Monetary confusion scam

"Hey buddy, you got change for 50,000?"

The euro has helped with this, but there are still many countries in the world where pocket change is counted in increments of a thousand. In these places especially, many unscrupulous types try to catch new arrivals by confusing them with all those zeros, giving change for 5,000 when you paid with a 50,000 bill. 

They may even try this in a country that uses euros because, until you get the hang of the currency, a 10 and a 100 might look pretty similar (in that neither looks instantly familiar), and unless you take a sec to see which one you're taking out of your wallet, a slick con artist might glibly insist you gave him one with fewer zeros on it (he'll even show you "your bill," which is, of course, one he keeps in reserve for just such a sleight-of-hand scam). 

Until you get used to the money, examine each bill before you hand it over, and make a show of doing so.