How safe is India for travelers?

The first 48 hours are the exposed ones

Scams in India are almost entirely non-violent. They work through manufactured chaos, time pressure and confident misinformation, and they are aimed squarely at people who have just landed.

The closed-hotel scam

The most common one in Delhi, and the most effective. On the way in from the airport, the driver says the road to your hotel is blocked - police, a demonstration, a festival - or that the hotel is full, or has burned down. He then offers to take you to a "government-approved tourist office", where officials confirm the story and press you into cancelling your booking and buying an expensive tour to Rajasthan or Kashmir.

• They will offer to call the hotel to check. They dial a friend, who plays the receptionist and confirms everything. Call the number on your own booking confirmation, from your own phone.
• Delhi has exactly one official India Tourism office, at 88 Janpath. Every other "government approved" tourist office, and there is a cluster of them opposite the Paharganj entrance to New Delhi station, is a private agency.
• The defence is simply to refuse the detour. Insist the driver goes to the booked address without stopping anywhere.

The fake ride-hail at the airport

Someone in the official pickup zone presents themselves as a coordinator or as your driver and asks for your ride PIN. Once you are in the car the driver never opens the real app - the network is down, he says - and at the destination produces a screen showing four or five times the quoted fare.

Check the registration plate and the driver's photo in your own app before you get in. If either does not match, do not get in, whatever is said to you.

Fake ticket inspectors

At New Delhi Railway Station, men with official-looking badges and lanyards stop foreigners before the platform and tell them their ticket is invalid or needs stamping at a tourist office.

Real Indian train conductors work inside the train, in full uniform, with numbered badges and a seating chart, and they check everyone rather than singling out foreigners on a concourse.

The blessing

Near the Gateway of India in Mumbai, men presenting themselves as holy men offer a free blessing, mark your forehead and tie a red thread on your wrist - then demand payment, loudly, immediately.

Refuse the physical contact. Do not stop, do not engage, keep walking.

The roadside meal stop

Long-distance buses stop at particular roadside dhabas the driver has an arrangement with. Staff hurry you into ordering by saying the bus is about to leave, and no menu or price appears until the bill does.

Ask for a printed menu with prices before you order anything. If there is not one, do not eat there - the bus will wait longer than they say.