Italian Lira Scam
November 13th, 2006 by Ian McAfee
Traveling to Italy? Don’t get hoodwinked by the modern currency scam. A few sneaky merchants are giving tourists change with a coin that carries no value. From Rick Steve’s Travel:
The old 500 lira coin (worth about $.25 before the Euro made it worthless in 2001) is the same size and design (silver outer ring with inlaid copper middle) as the new €2 coin (worth $2.50). Countless tourists are finding the old 500 lira coins in their pockets. I did — just last month. Each one you take costs you $2.50 and the only person dumb enough to take it from you is another tourist. Europeans never touch a coin the size of a €2 without verifying that it is actually €2. Study the photos here — the lira was passed off on me on my last trip. You are now warned!
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Thank you so much. Leaving for Italy soon and I will be much more vigilant after reading your warning. Thank you.