Budget, Money & Practical
Siem Reap Scams: Baby Formula, Temple Guides, Tuk-Tuk Detours (2026)
A $25 formula tin, a $274 fake Angkor Pass, a $40 sack of rice for a school: the scams that still work in Siem Reap in 2026, what each costs and how to decline.
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Siem Reap’s scams are small, old and predictable, and nearly all of them are declined with a polite no and a step to the side. The milk tin on Pub Street, the man who starts explaining the carvings without being asked, the shop stop on the way back from the temples and the sack of rice on the Tonle Sap have all been running for more than a decade. What has changed is that the most expensive ones now happen online, before you land.
Lists of Siem Reap scams mostly repeat each other. They still warn about the Poipet border, closed to travelers since June 2025, and about money changers there, and they rarely mention fake Angkor Pass websites, the fake e-Arrival form or the rule that a monk does not ask tourists for cash. They also lump together real scams, ordinary markups and practices that are simply local, which makes visitors suspicious of the honest majority. This guide separates the three, says what each costs, and gives the line that ends it. The daily budget pillar covers the money leaks that are not scams at all.
Prices, official websites and warnings below were checked against operator websites and official sources in October 2026.
A Scam, a Markup and a Local Price Are Different Things
A scam takes money for something that is not what it claims to be: a formula tin that goes back to the shelf, a guide with no license, a pass that does not exist, a donation that never reaches a school.
A markup is a real service at a higher price than it should be. The $5 tuk-tuk ride that costs $2 to $3, the boat booked through a driver for more than the counter price, the market stall that opens at double. You can negotiate it, decline it or book through an app.
A local price is not a scam at all. Cambodians enter Angkor free and pay less at the museum. Riel change at 4,000 to the dollar is the standard rate, not a trick. A $5 surcharge for a 4:30 a.m. sunrise pickup is fair if agreed the night before.
Knowing which is which saves money and avoids treating every driver as a suspect. Most are not.
On Pub Street and at the Old Market
The baby formula tin
A woman, sometimes a girl, holding a sleepy infant approaches a restaurant table and asks not for money but for formula for the baby. She walks you to a specific minimart or pharmacy near the bottom of Pub Street, you pay $20 to $30 for a tin, and once you are gone the shop buys it back and splits the money with her. The babies are often borrowed for the night. ChildSafe, the child-protection program of the Cambodian NGO Friends-International, has campaigned against it since 2013. Its observations in 2018 found it declining under CCTV and police attention, and moving to smaller streets at mealtimes and late at night. It has not disappeared. The line: decline politely and keep walking. If the baby looks ill or drugged, call the ChildSafe hotline on +855 17 358 758. The orphanage tourism guide explains why this one in particular should not be funded.
Children selling bracelets and books
Children work the restaurant terraces and the temple gates from early evening, selling $1 bracelets, postcards in packs of ten and photocopied guidebooks. Some are working for adults. ChildSafe’s rule is not to buy goods or services from children and not to give them money. The cost of saying yes is not your dollar. It is the child’s school day.
Change at the wrong rate
Shops and bars convert at 4,000 riel to the dollar. On Pub Street, the common trick is change counted at 3,500, or a $10 note taken for a $20. The UK Foreign Office also reports counterfeit dollar bills given as change in shops and clubs. Count the change before you walk away, and hand back any torn or taped dollar note, because nobody else will accept it from you later. The money guide covers the torn-note problem.
Gems and antiques
A faceted “Pailin sapphire” at a market stall for $20 is glass or synthetic. A carving offered quietly as temple stone is either a fake aged with acid and dirt or an antiquity whose export is illegal under Cambodia’s 1996 heritage law. The markets guide explains what is worth buying and how to tell new carving from fake old.
At the Temples
The unlicensed guide
At Angkor Wat, the Bayon and Ta Prohm, men without a vest or badge fall into step beside you and start explaining. They are not volunteers. At the end they expect $10 to $20 and can become unpleasant if refused, and the information is often wrong. Licensed guides are trained and examined by the Ministry of Tourism, wear an official photo badge on a lanyard, and are hired in advance through a hotel or agency for an agreed day rate of $30 to $50. The line: “no thank you,” and keep walking. The guide to hiring a licensed Angkor guide explains what one is worth.
