City Moving to Combat Tourist Scams Ahead of 2026 World Cup
A recent City Council report documented licensing violations, inflated prices and misleading practices in New York’s tourism industry.
| 12 Jun 2026 | 01:35
Pedicab operators at work at West 58th Street and 7th Avenue near Central Park South. There are 850 licensed pedicabs in the city, but the number of unlicensed cabs means the number on the street is nearly double that figure, a recent city council report found. (
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Anticipating a World Cup-driven wave of malefaction, fraud and ripoffs, New York’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) will establish an education and outreach program to combat tourist scams.
This iniative is one result of recently passed City Council legislation, Intro. 847-A. The bill was included in a World Cup-related legislation package passed on May 14, as the city prepares for the estimated one million fans descending on Gotham this month and next for the wildly popular quadrennial soccer tournament.
The law, sponsored by deputy city council speaker Sandr Ung, will require the DCWP to launch a tourist scam awareness campaign.
“My bill takes a common sense approach that builds on the importance of consumer protection work that’s already done by the DCWP while acknowledging the unique vulnerabilities that tourists face,” Council Member Ung said at a June 9 press conference. “It requires a department to create clear and multilingual educational material that helps visitors recognize common scams and deceptive business practices before they become victims.”
Efforts are already underway at the DCWP: the agency launched a small-business education campaign on workplace and consumer protection laws, partnered with City Hall on a multilingual “Yellow Card” and “Red Card” rights campaign for workers, immigrants and visitors, and released consumer guidance to help tourists avoid common scams and deceptive business practices during their stay.
The bill and the DCWP’s efforts come alongside the Council’s “Taken For a Ride” report, released June 8 and spearheaded by the Oversight and Investigations Division (OID). The report covered the OID’s undercover fieldwork and investigation into pedicab operators, unlicensed taxis and rideshares and unauthorized ticket vendors.
Many tourists arriving in New York will be unfamiliar with the city’s transportation and tourism services.
“While this surge in visitors will generate increased economic activity as well as demand for transportation, entertainment, and tourist attractions,” the report reads, “It will also create opportunities for bad actors to target individuals with deceptive and dangerous practices.”
The report concluded that operators and vendors frequently misrepresented what they were selling, bypassed licensing and safety requirements, and charged prices were “often unclear or inflated.” Investigators found that many taxi and pedicab drivers, for example, did not have the required licenses. Some taxi drivers used signs claiming to be official rideshare vehicles when they were not registered with the Taxi & Limousine Commission.
Furthermore, while the DCWP can issue a maximum of 850 pedicab registrations, reports estimate that there are 1,200 to 1,500 pedicabs currently operating in New York City. Tourists report being misled about ride costs. Some operators, for instance, will avoid quoting a price before the ride or play loud music to make it more difficult for riders to communicate about pricing.
“Tourists need to trust the city that they come to,” Councilmember and Chair of the Council’s Consumer and Worker Protection Committee Harvey Epstein said in the June 9 press conference. “They need to understand that what’s out there is fair and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has to do the investigations and the oversight necessary. And that’s what this report does. That’s what the legislation said.”