The Bali scam that every Australian needs to know about and the one thing you should never wear in public
The Bali scam every Australian should know about and never wear in public
Australian tourists in Bali are on high alert after a family told how masked thieves on motorcycles tried to steal from them, prompting warnings never to take one type of possession to the holiday island.
A Victorian mother wrote that two men tried to snatch her husband’s gold chain from his neck as they drove along Legian Road near the Mercure hotel.
“This just happened five minutes ago,” the Australian woman wrote on Wednesday evening.
‘Please note that on Legian Street, near Mercure Legian, two guys on a scooter wearing masks, waiting for us to pass by, tried to pull my husband’s chain off his neck.
A Victorian family’s near miss with Bali’s motorcycle bandits has led to a warning for wearing expensive jewelery while on holiday there. Pictured: Stock photo of two women enjoying a drink in Bali
Australian tourists in Bali are on high alert after a family told how masked thieves on motorcycles tried to steal from them. Pictured: A stock photo of tourists in Bali
The robbers missed because her husband saw the men and protected his chain.
“Lucky man was shy when we walked up to them and grabbed him with one hand and the man’s arm with the other.”
‘They were waiting there while we walked up because hubby noticed something strange, so when we walked back they must have seen us coming back.
The woman wrote that her 21-year-old daughter, who was visiting Bali for the first time, burst into tears during the incident.
‘She cried straight away. She wants to go home,” the mother wrote.
A Sydney mother reported experiencing a similar incident on a previous trip.
“We were walking back from dinner… a group of ten of us, kids, adults, big boys going back to (our) hotel apartments.
“A two-wheeler that I call a scrambler (the really tinny exhaust-sounding ones) came from behind us and ripped one of the woman’s crossbody bags off her, with everything in it.
‘Since then, day and night, wherever I am, I am not relaxed and tense.’
She now tells her two daughters, aged 19 and 20, never to have anything with them when they leave their hotel in Bali.
“Too bad we can’t even walk down the street without a care in the world,” she wrote.
The post on a Bali traveler’s Facebook page sparked a debate with several people sharing similar incidents.
Australian tourists have been warned to ‘never’ bring expensive jewelery to Bali
Motorbikes are so common in Bali that criminals can hide and leave it until the last second before diving. Pictured: A stock photo of a man riding a scooter in Bali
It also led to warnings from experienced Bali tourists to ‘never’ bring expensive jewelry to the holiday island.
‘You are not allowed to wear a necklace in Bali. I finished years ago. Lesson learned for me,” said one Perth man.
‘When I see them with expensive chains, I all the time tell people not to wear them. I used to live there, but unfortunately this happens all the time,” said another woman from Perth.