Incense and the robe
A person in robes, or someone beside a shrine, presses lit incense into your hand, says a blessing and then asks for $20 for the pagoda. Monks in Cambodia do not approach tourists to ask for cash. Real donations go into a box at a pagoda, at whatever amount you choose. The line: hand the incense back before it is lit, if you can.
“The temple is closed today”
A driver or a stranger explains that the temple you want is closed for a holiday or a ceremony, and offers somewhere else, usually a shop. The Angkor temples open every day of the year. The one real closure is the upper level of Angkor Wat, the Bakan, which closes on Buddhist holy days, and the rest of the temple stays open. A 2026 regional travel-risk report lists the closed-attraction story among the tricks still used in Siem Reap. The Angkor Pass pillar has the real opening hours.
The second-hand pass
A pass offered on the street, by a departing traveler or in a forum is useless. Multi-day passes carry the holder’s photo and are scanned at every major temple, and a pass used by someone else is confiscated. Buy your own.
Online, Before You Land
Fake Angkor Pass websites
Angkor Enterprise sells passes in three places only: the ticket office on Road 60, its website angkorenterprise.gov.kh, and the Angkor-Pass app published by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Prices are $37 for one day, $62 for three days and $72 for seven. Lookalike domains and paid search ads sell passes that do not exist. In a report posted in October 2024, a buyer paid $274 for a three-day pass on a site spelled angkorentreprise.org, received nothing and was refused at the gate despite a receipt. The line: type the address yourself and check that it ends in .gov.kh.
Fake visa and e-Arrival sites
The tourist e-Visa costs $30, including processing since January 1, 2025, and is sold at evisa.gov.kh. Private sites with similar names add their own fees on top, or take the money and issue nothing, and the Foreign Ministry has warned against them by name in the past. A separate trap arrived with the e-Arrival form introduced in September 2024. On April 9, 2025, Cambodia’s General Department of Immigration warned that cambodia-e-arrival.com is not a government site, that the only official site is arrival.gov.kh, and that filling in the form there is free. The visa and e-Visa guide has the details.
Job offers
The UK Foreign Office warns that online advertisements offering easy, high-paid jobs in Cambodia have been used to lure foreigners into scam centers, mainly in Sihanoukville, border areas and Kandal province rather than Siem Reap. It is not a tourist scam, but it is the most serious one in the country. A job offer that requires travel to Cambodia before an interview is the warning sign.
Getting Around
The tuk-tuk at the end of the street
Drivers parked at the ends of Pub Street quote $5 for a ride that costs $2 to $3. The “where you go tomorrow” conversation is a pitch for a temple day that may include a silk shop, a gem counter and a cousin’s restaurant, each paying a commission. Neither is a scam exactly. Both are a markup. PassApp and Grab give a fixed fare and a driver’s name before you get in. For a temple day, agree the route, the hours and the total in advance: $18 to $25 for the small circuit and about $5 more for a sunrise start in 2026. The getting around guide has the fares, and tuk-tuk, car or bike for Angkor compares the options.
At the airport
The official taxi counter in the arrivals hall charges a fixed $35 for a sedan for 1 to 3 passengers to the city, about 50 km and 50 to 70 minutes away, and $40 to $45 for a minivan. A driver who approaches inside the terminal with a better offer is unregulated, and the fare tends to change on arrival. The official shuttle costs $8. The airport transfer guide covers every option.
The rented motorbike
The UK Foreign Office advises never to hand over a passport as a deposit for a motorbike or scooter. The risk is a claim for damage, real or invented, with the passport held until you pay. Police fine riders without helmets, and most travel insurance does not cover riding without the right license.
On the Tonle Sap
The lake scams are concentrated at Chong Kneas, the floating village closest to town.
The rice for the school. The boat stops at a floating shop selling sacks of rice at $30 to $50, three to five times the market price, to donate to a floating school nearby. The sack goes to the school and then back to the shop for the next boat.
The donation on the boat. The driver, or a child who has climbed aboard from a dinghy, asks for money for the school or the children.
