the gold ring trick

Just got back from Paris few days ago and wanted to report that the gold ring scam happened to us twice in one day and witnessed it happening to another couple the following day. I had asked my husbands French coworkers if they knew of this trick. They had. My husband was amazed that I had read about this scam via TA. Thanks for the prior postings about it. It was actually funny since I knew about it.

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Yes we knew about it too thanks to TA. Saw it happening 3 times on a bridge near the Eiffel tower. Yes is quite amusing when you watch them and see how they do it - not so funny if they trick you!!!

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Hi Flygirl et al,

i am not familiar with the gold ring scam, so if anyone would be kind enough to briefly describe, i would be appreciative.

Thanks, I thought I saw it all right here in NYC !!

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Sorry, I don%26#39;t know how to do links, but if you enter %26#39;ring scam%26#39; into the serach box above the OP then you will get lots of information on this.

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We just got back from Paris last night. Someone tried the gold ring trick on us in the courtyard of the Louvre. He bent down suddenly right in front of me as he was walking towards us. It actually startled me a little. He showed me the ring and said something in French I couldn%26#39;t understand. I just said, %26quot;it%26#39;s not mine%26quot;, and walked off.

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This happened to us just yesterday. An old Roma Gypsy woman tried to con us while we were waiting for the Cars Rouge at Opera. We told her to clear off as we had read about this scam - I didnt believe it was true til it happened. You would have to truly be gullible to fall for this one. Seriously, if you found a gold ring on the street would you offer it to a complete stranger who is off enjoying themselves on holiday when you are a poor gypsy! Hah!

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UrbanNYC - the scam works like this.

The scammer pretends to have found a gold ring close to your feet and offers it to you.

The scammer is hoping one of two things happens:

The target will lie and claim the ring as their own which they have just dropped, and the scammer will then claim a reward for finding it.

The target will take the ring and give the scammer some money for it, in the hopes that the ring is worth more than the few euros that the scammer is willing to sell it for.

You will notice that both of the above scenarios rely on the dishonesty of the target, who is hoping to get a gold ring for a few euros.

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We found it all very amusing and after a while just had to laugh whilst saying %26quot;good try mate%26quot; then briskly walking off.

We were approached many times over when walking along the seine and especially at the many bridges we crossed,sometimes you can actually gauge and see it unfold infront of your eyes.

The main thing to remember is whilst saying %26quot;No%26quot; is to be firm and direct as these people are very thick skinned and as we are tourists can be very nieve.

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We saw this scam three times while walking in the Place de Concorde area.

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We also had this happen to us. We did a lot of walking and truly, the gold ring scam happened no less than 6 times to us. Each time, we just firmly said %26quot;No way!%26quot; and kept walking.

In some ways, it made me angry to see how many times this is done and all of it dishonest. I had no sympathy or patience with it.

Thanks to the TA forum, I was not surprised in a way. Only that it actually happened, and so often!

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Tiggertigger !!

Thanks for describing the scam !!!