Police started to investigate the "crimes" depicted in the episode, as the show was presented as a real documentary. 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. The night-club presented as a place with prostitutes and blackmailers has been actually closed for several years and the company Eurotaxi, used in the document as an example of taxi overpricing in Prague, went bankrupt in 2011, a year before the show was created.

Conor Woodman was requested by local police to give an explanation, yet he refused to do so stating he was too busy, and Interpol was requested for assistance in this matter. The city of Prague is, as of October 2013, considering to take legal actions against National Geographic for damaging its reputation.

Season 1 (2012)

#	Country	Episode	Details
01	Argentina	Buenos Aires	Scams involve pick pocketing, clip joints, vice girls and taxi scams. Most prevalent is the counterfeit money scam.
02	Czech Republic	Prague	Scammers may disguise as beautiful girls, harmless hawkers and friendly taxi drivers.
03	Brazil	Rio de Janeiro	During Carnival time Rio's scammers come out to party (on tourists).
04	Spain	Barcelona	Creative thieves take what they can from unsuspecting tourists.
05	Italy	Rome	Conor uncovers an underworld feeding off the booming tourist scene.
06	India	Delhi	Conor meets medical 'doctors' who are very happy to treat his 'Delhi belly'.
07	Turkey	Istanbul	The exotic scenery of Istanbul gives a perfect environment for scammers to target vulnerable tourists.
08	Thailand	Bangkok	Conor uncovers a gem scam that involves a chain of scammers.
09	United States	Las Vegas	Tunnel dwellers who live in storm drains do plenty of scamming on the strip of Vegas.
10	Morocco	Marrakech	Marrakech can be maze-like without a guide, however are the guides as genuine as they seem?

Season 2

A second season of Scam City was confirmed by host Conor Woodman via Twitter. In his tweets he revealed to visit the cities New Orleans, Mexico City, Jerusalem, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Mumbai, Bogota, Hong Kong and New York City.

External links

• Official website

Further reading

Interview with Scam City's Conor Woodman