Alec Baldwin Scammed By Statue Of Liberty Boat Tour Hawkers

LOWER MANHATTAN, NY — Alec Baldwin fell for the notorious boat tour scam in Lower Manhattan over the weekend.

The frequent "Saturday Night Live" guest star and his family headed to South Ferry to buy boat tour tickets of the Statue of Liberty — only to be guided to a shuttle bus to New Jersey, the actor wrote in an Instagram post this week.

The "sharp" and "savvy" celebrities shelled out $40 a ticket for the boat tours, according to Baldwin's Instagram post.

"We paid. Then we read the tickets. NO ON [sic] EVER MENTIONED NEW F***ING JERSEY!!!" Baldwin said.

View this post on Instagram

So, we head to South Ferry. Me and @hilariabaldwin Two sharp, savvy NYers. Kids in tow. We buy the tickets for the “boat tour” of the Statue of Liberty. We are escorted to a shuttle bus. To New Jersey! I kid you not. We paid. Then we read the tickets. NO ON EVER MENTIONED NEW F***ING JERSEY!!! This is a scam. Take the SI Ferry. It’s the best ride in NY.
A post shared by Alec Baldwin (@alecbaldwininsta) on Oct 6, 2019 at 12:10pm PDT

The family instead took a ride on the Staten Island Ferry for free, according to a photo of the family on Hilaria Baldwin's Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

(we didn’t want to bring Romeo on the deck because it was so windy...so he is sadly missed from the photo)
A post shared by Hilaria Thomas Baldwin (@hilariabaldwin) on Oct 6, 2019 at 12:37pm PDT

"This is a scam," Baldwin's Instagram post said. "Take the SI Ferry."

A publicist for the Baldwins declined to comment on their weekend woes, so it is not clear if the family waited for the shuttle bus to Jersey, which runs four times a day, before ditching the tickets for a free trip on the Staten Island Ferry.

The ticket appears to be from the company Tours R Us NYC, which has extensive one-star reviews on Yelp accusing the company of scamming its boat riders.

"Wish I could give them negative stars. These people are a bunch of LIARS," a Yelper from California wrote Saturday. "The tickets are higher than the usual ones available online and they make you wait for atleast [sic] 2 hours to get on the bus and take you all the way to New Jersey which takes about an hour."

The company's website wasn't functioning and a number listed for Tours R Us NYC was disconnected when Patch tried to call.

The New York Daily News, which first reported on the celebrities falling for the grift, wrote the shuttle bus ultimately leads customers to a boat owned by Freedom Cruises, which was kicked out of Pier 36 last year for scamming boat riders.

Battery Park long has been the center of ticket scammers known for misleading tourists. In July, Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou claimed ticket sellers threatened her and called her a "b----" and "w----," the New York Post wrote in July.

NY Waterway, which operates out of Pier 36 where boats are docked, threatened to revoke boat permits if street vendors are caught selling tickets for the tours in a rule change weeks after the state lawmaker was harassed. Ferry rides that actually stop at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are only sold at a kiosk in Battery Park by the city's lone contractor.