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Paris Gold Ring Scammer Busted on Camera: TL;DR – In Paris, France there are people who try to scam tourists out of their money by pretending to find men's gold rings, don't fall for it! (Click on 'show more' to see the full text from the video.) Having been targeted for this scam over the years and having witnessed it being repeatedly perpetrated on others (sometimes successfully)-: I decided to try and record it happening. I managed to do so with this entertaining if somewhat educational warning video.
This is a warning to folks planning on visiting Paris. Don't fall for this street scam!
Here is the full text from the video:
And so ended a scammer's
ploy to fleece money out of me
as a 'dumb tourist'.
In the spirit of the BBC 'The Real Hustle' TV
series this video's purpose is to help folks
not fall for this scam. The full explanation
about it requires a brief minute or two
of patience but the funny lesson learned
from this captured example is worth it.
This woman was attempting
to scam me out of money by
pretending to find a well polished man's
gold wedding band near me.
For many years now each summer
in Paris, France scammers from certain
Roma communities come to prey upon
unsuspecting tourists, particularly those
walking along the banks of the river Seine.
There are a number of minor scams
they use but one of the more
frequently perpetrated is the
"found men's gold wedding band" scam.
This is how it typically works:
Tourists will be walking along
the Seine or in another heavily
touristed spot and suddenly someone
nearby (typically of a Roma persuasion)
will bend down to feign finding a man's
shiny gold wedding band on the ground.
Typically a scammer will play as though
they're a bit slow but with a ready bogus
excuse about why they can't keep the
ring. Either their religion prohibits
it or some other fairly ridiculous excuse
(e.g.: "My husband would be jealous!").
They'll offer and then give the ring to a
'lucky' tourist and pretend as though
they're going to walk away but then turn
around and ask for something in return
hoping that either greed or compassion
on the tourist's part will take hold and
they'll give the scammer some money
in exchange for the valuable 'gold' ring
they've just received. In reality it is just a
worthless fake ring the scammer pulls out
of their pocket and places on the ground.
These scammers have pockets
full of such rings. They're made
out of cheap metal with shiny brass
plating. They'll spend their entire day
'finding' ring after ring.
I know this because over the years on days
I've been out to take photos several have
tried it on me, one after another, as I've sat
for hours on the river banks recording time
lapse images. From a distance I've also seen
scammers trying it on others over and over.
One day as a challenge I decided to see
if I could record the scam being perpetrated.
Having had several scammers come to
me I noted a certain consistency in
their appearance, #1 being each was
seemingly walking alone.
I then kept a look out for individuals
matching this appearance who'd be
walking towards my position. When I'd
spot someone I would quickly begin to
use a touristy point-and-shoot camera
in video mode and pretend to be a
tourist recording the beautiful Parisian
scenery. When I'd be approached I'd just
act natural and turn around to 'innocently'
interact with the scammer while continuing
to record so they'd not question my
making a recording of our interactions.
What follows is the best
exchange I've caught so far.
Awesome man!
PeopleCanFly23 don’t bother leaving a comment this channel only reads it’s subscribers .
Biggest safety tip for anyone visiting Europe is to not interact with anyone that looks gypsy.
Celebrity Takeover biggest frauds, scums, lowlifes live in London…. Buckingham looted robbed rotting hole, these are just small time cheats…
Reddylion could be in the places you mentioned but in places like the Balkans and such it’s a different story,gypsies who steal are most known to manipulate their children and force them to beg and steal
Celebrity Takeover won’t disagree.
I won’t go there anymore. Paris has gone to hell!!! Hawaii here I come.
lol she is not white. I am gonna have to enroll you in my class to teach you what is white and what is not
Ahh the gypsies. If they’re not stealing a tourists wallet or asking for donations for the ‘deaf’, they’re ‘finding’ worthless crap and then praying on a sucker donation for some cash. There’s a reason no one wants to live anywhere near a Roma community.
And people wonder why euroskepticism is a thing…..
No no no. I clean. I clean.
JamesPrime #consuela
I just joke I kid I kid I kid.
Lots of self-righteous wankers here… All of you talking about racism probably never had to deal with the problem. Its easy to be compassionate and feel like Gadhi for writing a comment probably using a device made by slaves.
Its not about race, its like saying you dont like Italian immigration cause it comes with the mafia… Of course not all “roms” (that’s what french call them) are bad but many are so if you get 50 000 in your country even if only 5 000 are hardcore eastern european style criminals looting the country its alot and its normal that some of their victims wont like them in general.
This remind me of this story in France. Some roms camp was causing lots of troubles in a neighborhood and vile racists white french people did everything they could to have them evicted by the law and it took them nearly 3 years. Then these roms moved near a poor neighborhood with a lot of minorities, minorities meaning non white so pure people incapable of racism, right ? Guess what they did ? Within a month people from the neighborhood droped in the camp armed with all sorts of weapons and they forced them away in less than an hour…
These roms are like a plague, with something so crazy its not a surprise to see nationalism expand all over Europe. Now that misery is spreading all over Europe its not a good time to have camps of thieves who steal everything from tombs metal to garlic fields… More than 400 farmers kill themselves every years in France, its more than one a day… You think they need eastern european “nomads” stealing their cattles, crops, tools and even the gas in their damn tractors if not the whole tractor…
How long do you self-righteous wankers think your utopian dream will last once people will understand it really is a sociopathic nightmare ? Diversity always has been a precious part of Humanity, mixing people with millions of displaced refugees is very bad and tragic. In France they cant even find housing for new immigrants and its worse when it comes to jobs… These so called humanists talk of love, peace and tolerance yet when some poor guy set himself on fire infront of an unemployment office they call him an “extremist” those damn maniacs dont really care, they just pretend cause it makes them feel better about themselves…
well… did you eat it?
