Budapest Bar Scam
End of last week I was searching a bit online and stumbled upon an article or a review about the Bar Galaxia in Budapest. So far so good but the review was more than bad and reported about a typical Budapest Bar Scam around Vaci utca in Budapest.
Typical is that 2 good looking, young girls pretending to be students chat up some tourists on Vaci út. They pretend to not know any bars around but of course they know exactly where they are going. The bars you go to are super expensive and you will not go out there under 25.000 HUF per person for a few drinks. A good collection of bars you can find at the website of the Embassy of the USA which include the following:
-
Diamond Club
Budapest II district, Bimbó út 3. -
Eden Night Club
Budapest VI district, Andrássy út. 54. -
Galaxia étterem, bár
Budapest V district, Bécsi utca 3. -
La Dolce Vita
Budapest V district, Október 6. utca 8. -
Mercy Club and Lounge
Budapest VII district, Dohány utca 88. -
Nirvana Night Club
Budapest V district, Szent István krt.13. -
Pigalle Night Club
Budapest VIII district, Kiss József utca 1-3. -
Városközpont (accessible by outside elevator)
Budapest V district, Váci utca 16.
These are the bars to avoid in Budapest according to the embassy of the United States of America. Of course there are more bars like this but that is a good start. If you search on Google for Bar Galaxia in Budapest you will find tons of articles about the scam. Here are some articles and forum posts I found which perfectly describe the scheme of the girls and and bars.
Forum post at Topix.com about Swindle in Budapest – Click
Article about Budapest bar Scam at johnnyjet.com – Click
List of bars/restaurants to avoid by the US Embassy – Click
And I also collected a list of especially table dance / strip bars in Budapest to avoid – Click
If you need reliable bars in Budapest check out my list of reviewed bars in Budapest where you can go to. If you want to go to a nightclub in Budapest please select one of the trusted. The most trusted and famous nightclub in Budapest among tourists is for sure the Marilyns night club at Baross utca. So you can go there, enjoy yourself but have a transparent pricing scheme.
So please, if you are up to catching girls here in Budapest go through the city with open eyes, read every menu before you order and don’t let them chat you up on tourist centers like Vaci street because there you for sure get ripped off. If you need recommendations or have any experience with Budapest Bar Scam please leave a comment or drop me a line by email.
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About The Author
patrick
great feeds. i am here in nyireghaza and i would like to move to western hungary so i can get a job in budapest ot austria. do you have any tips on housing and jobs in austria and western hungary…..thanks
patrick
Parcq
Was in Budapest last week for five days with 2 good friends. Fantastic holiday, great Szilvester-party, beautiful city!
Everything perfect until -you can guess- the last evening of our stay. We just wanted to have a nice, calm evening because we had to catch our plane very early the next morning. One friend (the lucky one) was too tired and went to the hotel very early (8pm). Me and the other one just wanted to drink a few beers for two or three hours in no matter which bar…
So we were walking on Vaci Ut ‘searching’ when two really good looking students from Debrecen (Eva and Suzy) asked us to join them for a drink. Ideal!! We really didn’t hesitate much. They were friendly, intelligent, beautiful, but nothing too much. The girls we like…
They were interested, asked about our country, our jobs,… So while talking they brought us -apparently by accident- to the ‘world-famous’ Bar Galaxia. In the elevator they asked for our horoscope, that kind of shit!, but on the moment we liked it and didn’t have any suspicion. The brown one giving her attention totallyg to me, the blonde one to my friend (like written in their script).
We entered the bar and everything looked quite normal (only strange that one man was sitting at a table at the entrance, just doing nothing, I was just thinking it was the most useless job in the world, but hey who cares, I was in Hungary…).
We chose a table. Then I immediately asked for the toilet, I really needed to go. When I came back 2 minutes later, it was the first time I had to think further (but I didn’t): the whole table was FULL of drinks. FULL!! Palenkas, champagne, beer and wodka-Burns,…. First I was shocked and said to my friend in Dutch: ‘what the hell you think you’re doing, we have to catch a plane tomorrow’. He said: ‘It wasn’t me, they just said some Hungarian words to the waitress and see what happened now!!’. We felt strange…
But then 5 seconds later the two girls smiled at us, took their glasses and friendly asked us to drink the palenkas and we thought: ‘Well, why not, I’m not in Budapest everyday. And those 2 girls just want to enjoy their last moments here.’ Not one moment we were thinking about a pricelist or a menu-card.
