I feel inadequate. We've been in Paris for 3 days and we've only been subjected to 2 gold ring scams, one petition and one "do you speak english"!

I'm going there soon and some advice for the english question is to speak in another language it completely throws them off. Or just ignore them and keep walking. You should make a tally of all the scams you come across!

Thanks to Fodorites, I was aware that these were scams and successfully avoided them. It adds some humor to the trip to see them and know what's going on.

<i>I feel inadequate. We've been in Paris for 3 days and we've only been subjected to 2 gold ring scams, one petition and one "do you speak english"! </i>

You're not trying hard enough.

Are you wearing your fanny pack?

Are you wearing a polo shirt with your company logo?

Are you wearing your best white tennis shoes?

Maybe you need to talk louder.

I was queuing up in the Vatican and when asked if I spoke English, I replied in very bad Welsh.
My daughter heard somebody behind asking what on earth I had said. "Dunno, but it sounded like "bugger off" in an unknown language"

Of course there's always a chance that the person asking "Do you speak English?" is actually a hapless tourist trying to work out their own problem.

The person didn't have the usual tourist gear; in fact, I don't think she even carried a purse.

You can tell the people who ask if you speak English are not hapless tourists, they don't look like tourists and don't act like tourists (wandering up and down a sidewalk on the Champs Elysees in front of people sitting at a cafe, for example, asking if anyone speaks English). I don't talk to such people, you don't have to engage with them or say anything, I ignore them. Obviously, if you didn't know English, you wouldn't understand them. I would say there is zero chance that someone doing that is a hapless tourist.

<i>I don't think she even carried a purse.</i>

Well then how did she carry her water??!?!?

A young couple from Ohio asked us outside Notre Dame if we spoke English. She was crying. It was their honeymoon and they had expected more English to be spoken in Paris. It was quite sad.

I've been in Paris 10 days and have only been approached by petition girls twice. Still have 5 days to go...

<i>A young couple from Ohio asked us outside Notre Dame if we spoke English. She was crying. It was their honeymoon and they had expected more English to be spoken in Paris. It was quite sad.</i>

That's a wake-up call if there ever was one.

Thanks for the heads up. We are also in Paris at the moment. For several days I,ve had an empty feeling. Couldn't figure it out. Now I realize it,s because I haven't been offered not one ring or petition. Hopefully, before we get on the Eurostar tomorrow, someone will approach us in Gare du Nord.

If you're lucky, you'll get your pocket picked!

So, on the way to Gare du Nord , I noticed a group of petitioners about to go on their appointed rounds. pparently, they were trying to get people to sign in favor of Obama misiling Assad. nd we give them no credit and call them scammers. They,re just young political science students.

I got offered three rings in one day. I must have had a sign on my back.

330east..really, did they have ID. Do you believe all you see?? And would the signature of a non-res/non-cit mean anything at all??

Um, there is a LOT of English spoken in Paris. If she assumed that all Parisians would be fluent in English - i would ask how many people in Ohio are fluent in French?

Dealing with the tourist infrastructure in paris in english is easy - not sure what she could have expected. (This is part of the danger of Disney - people confuse Franceland with France).

We were approached in the Tuileries, by a chap who was intent in trying the gold ring scam on us but as we were forewarned, I laughed at him. He then spat at me and stormed off, which was even funnier!

<<They,re just young political science students.>>

HAH! And we wonder how so many people can actually fall prey to these antics.