Brits visiting the French capital have been warned to “watch out” for scammers.
A European Scam Index from travel insurance comparison experts at Quotezone.co.uk named Paris as Europe’s worst city for being scammed.
Visitors to France’s top five tourist attractions mentioned feeling scammed in 748 reviews – over eight times more than the country with the second-highest number of scam mentions, Spain.
The Eiffel Tower had 537 scam mentions in traveller reviews making the attraction the place where tourists were most likely to fall victim to swindlers such as fake ticket sellers.
Holidaymakers also took to review sites to express concern at the number of people at the base of the attraction engaged in pickpocketing scams.
One Parisian (@parisinmypocket) took to TikTok to warn tourists of another common scam in the French capital, where men stand outside the Sacre-Coeur and try to place a “friendship bracelet” on tourists wrists.
They said: “If you find yourself in front of Sacré-Cœur, and some guy standing on one of these little curvy bits is staring at you, and then goes for you with a little bit of string and tries to put it on your wrist, that’s a friendship bracelet.
“Unfortunately, what this guy never learned was that friendship doesn’t work this way. And once he gets the bracelet on you, he’ll tighten it, and then he’ll hold on and be like, ‘Hey, now that we’re friends, maybe you can give me something in return?’
“Again, that’s not how friendship works. This is not also how Parisians work. This is a scam, and you’re going to want to watch out for it.”
Other popular scams in Paris include fake currency exchange booths, the kick cup – a cup is placed where someone will accidentally kick it, and when they do, scammers demand money for the ‘damage’, and the gold ring – where a scammer ‘finds’ a ring and offers it to you and demands money in return.
These scamming methods remain prevalent in Paris, meaning tourists need to keep their wits about them in the French capital.