Money & ATM Scams in San Juan, Puerto Rico

How it works

Card skimmers are placed on ATMs in tourist-heavy areas of San Juan, particularly standalone machines in convenience stores and gas stations near Condado and Isla Verde. Scammers also work in pairs near ATMs — one distracts the visitor while the other photographs the card or observes the PIN. Compromised cards are typically cloned and drained within hours of the initial capture.

How it works

Representatives outside hotels and on the Condado beach strip offer free breakfast, resort credits, or show tickets in exchange for attending a "brief" 90-minute vacation club presentation. The session routinely runs 4–6 hours and involves high-pressure sales tactics for timeshare or vacation club memberships costing $15,000–$40,000. The promised gifts are often withheld or come with undisclosed conditions.

How it works

Despite being prohibited under Puerto Rico Law 150-2008 and Law 42-2015, some small souvenir shops, restaurants, and tour operators in Old San Juan add a 3–5% surcharge to credit card transactions without disclosure. The charge often appears as a line item labeled "processing fee" or is simply folded into the total without explanation. Tourists unfamiliar with local consumer law rarely challenge it.