My dearest collegues after going through a nasty experience as a foreigner I felt I needed to share this. Enjoying the beatiful Oriental Plaza in Wanfujing District might not be the only thing a lone foreigner will bargain for. A chinese lady who posed to me on that fateful day as Sarah and claimed that she was from Mongolia will con you together with her friends at a small coffee bar. Sarah will be hiding among the throng of people waiting for her victim. When target is found she will pounce on them with a warm smile, and a hello and probably a compliment that would make you blush and wrm up to her. She will introduce herself and tell you that she is a foreigner also, andto me she said she was from Mongolia and was on a four day dserved holiday from her inherited jewellery business. I now strongly belive that none of all this is true. She will tell you lets sit down just for half an hour and share our experiences of China over a cup of hot coffee. For me that day I was truly tired and wanted a hot cup of coffee and this woman's "warm" smile just made me throw caution to the wind. She pretended not to know where to get coffee and started walking out of the shopping area to the out where tourist buses are parked. I said to her I dont think we can get coffee in this deserted area , lets try KFC. She did not like it coz its too crowded with young lovers. All of a sudden she sees a hidden little bar where there is coffee, tea,softdrnk and beer. She will pretend to need the bathroom but probably to just give a code to the waitress. And the bar is manned by just two people , a young girl and a young boy. She will come back, order tea for herself and coffee for you plus a bowl of nuts. After chatting exchanging on experiences, she will call for the bill and naturally will tell you lets share. There is nothing wrong with sharing but the bill brought to us was 500 rmb for a cup of coffee and and tea and bowl of nuts. My warning bells started ringing loudly but my case was weak then against three people speaking mandarin. And because i dont like causing scenes i just told her i dont have any cash coz I dont move around with cash. Oh but she is very cunning and observant. Coz i was stunned when she told me i saw 100 yuan in your phone pouch and indeed she must have seen it when i had answered a call. In the end i just gave the waitress the 100 but I did not see my friend pay anything except sign the bill and said something in mandarin to the waitress. It was after walking out of that bar that i realised I had been conned. The money was insignificant but it was the feeling that was nasty. I parted ways with the con woman probably as she went to find her next victim. So guys if you are visiting the Oriental plaza beware of this woman, but she might use a different story or names. I have spoken to one collegue who says they were also accosted by this woman.
Foreigners beware of sarah
Unfotunately, there is more than one person doing this tea house/coffee shop scam and not just in the Oriental Plaza. You are not the first victim and I suspect not the last.
Thanks for posting. Hopefully people will read and be careful.
These people are common around Tiananmen square, I think Ive met one every time Ive been there, usually right outside the subway station 
(but I never followed them anywhere).
While on the subject of bad things: Watch out for fake 100s in taxis! (You give them a real one, they switch and tell you that you gave them a fake one)
Yoh yoh yoh Viblo I guess there are many mean things happening. A chinese friend just told me that if you are confronted with such bad situations just tell them you gonna call 110, i guess thats the chinese version of 991 , the emergency number. I,m told most chinese dont like the police especially if its a foreigner involved coz the police in most cases are always on the side of the foreigner.
Same scenario in Shanghai. We were warned and refused this kind of offer, 3 times
Really Julien you mean its not only Beijing? Wow when I first came to China I was so impressed by the laxity of security like with the friends i was staying with. Windows not being closed or sleeping with curtains completely open, i thought wow, in my country you never do that. So i guess i had created a china utopia in my mind such that when i was conned i did not see it coming because to me this was an idyllic world. I hope morepeople could post on the other kinds of bad chinese behaviour which we should look out for
Unfortunately me and Ms got invited 3 times by unknown couples (who previously asked us to take a picture of them) to tea ceremonials
what made me understand there was something weird on the first time is even if it was written in Chinese I understood that the memory card was full and I didn't actually took the picture. But they've quickly shown me another picture (not taken by me) and quickly engaged a discussion. Ms couldn't understand why I got a bit upset when they started insisting (I just wanted to leave as I was pretty sure they were lying). That was close to Yu Yuan garden in Shanghai.
Then it happened us two more times in People's square on the day after...
There are scams and thieves all over China, as there are all over the world. Tourists are duped in New York's Times Square every day.
The best way to avoid a scam is to use common sense. Failing that, not looking like a tourist helps. Unfortunately, most of us do not look like the locals in China.
MiaCulpa wrote:..... most of us do not look like the locals in China.
How very true 
I met this problem at People Square... also tea ceremony... it gives really bad impression, but good not everywhere is like that...
Oh,this is unbelievable.I have never run into such kind of situations.Maybe they are not interested in locals.^-^
Berry
You are lucky berry. I think these people have been in the business long that they know just the right target. Maybe a tired looking foreigner, who looks like they need a cup of coffee or a confused one who looks like they might just need some help. Whatever it is that they use they just knwo their targets. Maybe once in a while they just make the wrong pick
yes they normally target the obvious tired looking out of towners
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