Common scams in Poland: ATMs, kantors, bars, taxis and fake tickets

Most visitors to Poland never run into anything worse than an overpriced coffee on the main square. The scams that do exist are aimed at tourists who are tired, in a hurry or a few drinks into the evening – and nearly all of them are about money, not violence. Here they are, roughly in order of how much they cost people.

The scams at a glance

Scam	Where	How to avoid it
“Pay in your own currency?” at card terminals and ATMs	Shops, restaurants, ATMs everywhere	Always choose PLN / złoty
Independent ATMs with high fees	Tourist streets, airports, stations	Use a bank's ATM
Kantors with bad rates	Main squares, airports, stations	Check the rate; walk on if it is 5% off
Bar and strip club bills	Kraków and Warsaw old towns at night	Do not follow touts or strangers to a bar; check prices
Unlicensed taxis	Airports and railway stations	Use an app or the official rank
Fake booking sites	Auschwitz, Wieliczka, popular museums	Book only on the official website
Prices per 100 g	Restaurants, Christmas markets, Zakopane stalls	Ask the total before ordering
Pickpockets	Trams, crowds, Christmas markets	Zip up, front pocket, phone in hand
Fake rental listings	Apartments for longer stays	Never pay outside the booking platform

Money tricks

“Would you like to pay in euros?”

The most common and most expensive trick in Poland is perfectly legal. When you pay by card – in a shop, a restaurant, a hotel – the terminal or the waiter may ask whether you want to pay in złoty or in your home currency. It is called dynamic currency conversion (DCC), and the “convenient” option in euros, pounds or dollars comes with a conversion rate that is often 5–10% worse than your bank's.

Always choose złoty (PLN). If the waiter has already chosen for you and the receipt shows euros, ask for the payment to be cancelled and repeated in złoty – a reputable place will do it. The same applies at ATMs: when the machine offers to “guarantee” the conversion, decline it.

Independent ATMs

Bright blue and yellow Euronet machines and other independent ATMs stand on every tourist street, often next to – or inside – kantors. They are not a scam as such, but they charge a fixed fee for every withdrawal and push the conversion offer described above, so taking out 200 złoty can cost you far more than you expect.

• Use an ATM that belongs to a bank – PKO BP, Pekao, Santander, ING, mBank, Millennium and others. They are easy to find in the centre of every city, and usually charge foreign cards no fee or a small one.
• If you must use an independent ATM, decline the conversion, read every screen and take out a larger amount once rather than small amounts several times.
• Better still: pay by card. Almost everywhere in Poland accepts contactless payments. See money in Poland.

Kantors with bad rates

Polish exchange offices (kantory) are usually a good deal – but the ones on the main squares, at airports and at railway stations can be poor. The tricks: a big “0% commission” sign (there is never commission in Poland – the cost is in the rate), a rate board where the attractive number is the one that does not apply to you, and a counter where the teller counts quickly.

Look at the kupno (“we buy”) column, compare it with the official rate in our currency converter at the top of the page, and walk on if the difference is 5% or more. Ask how many złoty you will get before you hand over your money, and count it at the counter. Everything you need is in our guide to exchanging money in Poland.

Bars, clubs and strip clubs

This is the scam that ruins holidays. It works in a few variations, mostly in the old towns of Kraków and Warsaw:

• A friendly woman – or a pair – starts chatting to a man or a group of men on the street or in a bar and suggests going on to a “great place” nearby.
• A tout on the street hands out flyers for a club with free entry or a free drink.
• In both cases the bill at the end of the night runs to thousands of złoty, the card is charged several times, and security staff make sure you pay. In the worst cases drinks have been spiked and victims woke up with an emptied account.

Polish police have raided clubs accused of drugging and defrauding clients, and several embassies, including the US Embassy, have warned their citizens about them.

How to stay safe:

• Do not follow strangers or touts to a bar or club, however friendly they are. Choose places yourself.
• Check drink prices before ordering – including what your new companions order.
• Never leave your drink, and do not accept drinks you did not see being poured.
• Pay as you go, preferably in cash or with a card you keep in your hand; never hand over your card or PIN.
• Look out for each other and agree a meeting point and a time to go home.

More about nights out in our guides to whether Kraków is safe and whether Warsaw is safe.

Taxis

The licensed taxis and ride-hailing apps in Poland are cheap and honest. The risk is the unlicensed driver who approaches you in the arrivals hall or at the station exit (“Taxi? Taxi?”) and charges several times the normal fare at the end.