We drank in a good tempo, had some nice chit-chat and we even started to like the girls. Mine was a student biology and she really knew a lot about it. She even knew Belgian music-groups, Belgian writers, Belgian beers,… I couldn’t imagine to have met a smarter girl. We had some more palenkas, burns, champagne and beers,… And another round… The girls got drunk (we also a little bit), another round, we even danced with them (we never dance!!), another round (Unicum!) and another one! It was great!
But then time was there: 12pm and we had to get up at 5am. So we very friendly thanked the girls for the evening and asked the check (no suspicion at all!). I got the check first and there it was: 378.000 Forint!! Thinking for 10 seconds (those palenkas) and then realising that it was more then 1500€…
Now the moment where many people won’t follow us anymore: other people would immediately freak out seeing that check. We didn’t. We found it was not cheap, but we just paid it (ATM in the corner)with a smile on our head, without any problems, not even thinking about asking the girls to pay something (I always knew we haven’t any notice about money). Never happened to those girls before, I guess. We even kissed them goodbye on -oh irony-Vaci Ut and went happily to our hotel…
It was only next day on the plane (no headache!! unbelievable) I started thinking that this wasn’t so normal at all! These prices!! And why were these fantastic girls so easy, never happened to me…
When I came home I got on the internet and started reading exaxtly the same stories about “2 girls on Vaci Ut”. Everything came together, it was a scam! Called my friend and at first he really couldn’t believe it, not those 2 lovely girls, impossible!! But sadly true…
Like someone said allready: afterwards it is all so obvious, but on the moment it all made sense…
I have to admit: what a pickpocket does in 2 seconds, do these girls in 3-4 hours. They really make work of it, maybe we even have to feel a little bit of appreciation for that. It’s the people who they’re working for that are the f****** bastards. They use these beautiful girls from the Hungarian countryside to earn money like shit. In jail with them!
But in the end we can just laugh with our story. We learnt a good lesson (never trust lovely, innocent Hungarian girls
and we only lost a bit of money.
And when we ever make a movie, we already know 2 perfect actresses.
Spotty
Wow, I feel some relief in a sense that it wasnt just me scammed. Reading this, it hits home how repriducible the scam is.
I was in Budapest on business, looking for something to eat and maybe a beer the night before a meeting. I was approached by two girls who claimed to be Croatian. They had itailanesque accents so that part was believable. I decided to join them, being friendly and in a foreign city. Business can be lonely and its nice to meet new people. And just as before… theyre from Zagreb, students, well spoken. I had no idea it was a scam until the bill arrived……they took me to Városközpont (accessible by outside elevator). Then I started to realise when I asked them for a contribution… and what do you know they only have the equivalent of £10. The bill came to ~£310 for a snack and two rounds of drinks.
I actually considered doing a runner but the buzzer by the door and the elevator would have made it impossible. The staff were pressing me for payment so hard I didnt have a lot of breathing space to think. The girls had given me their email addresses (I emailed when in the bar on my Bberry, this took them back a little, I guess they were expecting an immediate “undeliveable”, unfortunately it took about 12 hours. They also told me where they were staying… they were going to “bring me money the next day”. Which of course never happend. When I got back to my hotel and had some time to think, I called their hotel and the receptionist had never heard of them…. surprise, surprise.
I dont know what I would have done differently other than being a little more diligent and checking the menu for the prices. But Id been in Budapest for all of 10 minutes and was a little tired.
All I can do is to put it down to experience and say at least it wasnt $1500.. but I could do without it with the crunch!
