Scam de Jour
 

I just went to Paris for 10 days. One of the most interesting experiences was the day I walked along the Seine for the fist time. As I strolled along, a young man was passing me and he bent down and picked up a gold wedding band from the stone walk. He started laughing as he held the ring up for me to see.
"Wow, your lucky day " I said to him.
"NO, he said, I am not married, and besides, the ring is too small".
He tried it on in front of me, and yes, the ring was small. He reached for my hand and slipped it onto my finger. I started laughing and said "Oh no, never again. Marriage isn't for me." I took the ring off and tried to give it back, but he just sort of took my shoulders and hugged me and said Good luck, you keep it"

Well, right then I realized this was some sort of set up, because the way he hugged me was not normal. He was patting my coat. I pushed him away and as I did, he sort of skittered around me. I looked down at my coat, and a pocket was pushed open. SO FAST ! ! !
He knew instantly I was on to his trick, and he held out his hand for the ring.
"Give it back" he said.
I tossed him the ring quickly and started backing away. He stepped closer to me and said, "Just give me 5 euros I am hungry.

"No," I said and started to walk away.
"I know you have some money, so just give me 3 euros."

Now, here is the funny part. I had a shopping bag with some sliced cheese and chips in it. I was just saying to myself "I really should stop eating all this delicious cheese..." And look what happened ! A hungry person appears out of the crowd.

The guy started groping my bag. He said "I know you have some change in this bag, so please just give the change"

"NO change for you, but I have cheese. "

"I don't want cheese"
So I reminded him that he just told me he was hungry. I took his hand and put the cheese in it. He frowned at me, and then started gobbling up the cheese. I smiled, and he smiled. Then I left.

The next night I was at a bar with my pen pal. The bar was completely empty except for 2 women. One was from San Francisco and One was from Texas. We started talking and as the conversation went on, I asked them if they'd been scammed yet.

"Well, there was this guy with a gold ring......" they said ! HAAA ! ! !

The day after that I was at the Museum and a woman sat next to me on a bench. We started talking because she was American, AND, a real chatter box. She told me that everything she had was stolen the day she arrived. She was taking pictures, and someone emptied her purse as she had her arms up with the camera. She never even felt it. OUCH ! ! ! Credit cards and all......

I asked her if she'd found any of her stuff, and she said no... but right after she'd been pick pocketed, she was walking along and this woman came up to her with a GOLD RING and said " Is this your ring?"

The American said "no", and told the woman she was lucky for finding it. The woman asked her if she wanted it. The American suddenly felt like a good omen was happening to her, so she accepted the ring. Suddenly just after she put it on her finger, the woman started demanding a reward ! ! ! ! The American woman's niece was with her, and she took the ring off her aunt's finger and tossed it to the woman and they left. What a way to start a vacation ! ! !

The pick pocket had NO luck with me because I had been warned by the people in my French class about the gypsies. I wore a zippered money belt under my clothes, and inside my purse I only had tissue, pens and maps. Hopefully my luck will continue in such a good way.

The good old traditional scams, what would the world be without them :D

I'm a bit disturbed by your racist comment.
I'm sure that some gypsies are pickpockets, but it is an "equal opportunities" profession.

We shouldn't forget that Hitler had such a poor opinion of gypsies that an official figure of 600,000 died in the Holocaust.
Roma groups claim that it was actually over a million.

Hi T,

Thanks for the reminder.

>...I had been warned by the people in my French class about the gypsies.

I don't wish to be unpleasant, but as MP notes, not all Gypsies are thieves.

((I))

>'m a bit disturbed by your racist comment.
I'm sure that some gypsies are pickpockets, but it is an "equal opportunities" profession.

We shouldn't forget that Hitler had such a poor opinion of gypsies that an official figure of 600,000 died in the Holocaust.
Roma groups claim that it was actually over a million.<

Wake up and smell the coffee. I think this one is the worst case of "political correctness" ive read this year.

Sometimes its allowed to call a spoon a spoon.

If you aime for the nobelprize, you have to do better.

Gee, L

Are you claiming that all Gypsies are thieves, that all thieves are Gypsies, or have you just gotten up on the wrong side this morning?

((I))

I'll stay away from the PC part of this.

I hate to rain on your parade, but it seems to me that you spent way too much time interacting with this guy.

You're walking along the Seine, and a young man you don't know manages to grab your hand and slip a ring on your finger, hug you, and then the conversation continues.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect you are not from a big city.

Might be the wrong leg today:)

But still: it is a common fact that SOME Gypsies pull these trics. Its like then a blond girl visits turkey. Some men will make a big fuss about it. It is just a fact.

And of course are not all Gypsies thieves. Everybody knows that, that is just my point. We don't need to disguss the obvious:):)

BTW, what "race" is a gypsy? Coming from the midwest, I understood the term to mean an itinerant person with no specific skill set, but would do odd jobs for money, sometimes including pulling scams. There is an actual race classification?