• Use an app (Bolt, Uber, FreeNow) or the official taxi rank outside the terminal, with company names and phone numbers on the cars.
• Check the price in the app or ask for an estimate before you get in; official taxis must use the meter.
• Arriving late at night? A pre-booked transfer with a fixed price and a driver waiting with your name is the least stressful option.

Fares, airport routes and the companies to call are in our guide to taxis in Poland.

Fake booking sites and ticket touts

Some of Poland's biggest sights are targets for websites that look official but are not.

• Auschwitz-Birkenau: entry passes are free and can be booked only on the Memorial's official site, visit.auschwitz.org. In December 2025 the Memorial warned visitors about intermediaries that pretend to be the official site, sell reservations that do not exist and send last-minute “cancellations”. Organised tours from licensed companies are fine – check that they book through the official system. See our guide to visiting Auschwitz from Kraków.
• Wieliczka Salt Mine: buy on the mine's official website or at the ticket office, or on an established tour platform. See our guide to the Wieliczka Salt Mine.
• Morskie Oko: e-bus tickets and parking can be bought only from the Tatra National Park – online or at its information point in Zakopane. See Zakopane and Morskie Oko from Kraków.

When in doubt, search for the attraction's name and check that the website address matches the one on its official social-media pages or in a reliable guide.

Prices per 100 grams

This one is not a scam, but it catches visitors out every day. In restaurants, at Christmas markets and at the grill stalls of Zakopane, some dishes are priced per 100 g (za 100 g) – typically fish, steaks, grilled sausage, roasted pork knuckle, oscypek cheese and sweets sold by weight. A trout at “18 zł” can become 90 zł once it is weighed.

• Look for “100 g” or “/100 g” next to the price on the menu or the stall board.
• Ask how much it will be in total before you order – or ask for a smaller portion.
• Check whether a service charge has been added to your bill, especially in groups; it should be stated on the menu. Tipping 10% is usual if it has not.

Pickpockets and street tricks

Pickpocketing is the most common crime against tourists in Poland, and it is usually the work of skilled teams in crowds.

• Hotspots: crowded trams and buses (especially lines to and from the station and the airport), the Old Town squares, Christmas markets, railway stations and the summer beaches of the Baltic coast.
• The tricks: someone bumps into you, asks for directions with a map, drops something in front of you or crowds you at a tram door, while a partner takes your wallet or phone.
• Keep valuables in a zipped inside pocket or a bag worn in front of you, never your phone on the café table, and be extra careful getting on and off public transport.

A few other tricks are rarer but worth knowing:

• Fake police officers may ask to “check” your wallet or cards. Real police never ask for your PIN or to inspect your money; if in doubt, ask to go to the nearest police station or call 112.
• Helpful strangers at railway ticket machines may offer to help you buy a ticket and then demand money. Use the machine yourself (they have an English option), the ticket office or the PKP Intercity app.
• Petitions and charity clipboards – a common distraction for pickpockets. A polite “no, thank you” and walking on is enough.

Rental and online scams

Staying longer, or booking an apartment directly?

• Never pay a deposit outside the booking platform, however good the price or convincing the story (“the owner is abroad”, “I'll post you the keys”). Fake listings with photos copied from elsewhere are common in Kraków and Warsaw.
• Be suspicious of SMS messages about unpaid parcels, parking fines or electricity bills with a link – they are phishing. Polish couriers and public offices do not ask you to pay through a link in a text message.
• BLIK codes: if you use Polish banking, never give your BLIK code to anyone who asks for it in a message, even a “friend” – a common scam when someone's social-media account has been hacked. More on BLIK in money in Poland.

If it happens to you

• Call 112 in an emergency, or go to the nearest police station to report a theft or fraud; ask for a copy of the report (zaświadczenie) for your insurer and your bank. Many stations in Kraków and Warsaw have officers who speak English.
• Call your bank straight away to block your card and dispute unauthorised or inflated payments. A chargeback is often possible for bar and club scams, especially with a police report.
• Lost passport? Contact your embassy or consulate in Warsaw or Kraków for an emergency travel document.
• Keep every receipt and take photos of bills, menus and price boards – they help with complaints and claims.
• Travel insurance usually covers theft – see travel insurance for Poland.

Sources

• Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum: Museum appeals to visitors to be cautious about external tour offers (22 December 2025)
• Notes from Poland: The free drink that can bankrupt unsuspecting tourists: the murky world of Polish strip clubs (January 2020) and Police raid strip clubs and arrest gang accused of drugging and defrauding clients (May 2022)
• World Nomads: Scams, cons and fake Polish cops – pickpockets, fake police, taxis, bar scams
• Your Mileage May Vary: Euronet ATMs' new look (June 2026) – dynamic currency conversion and ATM fees