. . . . meanwhile some is stealing the camera and tripod behind him . . . .
There is a ledge with a drop behind him..
9o
+Tommy Tucker actually, there is a ledge with some stairs behind… never underestimate a crook
He had a buddy watching over the tripod out of frame.
Very dangerous. Most likely, she was not alone and her partners were watching the interaction from a distance. Be careful.
Kalvin Villegas
I don’t think they allow Compton’s in France
france is now a perfect example of a country that encouraged all type of immigration and the immigrants are ruining it completely..
of course, there are some good out there, but the arabs are ruining it .. i have a friend who happened to be in a school in the outskirts of paris.. and the kids are the worse you’ve ever seen..they all believe their islam stuff that they will never be good citizens..
nor the JEWS …. born financial terrorists , bloodsuckers, big scammers … eg. Milken, Madoff, Rothschild, Drahi et al
Yes truth ..I met few myself in Paris.
Jesus that voice and punchable face combo
I would just shake my head and say “No, not mine.” and then just turn my back on her.
Ross Hamilton So she pickpocket you from behind?
These scammers and especially other scammers in big cities of europe would probably wont let go off you…But thats the right thing to deal with someone like that.
My mom had this scam on her in Paris, with a woman’s ring (of course). She refused to take or touch the ring and said that she became more concerned when the gypsy became more insistent. She was worried the gypsy was hoping my mom would take the ring and that the gypsy would start yelling she was robbed.
TAKE IT AND EAT IT
CHOKE ON IT!!!
He destroyed the ring so she couldn’t use it anymore.
She has a bag full of them.
well, as a percentage mine has doubled since then since i now have 2
Can you see your legs?
I almost got hustled by one of those poxy Romanians on my first visit to Paris.
I was walking along with my girl down by the big wheel when a chap tried the same trick with me, my better half being a seasoned traveller soon spotted the trick and told me to refuse the ring.
Approximately 3 hours later we there at the underpass were Lady Di died, and low and behold who should show up but the same trickster, he walked in front of us and proceeded to bend down and attempt the same scam, the look on his face when I told him of our earlier meeting was priceless.
Paris is full of these scammers, you can’t go from the Eifel Tower to the Trocadero without about 50 idiots trying to sell you a piece of string for a euro.
Brilliant
“Romanians”
That would be like calling you a pikey, mate.
ok … LET’S SAY A gipsy FROM ROMANIA. HAS ROMANIAN PASSPORT; OK ,
And how do you know that? Did you check her passport, chief?
right …. btw, she never carry a passport … to avoid deportation.
Lowlife Gypsy scum. Polish and Yugoslavian Gypsies are often very rich of the Kalderash clan specializing in crimes against the most vulnerable and defenseless senior citizens. To them it is not even stealing its only business as usual. Stupid lazy Swedish police can not stop them. They drive around in late model BMW´s and Mercedes cars. Totally devoid of any sort of bad consciousness about their criminal behavior or effects upon the poor victims. They have retained their lowlife Gypsy names in Sweden out of pride. Their whole exitstence is parasitic, criminal and view society as “prey”.They have names such as Dabrowski, Miraliyeva, Kwiek, Andrevski, Mitkevich and Kaminski.
Webb Hubbells lovechild Kensington yugoslawia sadly doesnt exist anymore
Gypsies and polish/yugoslavian people are not the same thing. I know what you mean but they are ”minorities” in our countries, they do not culture and often not even language with us and it is better not to conduct business with them. The ones driving around with new BMW-s normally have some business (clothes store) just for the cover of something shady since you cannot make that amount of money with a small store. Not with our taxes (and we are VERY taxed). And at least in our country (ex yugoslavia), they never have names like that.
and from Bosnia: Ibrahimovitch, ahmadovitch, ismaelovitch …. ( vitch = son ) …
I wonder if one of these ring scammer has the one ring to rule them all
how fast do you think people read
That is why I down rated. 2 much text and 2 fast.
I’d rather have to pause it than have to keep skipping forward because the editor left up each page _too long_ .
fast…unless youre a gypsy!
the scam is. it wasn’t yours and the Finder knows it isn’t. but shes so “gracious” and giving you this big gold ring. then she comes back and says. well i did give you that gold ring as a gift. you should give me a “gift” aka they figure you are getting a 200-600 gold ring. maybe you give them 20-50$ . so for a 1$ ring if the do it 10 times and get even 5 people to pay they have made 100-250$. that’s if you assume the ring is even worth a 1$.
He stated in the preamble we should pause the video to read. I prefer folks who do quick reading on their videos. That way all reading levels can read at their own pace and those of us who read fast can get through it without waiting.
Should’ve just handed it back and said, “Courage Frodo, courage”
Plot twist: he ate it and it was the most delicious ring he’d ever tasted.