We just returned yesterday from a wonderful week in Paris. While there we were approached 5 times by women who were doing the gold ring scam. They seem to be working with either one or two men and they are approaching any and all tourists. The last woman who tried this on us was so mad that we knew what she was doing that she cursed at us and spat at my husband when he enlightened an elderly couple who were falling for her story. The police are never around when these people are working the streets. It's a shame that this is allowed to go on.

Generally police have more to do dealing with real crime - rather than would-be scammers who just irritate people. (I don;t know about you but I want the polce looking for burglars, rapists and kidnappers - not people with bogus sob stories.)

If you see other tourists so naive that they are falling for this - certainly step in. As for the scammer cursing you - well you could respond in kind - or you could laugh. (I had a woman selling bogus lace tablecloths - I wouldnlt even want a real one - try to put acurse on me in Spain. She was infuriated when I laughed at her.) These people should just be ignored - and eventually they will go away.

Think of it as part of the quirkyness of Paris.

I must have a stern face, no one has ever approached me

Why on earth would the police intervene when nothing illegal is being done? If being naive or stupid becomes illegal some day, it is the tourist who will go to jail.

It's the constant harassment that is more than just annoying - it is illegal. I was accosted quite a few times by gypsies, one of whom I had to wallop with my closed umbrella to get her to back off. I was standing with my back to one of the pillars at an entrance to the Louvre and wearing my camera bag and purse across my body when she began harassing me and made an attempt to grab at my bag strap. This one was more aggressive than many of the others. I consider myself neither naive nor stupid, BTW.

I spent the month of June in Paris and was approached 7 times, all by women, with the gold ring scam. Every time I smiled, said "No", and continued on. Never harassed or annoyed. Guess I was lucky.

Hmm...we were just there and never ran into the gold ring scam. I was almost disappointed. We did hear a trailing of "Do you speak English," however...which, of course, we didn't.

I have never encountered the ring scam, or any other, in Paris. I must look frightening. Or French.

Folks often assumed our 15-year-old daughter, with her asymmetrical haircut and unique sense of style, was French...but not us, her parents. I never did figure that one out. My kid got a charge out of it, though.

StCirg-------------how old are you?

another here,who has never encountered the ring scan.

The ring scam was first attempted on me in the early 1980s in Lisbon.

Last August when we were in Paris we arrived at the Arc even before it opened so we could climb to the top. It was 99 during the day so we wanted an early start.

After exiting the metro we walked a few feet and just around the corner were the 'gold ring and Do You Speak English scammers' having their morning meeting. There were 10 or so of them all getting 'briefed' by an older woman on the day's activities.

Since we had time we stood back and watched. After having encountered them a dozen times the past week we knew what their 'jobs' were. After the meeting they all scattered in different directions and proceeded to go to work.

We interjected many times that week, mostly when young girls were being targeted. We just would walk up to the scammer and say "No" loudly and point for them to leave. My husband had curses put on him left end right along with the 'evil eye'. We just laughed. The tourists were shocked when we explained the scams to them. Obviously they had never been on the Fodor's Board!

Oh well, a girl's gotta work!

OK. So, you all seem to know what this gold ring scam and I have no clue. Could someone elucidate? I have been living in NYC 40 years and have not fallen for a pitch in decades but have no idea about this one.

Thanks.

As you are walking along the street, a person picks up a beautiful gold ring right in front of you. "Oh, did you lose this?" they ask. And thus it all begins...

(It also defies the laws of physics since generally when I lose something, it is behind me rather than in front of me.)

This is such a well known scam, you would think that they would come up with a new one.

In many trips to Paris, I was approached only once - by a young girl. Just a few steps behind her was young men who joined her shortly after. An instructor? They were from Eastern Europe.
I was really mad that they would take me for a tourist.
After all, I was dressed all in black and wore a purple scarf.

My favorite is the little bent over old lady begging. SHe does look pitiful and she has several similarly bent over sisters around Paris. SHe looked pitiful until I saw her get caught on the stree when the light changed and she had to hot foot it to the other side.I thought I'd seen a miracle!!

About the stupid people, yes this time I couldn't agree more with nyt.
I hope they lose all their belongings and never bother to post again on fodors about this nonsense.
If you fall for the gold ring scam, you DERSERVE to lose all your money and be sent home naked. I mean how stupid can one single person be??

I wonder how many people actually fall for this, or catch on during the scam and stop it. I guess if no one really fell for it they would get a new scam. It must be paying off for them to continue with it. I'm just thankful that I had a heads up about this thing before our trip. Once we knew about it then I guess we saw it more often simply because we knew what we were looking for.

avalon, we thought we too witnessed a miracle in Rome when a poor elderly lady was lying 'crippled up' on the top of the Spanish steps, coin cup in hand. We were standing for a little while to rest and during this time it must have been her lunch hour or break time because she got right up and scampered off, dodging traffic. Another miracle!!!