Paris Shell Game
Sep 26th, 2015, 07:47 AM
#1
Original Poster
Paris Shell Game
This is not a full trip report but a very small partial.
We returned from Europe (ended in Paris) a couple of weeks ago.
On one of our last days we spent several hours in Montmartre. While wandering down from the church area we saw several people conducting the old shell game scam.
We were quite amused how easy it was to see under which inverted cup the little ball was. And of course, the person playing always got it wrong.
So, we figured they were working together trying to draw people into the game and then WHAM!!!. 50 Euros at a time.
Suddenly, a policeman on a motorcycle rode up and grabbed one of the scammers (the other two or three were suddenly nowhere to be seen).
He looked at his papers and told the scammer he didn't want to see him there again (in French). Then a took all of his money, crumpled it, and walked over to a drain grate and pushed the money down (I can just see this happening in the U.S. - no arrest and no report).
I asked the police officer why he did that (I had photographed the encounter).
He told me the money was counterfeit.
A different twit on the scam.
We returned from Europe (ended in Paris) a couple of weeks ago.
On one of our last days we spent several hours in Montmartre. While wandering down from the church area we saw several people conducting the old shell game scam.
We were quite amused how easy it was to see under which inverted cup the little ball was. And of course, the person playing always got it wrong.
So, we figured they were working together trying to draw people into the game and then WHAM!!!. 50 Euros at a time.
Suddenly, a policeman on a motorcycle rode up and grabbed one of the scammers (the other two or three were suddenly nowhere to be seen).
He looked at his papers and told the scammer he didn't want to see him there again (in French). Then a took all of his money, crumpled it, and walked over to a drain grate and pushed the money down (I can just see this happening in the U.S. - no arrest and no report).
I asked the police officer why he did that (I had photographed the encounter).
He told me the money was counterfeit.
A different twit on the scam.
Sep 26th, 2015, 01:19 PM
#5
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Great story! I saw the shell game being done when I was in Paris a year ago - didn't see anyone taking the scammer up on it. It never occurred to me that the scam was that the money was counterfeit! I love the visual image of the gendarme pushing the money down the drain grate!
Sep 26th, 2015, 01:41 PM
#6
Original Poster
The only photo I got was the policeman checking his papers (or something like that). The scammer didn't say a word.
Unfortunately, when he took the bills over to the drain grate it was right towards me so I had to move out of the way and didn't get a shot of it. Also, I didn't know what he was doing. It caught me by surprise.
Just think about it. The scammer has to be able to keep his original counterfeit bills separate from the bills he takes from the scammed. And he has to do it without anybody realizing that he's doing it.
Unfortunately, when he took the bills over to the drain grate it was right towards me so I had to move out of the way and didn't get a shot of it. Also, I didn't know what he was doing. It caught me by surprise.
Just think about it. The scammer has to be able to keep his original counterfeit bills separate from the bills he takes from the scammed. And he has to do it without anybody realizing that he's doing it.
Sep 27th, 2015, 01:47 PM
#7
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Kerouac
Can you enlighten us if you are aware of this scam? If the scamee wins does that mean he or she gets counterfeit money? Since when does the scamee win? And, is the police officer part of the charade and the money is retrieved later? What a kerfluffle!
Can you enlighten us if you are aware of this scam? If the scamee wins does that mean he or she gets counterfeit money? Since when does the scamee win? And, is the police officer part of the charade and the money is retrieved later? What a kerfluffle!
Sep 27th, 2015, 04:34 PM
#8
Original Poster
I don't think the police officer is part of the scam.
Let's make it simpler.
Person "A" runs the scam and would like to scam person "B".
Person "A" takes person "B"'s money and puts it on the bottom of his wad of bills.
Person "B" wins sometimes and loses sometimes.
When person "B" loses person "A" ends up with person "B"'s money.
When person "B" wins person "A" pays him with money from the top of the wad of bills.
To make things easier person "A" only deals with 50 Euro bills.
So person "B" either loses his money or ends up with counterfeit bills. Either way person "A" wins.
I saw the police officer push the bills thru the grate and down the drain. That part troubled me. Nobody seemed to care about the money. Even if it isn't real money, what's to stop somebody from removing the grate, getting the bills and passing them off.
Let's make it simpler.
Person "A" runs the scam and would like to scam person "B".
Person "A" takes person "B"'s money and puts it on the bottom of his wad of bills.
Person "B" wins sometimes and loses sometimes.
When person "B" loses person "A" ends up with person "B"'s money.
When person "B" wins person "A" pays him with money from the top of the wad of bills.
To make things easier person "A" only deals with 50 Euro bills.
So person "B" either loses his money or ends up with counterfeit bills. Either way person "A" wins.
I saw the police officer push the bills thru the grate and down the drain. That part troubled me. Nobody seemed to care about the money. Even if it isn't real money, what's to stop somebody from removing the grate, getting the bills and passing them off.
