Wise Scanner
Travelers shopping in a foreign country are among the easiest targets for scams. Without a clear understanding of local pricing and market rates, it can be difficult to recognize when they're being overcharged—especially in tourist-heavy areas where inflated prices are common.
A study from New York University highlights the "money-illusion" effect, where tourists focus on the face value of foreign prices without adequately adjusting for exchange rates. For example, an American in Japan might find a price of 800 yen off-putting, not realizing it's roughly equivalent to just over $10.
Solution:
To help tourists and travelers better understand local pricing, Wise will introduce the Wise Scanner—a new feature that lets users scan price tags to instantly convert and display costs in their home currency for easy comparison.
The Scanner feature detects the displayed currency and converts it into the user's preferred currency. If the currency isn’t recognized, users can manually select it or change their preferred currency anytime by clicking the down arrow.
