Stay safe, scam-free at the Winter Olympic Games

Sleep tight
If you’ve already booked a hotel, condo, bed & breakfast or some other type of accommodation, it’s essential to confirm your reservations before leaving home.

Still looking for a place to stay? Begin your search with the Games’ official Destination Planner, which lists properly-licensed hotels, B&Bs, private homes and even cabins available on cruise ships.

If you book through a travel agent or a third party wholesaler, be sure to ask if they are licensed. “Even if they tell you they’re licensed,” said Tatiana Chabeaux-Smith of Consumer Protection BC, “do your own check on our web site. If you’ve booked with a licensed vendor and do not receive the travel services you paid for, you may be eligible for reimbursement under British Columbia’s Travel Assurance Fund.”

If you decide instead to try looking through online classified ads for apartment and home rentals, keep in mind that the city of Vancouver (and some surrounding municipalities) has issued temporary licenses allowing local homeowners to rent out their homes during the Olympics. “The legitimate ones are those that looked into this and got the license,” Fernandes said. Beyond that, he suggests you walk away from a rental if the price is suspiciously low; if the supplier doesn’t offer a contract or a chance to inspect the home or and if you can’t pay with credit card but are instead required to send a hefty deposit through a wire transfer service such as Western Union or MoneyGram.

(The bobsledder’s parents could have used that advice. The good news? They’ll still get to cheer for their son on at the Olympics: a family that learned about the Mesler’s misfortune is loaning them a house in Whistler — for free.)

Not everyone who gets scammed can count on publicity and the kindness of strangers to make things right, so make sure you do your homework.

Stay out of jail
If you have real tickets a real place to stay, you can focus on having a great time at the 2010 Games. However, you’ll still need to pay attention to personal safety. “Remain aware of your surroundings at all times,” said Megan Wolfram of iJET Intelligent Risk Systems, “especially when traveling in crowds, which provide an ideal feeding ground for pickpockets and other petty thieves.”

A prime venue for pickpockets may be the Vancouver public transit system, where ridership is expected to balloon from 800,000 daily riders to more than 1 million, Sgt. Tom Seaman of the Transit Police Service said.

“It’s not just world-class athletes that will be coming to the Olympics,” Seaman said. “World-class pickpockets will be coming too, so we’re asking people to be alert and aware and to protect their belongings.”

Transit police will have an increased presence throughout the bus and SkyTrain system and will be handing out thousands of wallet-sized cards with tips on how to stay protected.

Government officials have also made special plans for helping out foreign visitors who end up involved in criminal incidents such as impaired driving, simple assault or other offenses that are categorized as minor crimes. During the Games, special “tourist courts” will be set up to fast-track out-of-town visitors through the system.