We just got back from a wonderful trip to southwestern France. In the course of one day, we had two similiar experiences in Toulouse:

My husband was going to the market in the morning and someone stopped in front of him and showed him a gold ring and said, here is the ring you dropped. He simply gave it back, and said that it wasn't his. That afternoon the same thing happened to both of us, walking down a street. The woman put the ring in my hand and said that I should keep it. I then put the ring down on a post nearby and we walked away.

I'm curious, though. We've been to France so many times and have never experienced this. I know I've read about scams like this on
Fodors, but I couldn't find any specifics when I searched. Can anyone tell me how this scam works? How does the person finding the ring get money from all this?

All scams have to do with getting money from people, you can assume that. No one has ever bothered me with these things, I think because I don't look like a good target, but my understanding is that it is like a lot of scams -- the idea is to engage people and harass them, and many tourists do end up giving people money for this, as well as for many other things that such people do to engage people. They are salespeople, the most important things is to get you to pay attention to them and listen to them. Which I won't do, I never even talk to them or have anything to do with them.

Usually they try to get you to give them money for the ring, that's my understanding. And some poeple do it, I remember one post on here from an Americn tourist who said she thought the man giving her the ring was "charming" and was so nice to do that--give her a gold ring!! Of course he did ask for money, which she thought was so nice, also. I didn't get that at all, why anyone trying to sell you something they found on the sidewalk (supposedly) would be considered charming. I wouldn't talk to such a person anyway, but many people do.

YOur experience is odd to me. I have watched some of these people operate from a distance (they are very common in many tourist areas of Paris), and they always seem to end up haranguing people for money. Otherwise there is no point to it.

Hi he,

Whenever someone has approached us with a "found" ring, they have wanted either money for a reward or have offered to sell it.

I've no idea why they just gave them to you.

Just got back from Paris. Had the dropped ring scam tried on us 3 different times.

Haven't had that one tried on me, but on a bus in Rome a well dressed couple stuck a map under my nose and asked for help in directions. I wrapped both arms around my purse in front of me. If the map hadn't been so well worn, I might have offered help if I knew anything to tell them which I did not. What I did tell them was to go and find someone else - I couldn't help them.

Then they tried my sister and that didn't work so at the next stop they hopped off - just like pros who have done hopping off buses all their life.

Yeah, it happened to me in Paris last October as well - a couple of times, by the Arc de Triomphe. The first time it happened, the guy seemed really sincere - went into this whole deal about the ring being really valuable but that I should keep it (looked like he had just found it). I told him I really didn't want it...then he started asking me for money. Then I FINALLY figured it out - doh!

Second time the woman who tried it was much worse at it - probably new. She was completely unconvincing, but of course I knew the scam by then, anyway, and just laughed. "Wow, people sure do lose a lot of this EXACT type of ring around here," I teased her as I walked away.

I guess it must work...SOMETIMES. Why else would they keep doing it?

The other thing they do is jostle you whilst they or someone else picks your pocket.

Anyway, certainly in the UK there is an offence of stealing by finding.
If you bought a genuine "found" ring you would be receiving stolen goods.
I have a sneaking affection for this scam because Dickens mentions it in "Our Mutual Friend" You feel that the ancient Romans probably tried it on unwary Egyptians.

We had the "help me with directions" thing in Rome, but the man was in a car and said he was a salesman for Armani.
We didn't wait to hear about his being overstocked or willing to give us a discount.

Right, this is from "Our Mutual Friend" and shows that the scam was around in nineteenth century London.


"('Now,' thought Mr Boffin, 'if he proposes a game at skittles, or meets a country gentleman just come into property, or produces any article of jewellery he has found, I'll knock him down!' With this discreet reflection, and carrying his stick in his arms much as Punch carries his, Mr Boffin turned into Clifford's Inn aforesaid.)"

Since Germans murdered all these people in central Europe in the early 20th century, would it not be nice just to take better care of your belogings and just be friendly. I mean those who fall for that scam really deserve it.

Won't happen in German speaking countries. Any idea why

Miss P makes a fair point.
If you genuinely find a valuable ring in the street, public lavatory or wherever, an honest person takes it to a police station.
The scammer is banking on people's greed and dishonesty.
It's the same with the internet "Nigerian" spam.
BTW, the German references escape me.

That's good!