The commission boat. A tuk-tuk driver who proposes the floating village on the way back from the temples books a boat above the official price. At Chong Kneas, Angkor Enterprise sells boats at the counter for $28 for one to five passengers.
The line: buy the boat ticket at the counter yourself and decline everything sold on the water. The Tonle Sap lake pillar and the floating villages guide explain which villages to choose instead.
In the Bars
Not scams, but the two risks worth taking seriously at night. The UK Foreign Office reports drink spiking in bars frequented by foreigners, and deaths and serious illness from methanol in alcoholic drinks. Methanol cannot be tasted or smelled. Cheap spirits from unlabeled bottles, the contents of a $6 bucket, are the risk. Drink beer or sealed bottles and keep your glass in sight. “Happy” pizza on Pub Street contains cannabis, which is illegal in Cambodia in every form. The Pub Street guide covers the street and the law.
By Situation
You have just arrived and someone with a baby asks for formula
Decline and walk on. Do not go to the shop. If the child seems unwell, call +855 17 358 758.
You are buying your Angkor Pass online
Type angkorenterprise.gov.kh, check the domain, and buy the night before. Never click an ad.
A stranger at a temple starts explaining
Say no thank you once, clearly, and keep walking. Hire a licensed guide in advance if you want one.
Your driver suggests a stop you did not ask for
Say you are tired and want to go back to the hotel. Pay the agreed fare, tip if the day was good, and book the next day elsewhere if the stops continue.
You are going to the Tonle Sap
Choose Kampong Phluk or Kampong Khleang over Chong Kneas, buy the boat at the counter, and decline the rice.
You think you have been scammed
Keep receipts and screenshots. The Tourist Police take reports on 117 or 118. For a fake website, contact your card issuer at once. For a fake Angkor Pass, Angkor Enterprise support is on +855 63 965 414.
What It Actually Costs
| Scam or markup | What it costs | What it should cost | The line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baby formula tin | $20 to $30 | Nothing | Decline, walk on |
| Unlicensed temple guide | $10 to $20 | Licensed guide $30 to $50 a day, booked ahead | No thank you |
| Incense at a temple | About $20 asked | Any amount in a pagoda box | Hand it back |
| Fake Angkor Pass site | $274 in one 2024 report | $37, $62 or $72 on angkorenterprise.gov.kh | Type the .gov.kh address |
| Fake e-Visa or e-Arrival site | The fee plus a markup, or nothing issued | e-Visa $30, e-Arrival free | evisa.gov.kh, arrival.gov.kh |
| Pub Street tuk-tuk | $5 | $2 to $3 across town | PassApp or Grab |
| Rice for the school, Chong Kneas | $30 to $50 a sack | Nothing | Decline on the boat |
| Commission boat, Chong Kneas | Above counter price | $28 per boat for 1 to 5 people | Buy at the counter |
| Short change in riel | $0.50 to $1 a round | 4,000 riel to the dollar | Count before leaving |
| Airport tout | Varies | $35 official taxi, $8 shuttle | Use the counter |
Not a scam: the $5 sunrise surcharge agreed in advance, free entry to Angkor for Cambodians, and change in riel. The tipping guide covers what is expected and what is not.
What Other Guides Get Wrong
- Warning about the Poipet border touts. The Thai land border has been closed to travelers since June 2025, and the money changers and visa touts there are not a current risk for anyone flying into Siem Reap.
- Ignoring the online scams. The most expensive Siem Reap scam in recent reports is a fake Angkor Pass website, at $274, and the fake e-Arrival site warned about in April 2025 costs money before you leave home.
- Calling every markup a scam. A $5 tuk-tuk quote is a negotiation, not a crime, and riel change at 4,000 is the standard rate. Treating every driver as a fraud ruins the trip and insults the honest majority.
- Saying the milk scam is gone. ChildSafe found it reduced and relocated in 2018, not eliminated. It now works side streets at mealtimes and late at night.
- Recommending giving to children as a kindness. Every organization working with these children says the same thing: the money keeps them on the street. Give to a school or a social enterprise with published accounts instead.