Erwin
Same thing happen to me, while I was walking on Vaci Ut two Croatian girls with Italian accent approached me asking for a street, I didn’t knew and they said they were on vacations and looking for a place to have drinks, if i want to join them, we walk few blocks to the Latin Bar with access thru elevator, we have few deinks and chat for 2 hrs, they were great actress, asking where are the toilets, never been in Budapest, etc, etc. When the bill came it was 215,000 Forint (1,100 usd) for 3 rounds of drinks, the waitress bring me the cheque and asked how I would like to pay, I told her by credit card and she said they dont accept it, but I can withdrow money from the ATM beside, then I saw the amount and need to take money from 3 different cards to get the total bill. I was confused with the exchange rate and realize that it was very expensive and asked the girls for the prices, they said they didn’t knew as there were theirs first time there… My vacation trip got ruined with this fraud and left me a very bad taste of Budapest
NemMagyar
The moral of the story?? Beware of beautiful girls in Hungary. LOL
Capn Courageous
Scam clearly a big success; it’s alive and well to this day. I have been hit on by female duos three times in my last two nights here in Budapest, but fortunately I was suspicious the first time (I always am about “instant friends” when I travel). Just expect it in the big shopping area in Pest. If a woman speaks to you, pretend you did not hear them and keep walking; guaranteed to work. Find a few mellow joints on your own during the day, outside the heavy tourist spots, and make those your “local faves” to return to time and time again afterward. Not to be a chauvinist, but obviously under these prevailing conditions you should definitely meet women on your terms, not the other way around. There’s a beautiful Budapest here worth seeing–and even risking getting drunk in–so be smart about finding your points of debauchery and then enjoy!
Nikos
The same happened to me yesterday…the 2 croatian girls..drinks ..final bill 300 euro..pressing and pressing and no space for escaping..i also had to catch my later flight as i was a few hours in airport and decided to do a walk in budapest..one of the WORST expreriences in my life. i really felt in danger.!
dont know if the local police or goverment is doing something about this. (and yes the MAIN responsible is me..)
Coolski
The same 2 broads approach me and my pal last night, Sophia the blonde one did the horoscope shit and took us to the shit hole bar via the lift whilst asking moody questions. I smelt a rat (and im not talking about the 2 croations) as my mate sat down so decided to head to the toilet to do a reki. The rat started smelling pretty strong so i made the executive decision to do the offski. Signalled to my pal to which the girls said you cant go we have ordered a round of palenka’s. I said dont worry girls ive canceled them (had i fuck) then bowled out saying the maxwell line of, fuck about.
Sir
Wow, this is still going on! Happened to me back in ’97.
http://www.zooass.com/newsletters/newsletter15.html#story
spender
Never trust taxi drivers, they drive you to scams stripclubs and before you know you end up paying 22000 for 2 heiniken, and ladies drink where off course champagne and if we havent asked for price it costs 79000, we tryed many strip clubs and did not have a good time, nice girls but they where quite intense for only the champagne and nagging all the time to by show and champagne, i will never set my foot in a strip club in Budapest ever agin.
When i spend good money in strip clubs “and belive me i can” i will have right to make my one choises what i want, and feel good, and not all the time being afraid for paying for nothing, so sorry Budapest strip clubs YOU LOOSE!!
Stupid Guy
Comment #29
Nov 23, ’11 @ 20:57
Stupid guy:
I had the same experience yesterday with 2 gils saying they
where Italian. I feel so stupid now… They where so nice and I
was so tired … I didn’t wanted any sexual from them and told
really a lot of times that I wanted to go home. They said we
could do one drink…
And then it was nice and they where telling about their work as
gym teacher and the other one as secretary there. I was totaly
irritated by their lack of intelligence, but never thought they
where tricking me. Then when I really wanted to go, they
wanted just one dance, Nothing to intimite so I didn’t saw
anything wrong in this…. And we keep getting a Hungarian
Schnaps and whine… And then I really wanted to go and got a
bill of almost 200.000 Florints… At first I just accepted it, took
my loss and was for some reasson not thinking.So I went to
the ATM under her the oh so nice guidance of our waitress…
Se explained the 200k with that we drunk really expensive
champagne…. And in fact in theory she was right.
But then before the coffee I went to the toilet and when I came
back they had a coffee with something next to it… and it
seemed later to be a quadriple Remy Martain XO…. So this
came down to another 100k… This was the point where I only
thought the bar was screwing me over and I said so.. “You are
screwing me over” and she replied with that this is no way to
talk to a lady…. Then I asked for the boss and I got pointed to
some curly haired girl which was a little fat and she explained
that I really ordered it and then touched a really big guy saying
it was her boyfriend…. Then I got scared, so I payed half and
then refused to pay more and told her that I’ll come back the
other day. The girls than assumably payed something, but I
don’t really believe so….