>BTW, what "race" is a gypsy?
"Immigrants" from India, arriving in Europe at about the 14th century. The others gave them that name.

If we're going to get politically correct about things, the term for the ethnic group originating from India and persecuted by Hitler is 'Romani' or 'Roma'. Apparently they don't refer to themselves as 'gypsies' so ironically, the continuing defense of 'gypsies' as being an ethnic group could end up being counterproductive, by associating the word 'gypsy' with an ethnic group when to do so is inaccurate.

Besides, people will use words for their own purposes - just look what happened to 'aspirin' when Bayer wasn't looking. Or 'decimate' - now used interchangeably with 'devastate' --- or 'issue' --- now frequently used as if it were synonymous with 'problem.' Point being, it is perfectly possible to use 'gypsy' to mean 'thief' or 'irreputable' without being a racist, since people don't examine the history of word origin and usage before using just about any word, not just this one.

Well, if it's PC to object to using the word "gypsy" as a term for pickpocket, then fair enough.

May I draw your attention to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3527024.stm

"The pick pocket had NO luck with me because I had been warned by the people in my French class about the gypsies"

Reread the sentance but replace the word "Gypsies" with "Blacks" or "Jews". If you then find the sentiments offensive then maybe you would feel differently about calling this stance "politically correct".

Gypsies has traditionally meant the Romany people - still a discriminated against minority in parts of Eastern Europe.

I don't deny that there are large numbers of people in parts of Spain and Italy who appear to be responsible for a disproportional amount of reported pickpocketing, but part of that might be that they are more easily identifiable.

We were lucky to have been warned about the ring scam (by lovely Fodorites) before we went to France last spring because it was tried on us too. A quite average looking, nicely groomed middle-aged woman stopped and picked up a gold ring in front of us and turned to ask us "is this yours?". I could already feel SO hesitating -- not that he would have taken the ring, but ever the good samaritan, he probably thought he could help her find the owner -- and I pulled him along and explained the scam to him.

I would not, by the way, have picked this woman out as being of any particular ethnic group. She looked the same as any of the other office workers milling around us that time of day.

In English, the word "Gypsy" is actually short for "Egyptian". If you think that unlikely, within the past fifteen years I have heard the word "Egyptian" used in a context where most British people would say "Gypsy". "Gypsy" usually has a negative connotation over here.

The word "traveller" can mean many things in Britain, and is often used to describe groups who are not ethnic gypsies but who similarly travel from place to place and have done so for generations. Many are of Irish origin. However, I was surprised by a recent report about a group of "travellers" who were being moved off their camp site so that the 2012 Olympics could take place. They had apparently been there for over 30 years.

Another derogatory word in Britain is "Pikey".

texafornian- with all due respect, take a self defense class. You shouldn't have engaged in an exchange with this guy or let him get that close.

This is a venerable scam, well over a hundred years old.

This is from Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend"

('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.)"

We encountered this same scam 4 times in the course of one hour.
The 1st time we were looking in a shop window in the St.Germain area near the Seine and a man shoved a ring in my husbands hand, telling him he found it and it didn't fit him. My husband tried to hand it back to him but he wouldn't take it. The man started to walk away, then turned around and asked for money. My husband gave him the ring back and we walked away. The man kept following us. I'm a fairly meek looking person, but I turned around, looked him straight in the eye and very forcefully told him to stop and he backed away. Then we crossed the river and a woman coming toward us bent down and pretended to pick something up and held out a ring to us and said it was good luck. We briskly walked past her. Near the Tuileries another man started to approach us and I just put out my hand and said "No" very forcefully. Then about 10 minutes later we saw the same man with a tourist couple who were examining the ring. We always keep our money and credit cards in pouches around our necks and I think that, or a money belt, and just keeping walking, is the best defense against this sort of thing. And I was not shy in telling him to shove off.
It really struck us because we'd been in Paris the previous year and had not come across this at all and then to have it happen several times in one hour was incredible.

Just for the record, texafornian, you would have encountered this scam in any other big city in Europe. Thousands of those gold rings are found every day.

This scam seems to be so prevalent now, I wonder if anyone ever gives cash for the ring and thinks they have made a good deal?

I think allowing a strange man to hug you on the edge of the Seine was not a good idea. Or even touching him to give him cheese!! I think you took a big chance letting him get that close to you, in a way you were lucky that is all that happened.

The gold ring scam has become extremely common in Paris over the past few months; I see it almost every day when I'm with visitors.

The correct response is to ignore the person with the ring. I'm afraid the original poster here did almost everything wrong (except from the point of view of the scam artist).

And, I'm sorry to say, Gypsies have a culture built around shafting the rest of humanity. It's not politically correct to admit it, but it's a fact. That's why so many societies try to kick them out. The Gypsies have all sorts of justifications for their activities, but none of them bear close examination. Most of the scam artists of the type described in this thread are Gypsies. Refusing to talk about something doesn't make it go away.

