Do you mind taking stranger's photos when on vacations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love it, I offer if they seem to have 1 person out of the picture.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anyone who bristles at being asked is an a-hole, full stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:poster who was targeted for the tea house scam here again

More specifics about my situation:
I'm American but my brother was living in Shanghai for a year for his job, and I was there to visit him. He still had to work during the day so I was on my own, touring the city. This was my first day there and I was still really exhausted from travel.
I had just left the Shanghai museum when two young people (college age) approached me. It was a girl and a boy and the girl did all the talking. They asked me to take their photo and after I did the girl started telling me how the boy was her friend and they were both students. That he was visiting her from a different part of China and they had heard about a "tea festival" and they were on their way there. They invited me to go with them and "experience culture."
I actually LOVE meeting people from different countries and cultures and honestly if it had been a different day I might have fallen for it and gone along. They seemed very sweet and friendly. But I was just so tired and wanted to go back to my brother's apartment to rest so I declined. It wasn't until much later that I was reading online and realized I dodged a bullet.

I don't understand how taking a picture for someone makes you susceptible to being scammed. Don't go anywhere with strangers -- but taking a picture doesn't obligate you to do anything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:poster who was targeted for the tea house scam here again

More specifics about my situation:
I'm American but my brother was living in Shanghai for a year for his job, and I was there to visit him. He still had to work during the day so I was on my own, touring the city. This was my first day there and I was still really exhausted from travel.
I had just left the Shanghai museum when two young people (college age) approached me. It was a girl and a boy and the girl did all the talking. They asked me to take their photo and after I did the girl started telling me how the boy was her friend and they were both students. That he was visiting her from a different part of China and they had heard about a "tea festival" and they were on their way there. They invited me to go with them and "experience culture."
I actually LOVE meeting people from different countries and cultures and honestly if it had been a different day I might have fallen for it and gone along. They seemed very sweet and friendly. But I was just so tired and wanted to go back to my brother's apartment to rest so I declined. It wasn't until much later that I was reading online and realized I dodged a bullet.

I don't understand how taking a picture for someone makes you susceptible to being scammed. Don't go anywhere with strangers -- but taking a picture doesn't obligate you to do anything else.

It just makes me suspicious in general, when someone I don't know approaches me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love it, I offer if they seem to have 1 person out of the picture.

Same and then often they offer back. Nice to be a little friendly. We love getting a family pic of all of us and doing the same for others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:poster who was targeted for the tea house scam here again

More specifics about my situation:
I'm American but my brother was living in Shanghai for a year for his job, and I was there to visit him. He still had to work during the day so I was on my own, touring the city. This was my first day there and I was still really exhausted from travel.
I had just left the Shanghai museum when two young people (college age) approached me. It was a girl and a boy and the girl did all the talking. They asked me to take their photo and after I did the girl started telling me how the boy was her friend and they were both students. That he was visiting her from a different part of China and they had heard about a "tea festival" and they were on their way there. They invited me to go with them and "experience culture."
I actually LOVE meeting people from different countries and cultures and honestly if it had been a different day I might have fallen for it and gone along. They seemed very sweet and friendly. But I was just so tired and wanted to go back to my brother's apartment to rest so I declined. It wasn't until much later that I was reading online and realized I dodged a bullet.

What do you think they would have done to you?

Did you read my previous post immediately before that?
They would have brought me to a tea house (one that was owned/operated by their co-scammers.) The menu would not have had prices and many different teas would have been brought to the table for us to try even if we didn't order them. Then the girl would have said that she and her friend are students with not much money and try to get me to pay most or all of the bill. When the bill would come, it would be for hundreds of dollars (WAY more than tea should cost) and if I tried to back out of paying, some aggressive men would have shown up to "encourage" me to pay up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course I don’t mind!

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it, I offer if they seem to have 1 person out of the picture.

Same and then often they offer back. Nice to be a little friendly. We love getting a family pic of all of us and doing the same for others.

+1

[Anonymous]

I like doing it and I try really hard to make a nice composition or two. I try to do a full body and a closer up. But really the kids are much better than I am now at the phone camera settings.

I helped an aspiring influencer friend take vacation photos once and it reminded me how hard it is to take a good photo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We hate it and usually refuse. DH never will do it. Germs. Plus it could be a distraction for pickpockets, scams.

I just fell on my knees and thanked Dog that I do not live in your awful paranoid world.

What a miserable existence.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about germs?

Normal people don't worry/think about this.

You're the reason COVID is endemic.

No mee-maw, we figured out pretty quickly that that's not how COVID works. Poor thing, are you one of the one's still wearing gloves?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reminds me of the free camera scam in the Chevy Chase movie European Vacation.

Ha! I hadn’t thought about that in years. The one where they get in the fountain? Thanks for the laugh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like doing it and I try really hard to make a nice composition or two. I try to do a full body and a closer up. But really the kids are much better than I am now at the phone camera settings.

I helped an aspiring influencer friend take vacation photos once and it reminded me how hard it is to take a good photo.

I’m all for helping to take photos of strangers. I’m all for letting someone our photo using my phone. It takes 45 seconds

Hopefully they hand you their phone unlocked and ready. You should not be tapping any extra buttons. Especially, they are not expecting you to change the phone or photo settings. (THAT would be suspicious if a person was fumbling and adjusting the automatic fool-proof settings) Your job is to get everything in frame and snap snap snap. Turn phone 90° and snap snap. Pinch zoom in and out and snap snap snap.

They can easily delete ones they don’t like. They will be likely thrilledthat you helped. That is probably what they were gonna do anyway, but you’re helping because their whole party can be in their one picture. If the pictures are taken in raw format, they can be enhanced and edited later

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We hate it and usually refuse. DH never will do it. Germs. Plus it could be a distraction for pickpockets, scams.

Germs!!

[Anonymous]

Not at all