Pick pockets in Paris
I was in Paris this summer with hubby and the 2 kids, we were walking and a young lady handed us a gold ring (coincidentally at the same time I shattered my necklace on the handle of the stroller). My husband thought it fell off my necklace so he said "yeah thanks"... she was confused and then asked him fro money for coffee. She was well dressed, designer purse.... we gave her a few euros and off she went.
A while later I saw a guy coming towards us, and he bent down and flipped a gold ring out of his hand and pretended he found it on the ground. He didnt approach us as he knew I saw what happened.
I have been told this is a pick pocket scam. Anyone have experience with this or am I just over cautious.
It's a never ending cat and mouse game between the police and the pickpockets...they are forever coming up with new ways to relieve you of your possessions.
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I am a bit naive to this kind of thing (living in Qatar all these years). It happened twice within an hour.... and while at the Eiffel tower the police started chasing a group of Gypsy and searched them on the street. Cant blame them for practising their trade there... that place is packed!
"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock - Will Rogers"
This trick is one of many which falls under the 'distraction technique'.
Pick pockets are common in most big cities around the world. Paris is no exception.
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i've read a lot about pick pockets and other petty crimes in paris on the internet(yahoo)before we went there this summer and so we were very very careful about it. we were there for 2 weeks and to our surprise we didnt encounter anything like it aside from the small incident at the eiffel where a cop was running after this illegal vendor.
i think what i have read in the internet was a bit exaggerated. we truly enjoyed our stay there and hoping to go back there someday.