How not to get scammed??

General rules for not getting scammed...

Its a sad fact but in many well traveled places, many people are looking to trick you out of your money.

It can start right at the airport.

Take licensed taxi's, ask on the plane about the rate to your destination, also take down the taxi number if available just in case you lost something.

Taxi's in some places will tell you that your hotel just had some issue and they will "offer" to take you to an even better hotel. I'd say there is a 99.999% chance your hotel is fine. Don't go to the other hotel.

If your taxi driver offers you drugs, just think for a second you are coming from the airport and he is taking you to your hotel, he might have glanced at your name from the baggage tags. Yes, most likely he will get you what you want but maybe he is setting you up for a police bust.

If a well spoken man comes to you and said the palace, museum, etc is closed. Just check for yourself, whats the harm in knowing for yourself. In Bangkok, this is very common near the Grand Palace area.

As said above, beware buying drugs. Its common to set up foreigners in drug deals in many party places and a Mexican, Thai or Indonesian jail cell is not a great place to spend the next 10-100 years.

If your buy a lot of drinks, you might consider paying as you go, its not unknown for bars to pad pills with extra drinks or food you did not consume. You are not in a great position to argue if you have been drinking and try to dispute the charges.

If your traveling long distance by bus or train, ask the bus to put your bags(if they are large) below where you will sit, so you can view it when the bus stops. Keep your valuables, with you.
Also you might invest in some small padlocks, it wont stop thieves but it will slow them down in some cases.

Meeting people is great overseas but you should also be on the lookout for people that are looking to push you into going to a certain store, card game, tea house or bar.