SeaUrchin

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.

AnthonyGA

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.

apersuader65

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

hopscotch

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.

Seamus

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.

Askar

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

Nora_S

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&quot.

Just say Non! And walk away.

hester

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

Sally30

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.

NeoPatrick

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.

StCirq

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...

icithecat

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.

Louie_LI

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.

Dejais

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.

ira

Hi S,

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

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

kerouac

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.

NeoPatrick

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.

Guenmai

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!

AnthonyGA

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).

logos999

>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.