Comments on: Paris: Smart tourists know these 3 scams

By: 5 ways Paris has changed in 10 years… and hasn’t | Sirène de la Mer- Natacha Pavlov

Sat, 06 Mar 2021 20:54:03 +0000

[…] While potential scam activity is still present at most tourist sites (read more on that here and here), the most alarming was sighting confrontational individuals individuals trying to pick fights, […]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 11:58:01 +0000

Hi,

If you visit Louvre museum, you will see few people selling the tickets outside museum in black. They will tell you that buy this ticket & skip the line. They will sell the ticket for 15 EURs. Same price is charged by museum as well. Once you purchase the same, they will reveal that you have to follow the queue but dont buy the ticket from counter, just go inside & put the ticket in your pants. The machine will scan the code from your pants & you can enter the museum.

Here’s what they do:- The museum ticket allows multiple entries. So when a visitor leaves the museum, these scammers ask them to provide their tickets & in return provide them Eiffel tower key chain worth 1 EUR for free. And then they sell the used tickets to others @ 15 EUR.

Now whats the point when Museum is also providing you the ticket at same price & you have to follow the queue anyways.

By: jade

jade — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 19:48:46 +0000

We got sucked into the three cups one ball scam as i had never heard of the game before and i had no idea it was a scam, we lost $200 euro and all i can say is it has wrecked my experience of paris, the police need to have better control over these situations as they are clearly getting away with scamming a lot of people, i have lost my money there is nothing i can do now only pray that karma gets these pieces of shit involved, i pray that they die very slow horrible deaths! they deserve only the worst! they are disgusting people who do not belong in this world.

By: will

will — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 18:27:40 +0000

Don’t downplay the physical intimidation if you don’t play along. FRZN 400 Isn’t the first one to tell of similar encounters.
” was scammed near Eiffel Tower on road Quau branly just outside bir hakeim station. They were a group people watching a guy with ball and 3cups trick. The public watching them were exchanging money. The moment i touched the cup they ganged up on me and harassed us to take out money. They snatched 100euros adn never returned it. we discover that the entire public like 4 or 5 people started fightimg with me when i ask for my money back. I couldnt do nothing. i was with my husband and they were too many people. Save yourselves and don’t be stupid.” http://parisjourney.com/17-paris-scams-gypsies-and-thieves-revealed “As you walk past they engage you and persist in asking you to participate in what they are doing. You may be asked to put out your finger or expose your wrist, and they will proceed to plait a piece of cotton around your wrist or finger. Once finished, the ornament will be tied off and they will then ask you for money. If you refuse, they then become angry and then instigate Plan B.

Plan B of the Scam is that while you are arguing with them, 1 or 2 other dark men approach you and start manhandling you. This is the point where your phone or wallet is stolen, or you give in and give them a few dollars just to allow you to leave safely.”

By: Frzn400

Frzn400 — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 04:08:18 +0000

I was scammed near Eiffel Tower on road Quau branly just outside bir hakeim station. They were a group people watching a guy with ball and 3cups trick. The public watching them were exchanging money. The moment i touched the cup they ganged up on me and harassed us to take out money. They snatched 100euros adn never returned it. we discover that the entire public like 4 or 5 people started fightimg with me when i ask for my money back. I couldnt do nothing. i was with my husband and they were too many people. Save yourselves and dont be stupid.

By: Adobo

Adobo — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 22:27:17 +0000

This is identical to a scam we encountered at the bir-hakeim station…a big black guy, a big white guy, a woman and another smaller guy all if whom were wearing what was suppose to be an RATP uniform complete with military boots and green uniform…they asked for our passes and our id..they looked official so we gave it to the black guy..who said that we had to pay 35€ because there was no picture…we asked for their id which they couldn’t come up with…and told us they will call the police..we said go ahead…eventually we told them they can keep the ids…while we went out of the station to look for a police officer…at which time they hurriedly left…what a shame that such a beautiful city have criminals like this operating openly..i saw soldiers around a lot but somehow these guys seem to know when to hit and where…to future visitors dont give your ids ask for theirs first…they got ours but we at least didn’t give them the satisfaction of collecting 175€ from us….we are still going to wherever we can to report these thieves before they fleece someone else…

By: Eaubleu

Eaubleu — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 13:48:49 +0000

Paris always has been plagued with scammers but I forgot about it. I got scammed today at the Charles de Gaulle Airport inside the terminal while taking a connecting flight. The typical beggar scam with the board collecting money for “charity”. I was caught off guard because they were inside the terminal, right outside the mechanical stairs. Many other passengers were being harassed by them as well.

A beggar in Paris means thief always. Happy travelling.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 08:05:11 +0000

I was approached by the ring merchant who pretends he or she found a wedding band. I just said No thanks and they moved on. Approached on the train by beggars leaving sob notes next to you then returning for money. Then a girl wanting money for disabled charity clip board in hand . I offered her 5 euro and she showed me a sign saying minimum 20 euro so I took the 5 and gave her nothing!

By: Rime

Rime — Sat, 09 Jul 2016 09:34:34 +0000

I lost 100 euros to the three shell game at the bridge near Eiffel Tower.
The first moment I saw it I knew it’s a scam because I watched a magic show including the same kind of trick before, I was attracted to stop and watched it because I was wondering ‘there are scams in Paris, how the fools’ lost money’.
In the end, I became the fool. I never want to participate it, but they targeted on me. In one round, first person(of course who is on the scam) lost the money, they suddenly pointed to me and said I’m the winner. I, a short girl traveling alone, was too shocked and my mind didn’t work functionally at that moment. The scammer put 200 euros in my hand and asked me to show €100 so the money will be mine. I refused twice to play and tried to give the €200 back to the scammer but it didn’t work. Another young girl (of course who is on the scam too) standing besides, kept saying ‘you are winning’. My stupid, then i decided to show him €50 but I took out 2*€50 from wallet. I didn’t have a chance to put back 1 note of €50. The scammer just swiftly grabbed all of my money from my hand. Then scammer urged me to turn over the black card (if it’s white, you will win but obviously I can never find the white one), I refused again and asked my money back, he said no. I was too shocked and scared so I had to turn over the card, of course it’s black.
That’s how I lost €100 while I already knew it’s a scam.
I felt really upset and blamed myself of being attracted by curiosity.

By: Ross

Ross — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 23:53:48 +0000

Today my daughter and I encountered a situation I could have sworn I would never fall for. We were walking away from the Effiel tower when we saw a crowd gathered playing the 3 cup game we stopped just to see and noticed that it was easy to see where the ball ended up in well not even a minute later I was scammed 🙁 200 euros. Needless to say my daughter and I felt so upset. In the end it’s sad that these people are doing this to innocent people and that police are not patrolling the areas enough. But like I told my daughter they won’t escape God’s justice.
All I can say is DO NOT stop. They scammed us even after I was certain I would never fall for something like that.