Pointing to a recent incident where 33 British tourists were robbed at gunpoint after their bus was stopped on a major highway from the airport to downtown Rio, security consultant James Hunter says the problem is worse than government officials want to admit.
"As to the data that's available, it's just not trustworthy. Most tourists write off being ripped off as part of going to Rio and don't even report it," said Hunter, a managing partner of Merlin Risk Consultants, which does security consulting for large corporations across Brazil.
"The fact is that there is a high probability that if you come to Rio, at some point you will suffer a personal assault. They tend not to be serious, though. You lose your cash, your cell phone, your watch," he added. "So don't go out without anything you're not prepared to lose."
Many tourists seem ready to follow his advice.
"I've never been robbed, but I had a friend who lost everything on the beach," said Cameron May, a 35-year-old firefighter from Melbourne, Australia. "You have to know you can't take anything with you when you go to the beach."
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