The Staten Island Ferry Scam, and How to Walk Past It

The Staten Island Ferry is free. No ticket, no fare, nothing to buy. If someone near the ferry is selling you a way onto a boat, they are selling you something you didn’t come for.

That’s the whole guide in one line. The rest is how the pitch works, so you can spot it at thirty feet.

How the scam works

You come up out of the subway at the south tip of Manhattan, heading for the Staten Island Ferry or the Statue of Liberty. Before you reach either, someone steps in. Often friendly. Sometimes in a matching jacket or with a badge on a lanyard, holding a clipboard or a stack of tickets.

The pitch varies. The free ferry is “too far from the statue”. The line is “two hours”. The boat you want “isn’t running today”. Your ticket “isn’t valid” and they need to check it. Whatever the opening, it ends the same way: you pay for a different boat.

Then one of three things happens:

• You get a harbor cruise sold as the Statue of Liberty. The boat circles the harbor and goes past the statue. It does not stop. You never set foot on Liberty Island or Ellis Island. Some of these boats leave from a different pier entirely.
• You pay for the free ferry. People have been charged hundreds of dollars for a ride that costs nothing, and arrests have been made for exactly this.
• The ticket is fake. You find out at the gate.

The hustle isn’t new. Police have made arrests here for years, and the City Council is weighing tighter licensing for the businesses behind the sellers. It keeps working because it happens fast, it happens while you’re getting your bearings, and the sellers sound official. Falling for it doesn’t make you a rube. It’s a good act, run by people who do it all day.

Even when the cruise is real, you’ve been poached. You overpaid, you missed the thing you planned, and you spent the afternoon on a boat you didn’t choose. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth about the whole trip, which is the worst part.

How to walk past it

• Don’t stop. You don’t owe anyone a conversation. “No thanks” and keep walking.
• The Statue ferry doesn’t sell on the sidewalk. Statue City Cruises staff are inside Castle Clinton and at the boarding line, not approaching you on the path.
• Never hand over your ticket to be “checked”. A real ticket doesn’t need a stranger’s opinion.
• Know where you’re going before you get off the train. Whoever stops to check a phone at the top of the stairs gets approached first, so look up the walk before you come up.

Where you actually meant to go

The Staten Island Ferry. It leaves from the Whitehall Terminal at 4 South Street, at the very bottom of Manhattan. Take the 1 to South Ferry, the R or W to Whitehall Street, or the 4 or 5 to Bowling Green, then walk into the big terminal building with the ferry sign. Boats run around the clock and the ride is about 25 minutes each way. You get off at St. George, walk around through the terminal, and ride back. Sit or stand on the right side going out for the Statue of Liberty. More on the boats in our NYC ferry guide.

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Only one company docks there: Statue City Cruises. Buy on its official website, ideally days ahead, or at the ticket windows inside Castle Clinton, the round stone fort in Battery Park. If you want the pedestal or the crown, those sell out, so book early.

A harbor cruise. Plenty of honest ones exist. If you want one, choose it yourself, from the company’s own website, not from whoever caught you on the sidewalk.

The free ferry gets you the view. The official ferry gets you onto the island. Anything sold to you on the walk in is neither.

Questions about anything in this guide? Reach MUSEENYC at museenyc.art@gmail.com or @museenyc on Instagram.

The best view in the harbor costs nothing. More honest NYC guides → museenyc.com