Istanbul
is generally safe , however as is the case with most European cities , pickpockets are sometimes wandering over the city , specially in crowded touristic places . They are often equipped with many sorts of strategies to steal whatever they can reach . You should always watch your pockets and travel documents and even do not rely on the ‘safe’ feeling you get from the presence of policemen .
Most of the other problems you may encounter are related to scams . You may encounter some sort of scammers in some bars/clubs where they are mostly associated with high-drink prices scams . These clubs usually charge overpriced bills , based on a false copy of the original menu . Also , you should be aware of friendly behaving groups of young men or male-female couples opening a conversation in the street and inviting you to a "good nightclub they know" , as this is often frequently a prelude to a scam . You are not supposed to be over-anxious but only aware of such tricks . In case you realize that there is a kind of scam taking place , you should refuse to pay the high prices and try to call the police (by dialing #155) to file a complaint . Another kinds of scams are also there like Lira/Euro Scams which happen
often in smaller hotels but also can happen in other situations as well . What happens is that the hotel offers a quoted prices in Lira and later , when payment is due , claims the price was given in Euros . Also some hotels which reject payment early in a stay and let you pay when you are leaving should raise suspicions as well , although these kinds of hotels often offer excellent service and accommodation in order for most guests to be somehow satisfied with the service and do not object much on paying higher prices .
Other scams may be related to payments or currency exchange and mostly rely on the resemblance between different banknotes or coins that have different values but very similar appearance , like the resemblance between the two-Euro coin and the 1 Lira coin (the 1 Lira coin looks indeed very similar to the 2-Euro coin but worth only about one third of the value of 2 Euro) , similarly , the 50 Lira note looks somewhat similar to the 5 Lira note and some scammer handed 50 Lira note may quickly switch it with a 5 Lira note and insists that the handed one was the 5 Lira note . To avoid many of such scams , you should take precautions and only exchange currency in banks or Exchange offices that will provide you with an invoice ,
and also make sure to count the handed money carefully before leaving the office . Watching carefully the value of the money you either hand out or handed out also helps preventing , or at least making difficult , such kinds of scams to happen .
Concerning taxi-related scams , unfortunately tourists are more faced with taxi scams than locals . Some of the less-than-honest taxi drivers may use the banknotes resemblance trick while others may try to charge a higher rate by sitting the taxi meter to the nighttime rates while in daytime . Taxis have a meter that will displays "GUNDUZ" if daytime rates are being charged (until midnight) and "GECE" if nighttime rates are being charged (until dawn) , so you should watch the meter and make sure that it applies the correct rate before paying your fare . Also , be aware that taxi drivers use cars affiliated with a particular hub , and that the name and phone number of the hub , as well as the license plate number , are written on the side of each car . You can note or simply photograph this information which can be useful if you run into problems . There are also taxis affiliated with major hotels (Hilton , Marriot , Ritz , etc . ) which are safe and you can ride in
one of them form their hotel’a hub as it is even not necessary to stay in these hotels to use these taxis .
In case of troubles that you want the police to assist in or be involved , you can dial 155 for emergencies , or you may seek assistance from police stations available in every district .
Tourism police is also a separate unit offering service in tourism sectors with available foreign-language speaking stuff and is mainly concerned with the security of tourists visiting Istanbul . You can always seek assistance from the Tourism police , in case of trouble , which is located opposite the Yerebatan Sarnici (Basilica Cistern) . Its address is Yerebatan Avenue , No . 6 , Sultanahmet , and its telephone number is: +90 (212) 527 45 03 .
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