paris scam
 

My daughter and I were recently in Pais, we arrived by train into Gare Nord. I was trying to figure out how to get to our hotel and wanted to used the Metro. I was looking at the map when a young man came up to us and asked us if we needed help. I said yes and he told me how to get to the hotel and asked if we had tickets. We didn't. He took us to the self ticketing machines and started pressing buttons and then asked me if I had a Paris Visa card to pay for the tickets, I said no, just a regular Visa, but I pointed out the machine took cash. He said no, no and then stuck in his Visa, grabbed the tickets and handed them to me and told me I owed him 60 Euros and pointed to the screen where it said 60. He told me they were 3 days passes for me daughter and I. It seemed steep but the whole thing was very fast and confusing. Needless to say, the tickets were one way, once we left the metro they were invalid.I think they should have cost 60,85 Francs. When we left Paris a couple of days later I went back to the same spot to have a look at the machine to see if I could figure out exactly what had happened and another young man came up and started in on the same spiel. Live and learn. I kept and framed my tickets. It was an expensive lesson and almost soured me on Paris. Everyone else we met though was nice and a young woman in a restaurant was very kind to us, calling the hotel and getting directions for us.

This a very common scam. I have seen it happen several times in metro stations.

I am glad that you kept your 'souvenirs' and are able to laugh about it.

This happens in London also. I did not realise until later that my 'guy type A personality thing' saved me.

When approached, I thought it was somebody trying to hurry up the queue.

I told him to b*gg*r off, I would figure it out.

Wherever people travel, there are others waiting to pounce on their insecurity.

I just read about this scam in the online literary travel magazine www.thelongtriphome.com. Sometimes no matter how travel savvy you are, you occasionally get burned. I'm sorry this happened to you. Thank you for posting to warn others.

I have never experienced this scam myself but read about on this forum some time ago, last year, I think.

I don't think I would have seen that one coming. I hope we remember your story...I can just see us falling for this one.

It's usually when a stranger approaches you and asks you if you need help is when you should be wary. I realize that not each time the person is up to no good but you need to be careful when you get unsolicited help.

Once when my mother and I were walking at Ile de la Cite next to the flower market minding our business and talking to each other, a man appeared as if from nowhere (because we weren't paying close attention since we're talking) and asked if we needed help and tried to keep pace with us. Now that was obvious because we were not looking lost or anything.

YOu should never talk to strangers in train stations who approach you. Nor should you ever let a stranger help you with things having to do with buying tickets, machines, money, credit cards, etc. You never should have even talked to him, let alone answered his questions about whether you had tickets. This is true for anywhere, and since you gave away that kind of information so readily and paid a stranger, you should learn not to do that kind of stuff ever.

Very interesting story. I was in London in January and I was trying to decide what my farthest zone would be in order to buy a day pass on the tube at the machines. A young woman standing behind me asked if she could go ahead of me, I was a bit taken aback at what I considered rude but stepped aside. She then turned around and asked if she could help me, and embarrassed at not being fast enough in the first place I said 'no thanks' . She insisted ' I can help, where do you need to go?" I said 'no thanks' again and walked to queue at another machine. I don't believe she was trying to scam me, just trying to get me out of her way I'm sure, but I felt a little annoyed with myself at the time for being so defensive about it. Now I feel a little better that my natural 'type A' as it was stated, might help me avoid scams. Trust your instincts, I guess, even if you don't know why you're feeling the way you feel.

For once,
My motto is:" Never too late to Learn new things."....Thanks for sharing your misfortune with us..I am glad that you were able to laugh about it...it was an expensive lesson, but at least now you are much wiser and less trusting, there are a lots of crooks around unfortunately...but, c'est la Vie...