Or here is another look at "gypsies" without a distinct ethnic background.
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/.../gypstart.html

If it is "politically correct" or not to say it, gypsies are unmerciful in their thieving. I have had several near misses. The worst scare was an attack in Milan on my wife and small daughter.

For your own sake learn to recognize these people and stay 10 feet away. Just scream and point at them if they come after you. Another defense is to travel with another person. It seems that they usually pick on the solo.

chartley, wherever did you come up with that bit about Egyptians? And while there are (fewer now, but still some) indeed gypsies in Ireland, they are not of Irish descent but rather of the same Roma tribe.

Everyone knows that ALL Gypsies are thieves.
Sending them to concentration camp was a bit harsh though..

Why oh why would you let a stranger take your hand, slip a ring on your finger, and hug you? Why let him even get close enough to do that? Why talk to him in the first place?

They should have warned you, in your French class, not about non-existent "gypsies", but about this very common scam. And about the hazards of letting anyone hand you something (i.e., a rose) or put something on you (a "friendship bracelet").

Just say Non! And walk away.

texafornian, Thanks for your post. Just maybe, someone reading it didn't know about the ring scam and your post can help them.

All these postings recently about scams really interest me. It starts to sound like getting scammed/pickpocketed, etc is a regular part of traveling to Europe. I have traveled to Europe many many times and have never had an experience like this. Neither have any of my friends or family. So I guess my question is, are some people just unlucky or do these scammers just have a particular profile that they look for?

I wouldn't say I am hypervigilant (or even vigilant) about watching out for these scams nor do I use any special travel gear - I don't wear a money belt or the like, just my regular bag that I use at home. I don't think I'm usually mistaken for a local either. Having said that, I can't imagine allowing a stranger to put a piece of jewelry on me (at least not under the circumstances described in the original post :-) ) and forget about a stranger giving me a hug.

I'm guessing that maybe a dozen people have posted here in the past 6 months about being scammed. If we assume that anyone who is going to post at all, would tell us if they were scammed, this seems like a very low number of all the hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of European visitors who pass through this website in 6 months.

Although I've read about this scam about a dozen time here on Fodors, I've never, ever been the victim of it (probably because when I'm walking in Paris I don't look like a tourist, I'm trekking along at a locomotive pace, and have a don't mess with me look on my face), but it seems it happens all the time.

How on earth did you actually let it get far enough that you were hugging some stranger on the banks of the Seine? Good God!

I'm not even interested in getting into the "gypsie" controversy...

We encountered the 'young woman with a piece of cardboard and a slightly darker complection' scam in the Latin quarter of Paris a few years ago.
Due to prior warnings on this website, we new to laugh and walk away.
Please continue to post your experiences.

St. Cirq,

I live in Paris, too, and I've had this tried on me several times. Even on really residential streets in the 16th where no tourists wander. I've taken to just laughing at them as I keep on walking.

I have to say I usually don't get bothered much because, like St Cirq, I have a "don't mess with me" walk and I think being a native NYer I tend to exude this air of "I know where I'm going, so go away". However, with that being said, all of this jogged my memory of my last trip to Paris with Mom in September '06 and I do recall now of a man approaching us on the Champs Elysees with a gold ring he had just picked up off the ground. I remember saying "Non" and shaking my head in disbelief as I ushered Mom away. I mean who in their right mind would engage with a stranger about a ring that was not theirs? Obviously, I thought so little of it that it took your posts to jog my memory.

My point is this....keep posting these warnings when they happen to you. People can be so naive and I think these posts do more good than harm.

Hi S,

>the term for the ethnic group ....associating the word

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy

((I))

A lot of people, perhaps the majority, if they saw something valuable lying on the street with other people coming from the other direction, would probably step on the item and stand there with their foot on top of it until nobody was around. The thought of picking the item up in front of complete strangers and saying "look what I just found!" is positively ludicrous.

I guess, I'm not in the majority, but I have seen items on the ground and picked them up and asked if anyone near had dropped it.

I'm not one to talk to strangers like that. I just keep walking. And to let a stranger get close enough to "hug" me...well...NOT! I've been going to Paris almost annually since the mid 70s and have seen/heard about all types of scams, but have not fallen for any of them. I guess it takes some street smarts. Happy Travels!

If it's any help, the ring always seems to be the same: a rather wide, plain ring with a slightly rounded surface and a manifestly cheap look about it (how anyone could mistake it for precious metal, I don't know—it looks about as precious as the cheaply-plated stuff you see in most belt buckles).

>I'm not in the majority
Well, you are with the majority here. I sounds quite strange to me that there would be people that actually are willing to keep precious things they find, which others have lost somewhere. Although, I confess, I might be to lazy to pick them up and bring them to the lost and found.