Ive been here 10 months, so not really long term yet

I can honestly say i have never been scammed here yet, certainly not to my knowledge anyway. I am in a very small town, on the outskirts of a small city, and i am the only westerner for miles around, the locals all like me, or seem to, and they are all friendly to me and always glad to see me, and so i am pretty sure no-one has ever tried to scam me.

good job

After two years I still get scammed. But at least now I am aware of when. My wife has long ago put a ban on me shopping in places where there is no prices on things, such as markets, as I will get the special foreigner discount. 

Just the other day I needed a pineapple for some cooking, and due to a time constraint, the only option was the local market. I cannot speak that much Chinese, but I can speak enough to understand that the woman selling me the pineapple switches into "dumbass foreigner" mode, all she could say was "好吃" no matter what I said. So that was 7.5 kuai for a pineapple, that despite having a good size and being very 好吃 was still at least twice the price it should have been. 

The benefit of having been here a while is that you will be aware of when and how much you are scammed, so it becomes your choice if it is worth it. (which it never is)

I'm so well-aware of them now, that I pitch a fit every time it happens and refuse to pay. Well, other than the electricity and medical scams - I have no choice there.

The locals know me now, and they know I've never forgiven the vendors who cheated me, but go to those who give me the correct price. I spent several months ignoring one vendor for ripping us off to the tune of 0.5 RMB, while buying only from his honest competitors who stood next to him. Every time he saw us, his face was like "I'm such a scumbag. I'm so sorry."

Well, now I buy from him and get discounts every time. 10 RMB for a coconut? I paid 4.8 at his vendor. Stuff like this.

Watch out for the medical scam which most hospitals participate in. You'll be quoted a certain amount (say, about 700 RMB), but it will end up being 2-3 times higher in the end. It's best to research these hospitals before doing anything, since people complain about it online. If you have a Chinese friend/signficant other, research them.

I love the tea scam. I usually play along, and start acting really crazy like I need to "kill again." I talk about killing as many people as I can until the chengguan stop me, and they take off quickly. Tea Hulk is merciless.

it's simply unavoidable, if you do not get scammed face to face, YOU WILL GET IT WHILE DOING ONLINE Buying of daily items on taobao an such, so no matter how learned from experience, you cannot just help yourself, just get used to it and try to avoid yourself wherever you can

First of all I would say that it depends on what you mean by long-term "China dwellers", having Chinese friends and knowing some of the Chinese language does usually help in avoiding scams/cheats though. But you could have these skills/contacts after 6 months or after 6 years. It depends on the person.

Second of all, I don't think I know of anyone that hasn't been scammed at least a few times while just living and traveling around China. So I guess that if you are a foreigner you are pretty much bound to get scammed/cheated once in a while. No matter how careful you are.  

The electricity scam is my favorite. No other choice but to pay.

Gone for 3 and a half weeks since the start of the month, and with nothing plugged in? 350 RMB bill the next month. Can't wait to go home and power an entire house for $150 USD or less per month. Beats having to pay upwards of $300 here.

I hate tourist traps. I once visited an historical village area in south Anhui. There was a main gate/entrance with a ticket booth. Naturally, I assumed you had to buy tickets to get in (160RMB for 2). So after walking around for a while inside, I found there were plenty of wide-open side entrances to the area and that purchasing tickets was entirely unnecessary. So now I am wary about entering a tourist attraction through the main entrance.

I have not been scammed as such in China. I am very wary of any one. I mean just shop at supermarkets you should be fine. And treat everyone as suspicion. I certainly just would not have tea with strangers like that for me it amounts to being drugged or worse and losing your kidneys. Ha.v ing Chinese friends is useful thye will look out for you

Nice story! Thanks for bringing it up. I did get scammed many times before, but I learned my lesson and haven't been scammed since. I'd like to keep it that way!

  I got caught on the tea scam about five years back. Being a bit slow at times I didn't twig that something was amiss when they showed me to a tea-room on the fifth floor of an office block. Really, who has a tea-house in such a place? And it wasn't till the bill came that the penny dropped. Unfortunately they didn't choose their mark wisely, because i'd rather leave bloodied and cleaved than bend over and dish out cash on a con, so what actually took place was me pushing first the hostess out of the way, then shouting my way to the exit, at which point the manageress covered the door, some big f***er appeared, presumably to frighten me, and in all there were about 7 people standing around me demanding I pay 2000 yuan. I yanked on the door, the manageress stood across it demanding cash, I yanked some more, she pointed up to where it was locked, I thanked her, unlocked it, yanked it open and she flew across the room, I marched out, was followed, turned and raised my fists and they retreated, and I was gone. But as for getting ripped off otherwise, yeh, from time to time, in a small way, but it doesn't bother me. The best thing you can do is learn some introductory remarks to make before considering a purchase. After that you can be offish if your Chinese is limited, but you've given the impression you're not green. That should help.