Foreign exchange kiosk, genuine?

bond | 21:16 Wed 09th Nov 2011 | Travel

4 Answers

I bought some euros today (in London) from the tiny exchange kiosk on the corner next to my workplace, they gave the best rate I could find. I'm just wondering how they do it - no cards are accepted, its cash only to buy, and no receipt was given, and no details were taken (other places I've purchased from ask to see a form of id etc). The notes are real and genuine (I double checked). Does anyone think anything dodgy is going on? Even their own recording of the transaction was written on a piece of paper (I watched them scribble it down).

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VHG

Make sure they gave you the right number of Euros you expected at the right rate.

I saw one of those scam programs the other month where they showed people in these kiosks doing some "slight of hand" tricks to give a false exchange rate or to pay out less Euros than expected.

dzug2

Well they do it - whether legitimate or not - by having minimal overheads and paying the monkey who runs it peanuts.

Playbill

Many years ago a car dealer friend of mine was going to Belgium to buy a car. As I was working in London he asked me to take some Pounds Sterling and exchange them for Belgium Francs. He said better rates were available in London. At the time I think the exchange rate was something like 200 - 250 Belgium Francs to the Pound, and I had £6000 to £7000 to change (it was for a luxury car).
I rang around, and an exchange bureau on the Edgware Road offered a far better rate than every one else. I arrived at this poky little kiosk staffed by some rather tough looking guys who did not speak good English. I said I had come to pick up about 1.5 million Belgium Francs. The rate he scribbled on a bit of paper was not the same as on the phone. Turns out rate he'd quoted me on the phone was the BUYING rate - SELLING rate was worse. I escaped clutching my briefcase holding holding more than a years salary. I had to visit three other places to exchange all the cash. I ended up on the train that evening with a bulging carrier bag full of low denomination notes.