Then when I was walking them home they walked without any
doubt to a metrostation and asked for some money for the
metro, because she gave all her money…. And stupid as I
was… I even gave it!
Only when walking back to my hotel, 1000 Euro down the
drain, I realised that they had to be in the scam…
Dissapointed as I was in the world I just walked back to my
hotel… wishing all kinds of bad stuff to these people. When I
googled this today I saw really a lot of hits and was totaly
amazed.
I want to get to the bottom of this, but I’m not sure yet how. I’m
also not so sure how deeply they are tight in the underworld.
And I do value my life. If any body has tips to get them, please
let me know – I’ll fly back
Nick
O M G
Well, it happened to me just few hours ago and reading what you guys had gone through I must say I was extremely lucky. Near hard Rock cafe I was approached by two girls, one blond and other brunette. Brunette was really cute though. They were searching for some street and we chatted for a while. They said that they just want to have some drink or something to eat and invited me as well. Sure, why not, having a drink with two nice girls is better that walking alone.
Along the way they asked me all sorts of questions like where do I stay, did I come by car (and I did so they asked where is it???). I just gave them some bullshit info because I felt those questions aren’t really necessary. Little that I knew they are collecting info just in case.
We came to the place accessible by outside elevator (Varoskozpont, Vaci street 16) and we laughed about 2 girls and a guy not being able to start the elevator. They seemed like tourists so nothing suspicious there.
We came to the bar at the top of the building and inside was really empty (I never saw these people from the elevator) so we sat down at the table next to the bar. They asked all sorts of questions, talked about various shit and waitress came. They asked me if I want some sort of special wine which I refused. They insisted but I ordered vodka. They got palinka, tonic water and red bulls each. The atmosphere was sorta cheesy and I asked about live music. Shortly after, a woman in her fifties came to a “stage” and started singing some cheesy Rick Astley songs from eighties. It looked and sounded like the cheapest synthesizer from 1985. in combo with karaoke if you know what I mean. It was so funny to me that I even recorded it with my phone camera.
I told girls that we should go to another place and they never objected, saying that it is their first time here and they thought this place is much better. The waitress came with a 40.000F bill (something like 135 EUR) for a round of drinks.
I immediately knew what is happening and my brain was working 300%. There were no bodyguards when we came. It is still early (9:30PM). I see no gorillas around but I knew things can go very bad. I stood up, put my jacket on, took my phone out and promptly dialed 112 (general emergency line). While dialing I said the bill is too much and that I had only 5000F (true). And no cards with me. The girls murmured something like you pay 18000 and we will pay the rest so I said again 5000 is all I have. The lady on 112 answered and I told her immediately that I am being a victim of the scam, described the place and then took the menu and told her the neme of the place, street and number. She told me to hold which I did. I was ready to move and as I got away from the table I just started walking towards the exit. I was really scared and expected gorillas to jump on me every second. I pretended to speak to the police officer while waiting for 112 lady to give me an update. I was afraid to look back. Just before the exit to the terrace I spotted a fat old lady sitting at the table at the entrance, just sitting, doing nothing. I went out as 112 lady said the police is coming soon. I asked her to hold on for a minute.
As I approached the lift I expected the button to call it is deactivated but the elevator came and I entered it. I was still not relieved because I expected thugs as the door opens on the street. Nothing. Nobody was there. So I just continued walking and walked together in crowds of people until I felt safe.
This was horrible experience and I really felt so stupid. When I got to my hotel I googled bar scam in Budapest and found this and couple of other pages with exactly the same stories.
Yes I was lucky, it costed me only 5000F, which is more-less the actual cost of those drinks.
Now I will be more cautious but I wish I informed myself beforehand. Common sense is all you need to employ but these girls played it almost perfectly.
Dexter
I’m not going to bother to type out the entire story, because it’s almost EXACTLY the same as the story above! I think the girls were driving a smaller blue car. They were pushy, said they were from an outlying town, wanted directions, etc etc. I turned them down, they asked what language I spoke, wanted to go out for a drink, I turned them down twice and finally they agreed and walked away.