I read this post recently on www.lonelyplanet.com.

Word of warning on Kunming Bus Station

"Hi folks!
Just a friendly work of warning to any fellow travellers whom might be making use of the KUNMING bus station any time soon! We caught a bus from here out to LIJIANG late last year and were ripped off severley by a nasty con man! Having only recently arrived in China from Thailand we went to the bus station to catch our bus and had some difficulty finding the right bus - we were assisted by a friendly, well-dressed man who spoke perfect english and told us that he was paid by the bus company to help tourists - even showing us a transport license of some sort. He showed us to our bus, helped us load our bags and then took us onto the bus and showed us our seats. When we were settled he explained to us that the bus company required we pay a fee for our luggage to cover increased costs of fuel. We were wary of this suggestion, having already paid for our tickets (which werent particularly cheap either!) - then he told us that becaue our backpacks weighed more than 10 kilos we were to pay 200 yuan each in luggage fees!!! We argued with this instantly thinking it was too much and something was amiss! I think we had paid almost that much for our tickets so it really didnt seem right! We argued and he became quite aggressive and angry, loudly yelling at us and demanding that we pay. Everyone else in the bus at this point was chinese and he told us that they had all paid the fee's as well - we doubted this but when we tried to ask nobody could speak english to reply (or nobody wanted to!). In the end we did exactly what tourists shouldnt do and paid the guy off - but not as much as he had asked. We were concerned that he might do something to our luggage if we didnt and he was becoming very angry. As we settled into the bus and tried to overcome our anger we watched this guy follow tourists onto other buses and demand money and then watched him harrass another 5 tourists who joined our bus. He never spoke to a chinese person or asked for a luggage fee from one of them! We estimated that from our bus alone he made approximately $100(AU).

Things like this make me so angry because there are so many hard working honest chinese people whom deserve this money so much more than this dodgy bloke! I dont know what to do other than warn others of this scam. I think if you at least go prepared then you might be less likely to pay up! I know that paying up is exactly the wrong thing to do because it only encourages these people to continue their decieving ways, but in the heat of the moment with a man yelling at you and nobody to assist you and then the thought in the back of your mind that maybe it might not be a scam or maybe he might do something to your luggage... it seems easier to pay up! So this is a warning to others to at least prepare you!

I'd be interested to know if this has happened to others - we met quite a few people whom had endured the same problems at the same bus station...

Enjoy your travels! Kat33"

www.lonelyplanet.com/[...]

Even we Chinese be scammed somtimes in bus station.The best policy is that you need to buy the bus ticket in ticket window, do not buy it from someone outside of the ticket office.After buying the ticket, you can ask some one in uniform to lead you to the bus.

My wife and some English friends ran into this guy a while back at the Kunming bus station. After having gotten on our sleeper to Yuanyang he came on the bus and said we needed to pay for the extra weight due to our luggage. He demanded 20RMB. Same scam, probably same guy from the sounds of it.

Like mentioned in the above post, he was cordial at first, trying to be friendly, but the minute one of our English friends mentioned that a previous friend of his had encountered this same guy on his trip earlier that summer the guy became incredibly hostile. At one point he threatened that "Westerners drink beer, but Chinese drink Baijiu and I'll kill you". lol. He made sure we all got a good look at his "ID," which of course had a picture in it, but without the proper stamp on it to make it official. After refusing for quite some time to pay the guy, he even tried to tell us it was his bus. Moreover, when it became evident we weren't going to pay him anything he tried to take some of our luggage off of the bus, but we had already clipped it down so he didn't have the time to rascal it away before we made sure he didn't tough our stuff. There was even a point where he went like he was going to bunch my wife in the face, which ended up with me about to punch him in the face. To say the least it was a headache and it delayed the bus for a good thirty minutes at least.

Even being able to speak Chinese none of the other people on the bus were willing to answer that they hadn't paid him out of fear (most were young girls). However, we did call the police and as soon as the guy was a few feet away from the area all the Chinese people told us he was a fraud. It all ended when I was sick of it and started putting my shoes on and he'd called me a "fucker" one too many times (he has a great vocabularly for swearing, and he will try to intimidate you with plenty of cussing). I stood up and started swearing at him in the bit of Kunming language that I knew. When the bus driver heard the swearing, and by then the police had arrived also so the bus driver actually had to do something, the bus driver came on and kicked the guy off. The police called a couple of the Chinese guys off the bus as well and had them testify, though they didn't ask any of us. Don't know what happened to the guy other then one of the Chinese guys told me after getting on the bus that the guy had been a swindler.

Still, my guess is not a whole hell of a lot happened to him if he's back doing it. It's quite clear that the bus drivers are also getting a share, since normally the bus drivers wouldn't just let anyone on the bus, nor would they put up with that shit if they weren't getting their pockets greased. Unfortunate but true. There's not a lot that can make the guy leave except for lots of loud noise, and perhaps the presence of approaching policemen. He's a real scheming SOB and I have my fingers crossed that someone kicks the shit out of him some day.

Sounds more like outright extortion than a scam. Try the good old grab'n'twist and tell him to go 操你妈 while he is incapacitated. See it as a service to all scam victims worldwide.

Yep. I had exactly the same experience with this prick. Regrettably i too paid. Kudos to prettyidol for standing up to him, i really wish i had and i didn't for the same reason as the other poster (the other travellers on the bus seemed to accept it). He got very aggressive with us also and started spouting random expletives "westerner fuck!" "fuck fuck!". The guy is a flat out bully and is in dire need of a slap. Shame on the drivers and the station for allowing this to happen. My advice would be pull out your phone and call the police immediately, that way, eventually, the police will get tired of dealing with him and put a stop to it. Otherwise, kick him square in the nuts.

Expose this to the tourism board in Yunnan. Embarassment for the government is the best way to get this theif in prison...

or

The sure way an individual or group can prove to the police is to record him in the act(video if possible), otherwise its useless to call police. But if you do have a video a swift grab and twist and he'll be waiting for the police while kissing the spit off the bus floor..