My flatmate got mugged the other day. Just outside the bank close to Sule pagoda, downtown Yangon He was using one of the black-market touts on the road and they set him up. Strange because it’s their regular patch, and they will be caught. So be aware crime has come to Yangon.

What are others experiences here?

Why would your friend go to them while he can exchange at the banks or money changer?

I've never heard of this before about Yangon, but I am not surprised. Why oh why would anybody go with a black-market tout anywhere in the world?

Why would your friend go to them while he can exchange at the banks or money changer?

Got to agree with CP3 here.

What was your friend thinking?

Very strange to hear of this sort of crime. the most i encountered was some clothes go missing off of the line, or shoes from the doorstep. The only time we lost some serious money, it was from a security guard entering the house and pocketing whatever he could....

There is an older thread advising against using the street touts for that same reason.

I see posts on other travel sites and forums warning against this.

It is a common sense issue surely? I would have hoped that most people are aware that the banks offer competitive rates and are safe, compared to some dodgy character on the street.

For the record - in the hope that someone reads this who may have been entertaining some strange notion of doing their major forex exchange with the nice man who started chatting to them on the street - DON'T CHANGE YOUR MONEY WITH THESE TOUTS.

And for anyone who has never seen a tout before, simply cross Sule road between Traders and Sakura Tower. You will be approached, guaranteed. I cannot ever remember walking around that part of town without seeing these guys.

A foreigner working for the UN was stabbed in the neck a few months ago in the busy Yaw Min Gyi area and burglaries have been reported in gated communities and other parts of Yangon, meanwhile robberies allegedly reported in Bagan. Treat the place as any other in terms of exercising vigilance.

One reason to use these touts is if you're not exchanging USD but another currency into Kyat. I was never able to locate any bank who would chnage THB into Kyat.

Note that this was my experience last year whilst living in Yangon. Perhaps things have chnaged.

For the record - in the hope that someone reads this who may have been entertaining some strange notion of doing their major forex exchange with the nice man who started chatting to them on the street - DON'T CHANGE YOUR MONEY WITH THESE TOUTS.

What if the tout is REALLY cute?