The travel scam almost always starts with friendliness in unfamiliar places. A kind smile. A gracious offer of help. A flirtatious compliment.

In a foreign land, that unexpected kindness can go a long way — and sometimes it lands deep in your pocketbook.

A few years ago, my mom and I visited Beijing for 10 days — and we felt some very real culture shock, having come from three weeks in India. On the subcontinent, the locals were generally friendly and warm and surprisingly communicative. (There are crooked folks everywhere, of course.)

When we arrived in China — regardless of friends’ warnings that few people would be able to speak English and the Chinese were generally a cold people when compared with the Indians — we were still surprised at the gap.

Whereas India was friendly and warm, full of so many smiles and new friends, China was standoffish and cold. And that was fine. We got used to uninterrupted walks through Tiananmen Square and extended, quiet lunch breaks at the local noodle house.

And that’s why Mom and I were surprised when three friendly young ladies engaged us in conversation as we stood outside the Forbidden City’s main gate. The ladies were students, pretty but plain, and they chatted with us about our recent trip to India, their recent travels to Beijing — they lived outside the city, they said — and Beijing’s complex system of hutongs (alleys).

There was a chill in the air, and they suggested tea, which we had already been thinking of. I told them I’d seen a place by our hotel. They said they had a place in mind in the same direction.

As we walked, the girls spoke in Chinese, pointing toward a small tea shop in a nearby hutong. We jumped in.

But something was wrong. The girls weren’t from Beijing, supposedly, but they had a fair grasp on the intense layout of the central city — and they also seemed familiar with the tea hostess. It felt even more awkward when we were seated in a private room, the five of us. Our casual tea had just become a “tea ceremony,” they called it.

“You try as many teas as you want,” one of the ladies, the sharpest one, told us as a large staff came into the room with an assortment of snack crackers and lychee candies. “It’s the best way to taste Chinese tea.” Suddenly our new friend was in sales, and as my mom glanced at the elegant menu in her hands — which presented their many blends in beautiful, handwritten lettering via elaborate descriptions of aromas and tastes and curing abilities — I started to feel uncomfortable.

Were these good people out for conversation about our two very different cultures? Or were they scam artists, with us as their trusting marks? And so I started asking questions.

“Why are we in a private room? I’d prefer to be where everybody else is.”

“Do these snacks, which we didn’t order, cost anything?”

“Where are the prices on the menu? And are we charged extra if we try multiple teas?”

Without answering anything, the sharp one came back: “That’s the whole point. You taste them all! They are so lovely — and look, this one will heal your sore throat.”

I gave my mom the look, and we each ordered one cup of tea. “We’ll share,” we told them — two words that brought on frowns and hurried conversation in their native tongue.

“Also,” my mom added, a stern look in her eye, “we’re not interested in this room or this food if it’s extra. We just want the tea.”

More frowns. Awkward silences were masked by tea sips. And that’s when I grabbed my backpack and excused myself to the restroom, which was out on the street — one of the many public restrooms built for the Olympics.

Busted!

As I stood inside the smelly, tile-covered room next to the small, unadorned teahouse, I thumbed through my Lonely Planet China, which had barely been cracked because we’d just spent three very busy weeks crisscrossing India. I like traveling with Lonely Planets for a number of reasons, one of which is their attention to care and well-being — and their authors are always quick to point out popular scams.

And that’s when I saw it. Right there in the book, it tells you how it will happen: The Beijing Teahouse Scam.

I immediately barged back into the room and held out the book, with the scam marked, to the sharp one. She looked up at me with a smile and read it aloud (in Chinese) to her pals. They giggled nervously without looking up at us. One of the other women said, “This must be a new edition.”

I told my mom, “We’re out of here.”

They tried to explain. They were just three friendly students from out of town. They wanted to have tea with us, to talk about America and China and India and whatever else came up. This was not a “scam,” our new friend said, looking back down at the open book.

But when the bill came a few seconds later — they had signaled the employees — they became nervous. We laughed when we saw “private room fees” and “snack charges” and “convenience fees.” The inflated bill was more than $100 — and imagine had we sampled four or five different types of tea.

“We will pay for our tea,” my mom told the three of them, the silent teahouse worker standing over their shoulder looking shamefully at the ground, “and that is all.”

Apparently some people get charged $200-$300 in those houses, feeling stupid for not asking about menu prices and hidden fees. The scammers often prey on single men, fawning over them and wanting to practice their English.

What’s troubling about scams such as these: They scare you, the intrepid traveler, to walk around in a bubble. Suddenly you don’t want to have conversations with locals because they might have negative intentions.

And you know, in some cases they do. Sometimes they will try to take your money. But in most cases, you should stay open enough to tell those unprofessional people apart from the others who might be up for a conversation, a question or a quick cup of tea — at the teahouse/restaurant of your choosing, of course.

Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com

Tips for safer traveling

• Before you leave on a trip, take some time to go over the “what ifs.” Put emergency phone numbers, credit card numbers, copies of your driver’s license and passport, medical documents and information and other important documents in a safe deposit box or fireproof safe and leave keys with a trusted family member or friend. Travel safety consultant Kevin Coffey recommends making digital copies and then scanning and e-mailing them to yourself.

• Be aware, all the time. Distractions are the best way for thieves to access your possessions. The two best places for them to do so, according to Coffey: in places where you can be bumped easily, such as escalators or train turnstiles, and places where many things are competing for your attention, such as crosswalks. It’s easy for thieves to take advantage of your focus.

• Thieves pay attention when you are carrying the most valuables. Coffey calls those “places of transition,” the locations between destinations and activities. “Airports and hotels are where thieves are watching you,” Coffey says. “They know you’re checking in, going through security or have things like all your jewelry in your carry on.”

• Men should never carry their wallets in their back pockets. “Pickpockets call it ‘the sucker pocket,'” Coffey says. “It’s the easiest place to get at your wallet. Of course, that’s why you put it there, but when you travel, you shouldn’t.”

• The easiest purse to access quickly? Drawstring or open-top. “Thieves love those, and they can easily cause a distraction and then use a jacket to cover over it and stick a hand in,” he says. “The best type has a zippered compartment and then a flap over that. Or buy a security purse, which has a lock that takes two hands to undo.”

• Lock down the zippers on backpacks, and make sure all of the pockets and closures on purses are closed. We put safety pins on all of the zipper pulls on our daypacks in Quito, Ecuador, so that they couldn’t be quickly opened while standing in a crowd or on a bus.

• “Sanitize” your wallet – which means removing everything that is unnecessary. Carry only the credit cards you’ll use, along with identification. “How many people go on a trip and take their library card, AAA card, all this other stuff that has no rhyme or reason? Leave it at home in a safe deposit box,” Coffey says. “And if you do wind up with it on the trip, leave it in your hotel safe.”

• When someone initiates a conversation or asks a question, your antennae should go up. “Be very careful of what I call ‘the setup,’ where someone engages you,” Coffey says. “Someone comes up and says, ‘Excuse me, can you tell me where there’s a Starbucks?’ Right there, they’ve got your attention, and if they’re working in a team, they’ve set up a distraction for their partner to move in.”

Kyle Wagner: 303-954-1599 or travel@denverpost.com; Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com