Be Careful of the Golden Ring

Yesterday I had to walk ~7 km (>10 miles) around Paris to run some errands.  My first leg of the journey was up Kleber across the Arc de Triomphe and down Avenue de Wagram.  I had to drop off my rent check as it was going to be late if I mailed it.  I was under the impression it would be automatically taken from my bank account, but on Wednesday I got an e-mail saying I was late.  Unfortunately, there was a communication breakdown or lack of follow through and the automatic payment didn't happen.  Needless to say I was stressing on Wednesday afternoon.  The last thing I need is for Jill to come to Paris and find out we were evicted.

When I got to the office it was closed because of a bridge day.  A bridge day is an extra day off when a bank holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday.  In this case Thursday, November 11th, is the national holiday and Friday is the bridge day.  Knowing they would be closed, the real estate office gave me the code to their building so I could drop the check in the mail.  As I got there another man came up and started to open the metal roll up door to the office next to the door I was trying to get in.  I tried the secret code 5-6 times and realized it wasn't going to work.  So I stepped next door to the guy who was in the office.  Much to my surprise it was the office of the real estate office.  The guy was doing a quick stop in to pick up a few things.  I was able to give him the check so we shouldn't be evicted for this month. 

My next stop was on Rue d'Amsterdam in the 9th Arrondissemont.  I had to provide additional passport photos for the final stage of the immigration process.  I had 6 photos of Jill and I left over from the process so I went to our immigration consultant office to drop them off.  I found the office with no problem and I put them in the mail box.  I sent an e-mail to the person working my case letting them know I put them in the mail.  About 15 minutes later I got an e-mail back saying they got the pictures but they are too big.  Therefore, I had to find a place to get French sized passport pictures.  Fortunately I had stopped to do a little shopping and there was a photo place near by.  I got my French sized passport photos and went back to the office and dropped off the new set for me.  We'll have to do Jill's when she comes in a few weeks.

While crossing a street on my way to the immigration office an older lady bent down and appeared to pick up a gold ring from the sidewalk.  She stopped me and tried to explain in French that she found it, it didn't fit her and that I should take it.  Of course my scam-dar went off, so I declined, thanked her and walked away.  I thought it was odd, but didn't know why.  A while later, as I was returning home, I had another guy try the same thing.  We were at the cross walk near the Arc de Triomphe and he bent down, appeared to pick up a gold ring, seemed surprised to find it, tried it on and offered it to me because it didn't fit him.  Again I refused and kept walking.  When I crossed the street I looked back and saw the guy meet up with a young lady (obviously his partner in crime).  They tried it on another person reading a map near the Metro.  You won't believe it, about 5-6 blocks down, I watched another guy do the same thing to a guy walking ahead of me.  This time I was able to watch the whole exercise.  No ring is on the ground, it's in the scammers hand the whole time.

Now this is not coincidence... it really is a scam.  I didn't know how the scam worked so I got home and Googled "Paris scam gold ring".  There were several different outcomes of the scam - they occupy you and someone pick pockets you or they ask for money to give you uncontested ownership of the ring.  This is the first time I saw such a thing, but from what I read it happens often.  My advice to all visitors, don't be naive - pay attention - don't accept gifts from strangers.

Other than the rain, it was another fun day in Paris.