- Leaving out the real risks. Bag snatching, drink spiking and methanol are what the UK Foreign Office actually warns about. They matter more than any scam on this list.
Addresses, hours, prices and transport times checked against operator websites and official sources in October 2026. Hours change seasonally and prices change often. Confirm anything time-critical with the operator.
Where to Go Next
The daily budget pillar covers the legitimate costs these scams hide behind, from the $5 ATM fee to the sunrise surcharge. For the wider safety picture, is Siem Reap safe covers health, roads and crime. The orphanage tourism guide explains why the most damaging donation in Siem Reap is the one made with good intentions, and the social enterprises guide lists where money reaches the people it is meant for.
Addresses, hours, prices and transport times checked against operator websites and official sources in October 2026. Hours change seasonally and prices change often. Confirm anything time-critical with the operator. Found an error? Tell us and the guide's review date will be updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the most common scams in Siem Reap?
Five come up again and again. The baby formula scam on Pub Street, where a $20 to $30 tin of milk powder is resold to the shop after you leave. Unlicensed guides at the temples who expect $10 to $20 at the end. Tuk-tuk drivers who take you to a shop or a restaurant that pays them a commission. The rice-for-the-school routine on the Tonle Sap boats at Chong Kneas, at $30 to $50 a sack. And fake websites selling Angkor Passes, visas or the e-Arrival form. None is violent. Most cost $5 to $50. All of them are easy to decline once you know the pattern.
Is the baby milk scam still happening in Siem Reap?
Yes, though less than a decade ago. A woman or girl holding an infant asks a visitor not for money but for formula, and walks them to a specific minimart or pharmacy near Pub Street, where a tin costs $20 to $30. After the visitor leaves, the shop buys the tin back and splits the money. ChildSafe, run by Friends-International, found in 2018 that CCTV, police attention and posters had reduced it and pushed it to smaller streets at mealtimes and late at night. Decline politely. If the baby looks ill or drugged, call the ChildSafe hotline on +855 17 358 758.
How do I avoid fake Angkor Pass websites?
Type angkorenterprise.gov.kh into the browser rather than clicking a search result or an ad, and check that the address ends in .gov.kh. The same passes at the same prices, $37, $62 and $72, are sold in the official Angkor-Pass app and at the ticket office on Road 60. No temple gate sells tickets, no reseller sells valid passes, and a second-hand multi-day pass is useless because it carries the holder's photo. In a 2024 report, a buyer paid $274 for a three-day pass on a lookalike domain, received nothing and was refused entry despite proof of payment.
Are the children selling things in Siem Reap a scam?
Not a scam in the usual sense, but buying from them does harm. Children selling bracelets, postcards and photocopied books on Pub Street and at the temple gates are often working for adults, and a child earning money at 10:00 p.m. is not in school at 7:00 a.m. ChildSafe's advice is not to buy goods or use services offered by children, and not to give them money. The same applies to children who ask for a donation on the Tonle Sap boats. If a child seems to be in danger, call the ChildSafe hotline on +855 17 358 758 rather than intervening yourself.
Should I trust a tuk-tuk driver who offers a temple tour?
Many Siem Reap drivers are honest, and most visitors hire one for the temples. The problems are the extras. A driver who offers a very cheap day and raises the price at the ticket office, who stops at a silk shop, a gem counter or a cousin's restaurant on the way back, or who proposes an orphanage visit is earning a commission. Agree the route, the hours and the total before setting off, in writing on your phone. A small-circuit day costs $18 to $25 for the vehicle in 2026, plus about $5 for a sunrise start. Pay at the end, and decline every unrequested stop.
Is Siem Reap safe, or just full of scams?
It is safe by regional standards, and the scams are small. The UK Foreign Office lists bag snatching from passing motorbikes as the main crime against visitors in Cambodia, and reports assaults on lone women by men posing as motorbike taxi drivers near Pub Street, drink spiking in bars and deaths from methanol in cheap spirits. Those are the things worth guarding against: carry bags away from the road, book rides through PassApp or Grab after dark, drink beer or sealed bottles. The scams in this guide cost money, not safety, and a firm no thank you ends almost all of them.