I would do this. 6'2", 250lbs(and most of it is actually muscle) and been doing martial arts my entire life. Ironically I was just in Paris last month. Lot of fun but we didn't go to any parts with the scammers. Did see the guys selling the souvenirs and "sewer wine" though. One of them was approaching our group at a lookout point where you could see the Eiffel Tower. He took photos for us and was like "Oh do this pose" or "do that pose" to make it look like you're leaning on it or holding it and stuff like that. Then after he took some pictures he pretty much shoved his mini Eiffel Tower statues into our hands and put some keychains on it and was like "Just buy this and you get this stuff for free" and had the most disappointed look on his face when my wife and I just handed it all right back to him and were like "No Thanks". And I was like "Hey man, you're the one who approached us."
That last one was your wisest move, putting up a an e-mail and asking for people to forward there scamming evidence. This is the power of the team and co-operation, let's all of us unite our powers and see what happens in the end about it.
Thank you for your work honest guide. You saved Prague from scammers and now you will save Paris if you keep returning there and keep posting videos about the situation. You are the heroes Europe deserves. Please save some Italian city aswell, there are scammers everywhere here. In italy we have a similar channel called "Cicalone Simone" that single handedly "solved" (it's impossible to solve the problem at 100% without government real help) the problem of pickpockets in Rome's underground. After his UA-cam videos, that were also cut and broadcasted on TV, Rome's Mayor increased police controls in the underground and thiefs now run away when they see him and his filming troupe, it's so hilarious
6:00 my guess is since those scammers are mostly not a single group but are actually organized, they would threaten the store/cafe owners and they don’t want to get into unnecessary trouble
The cafe owner doesn't care, the scammers probably are spending a lot of money to buy water/beer/coffee and food while they're staying there all day. Is still profitable for them.
Yeah I assume the shops might be a bit sketchy and/or fear some sort of retaliation from those gangs. Maybe not too violent they could be quite a nuisance.
Now if you take a closer look on how they play you'll notice that the guy who's doing the actual play never keeps more than the current bank on him. After winning something, he immediately loses to one of his gang members, so the money always move around the team. There's one gang member, usually a woman, who keeps most of the cash on her; she gets it either by playing herself or receiving it from other members behind her back. All of this is done for two reasons - first, if the guy that runs a play is being arrested, he was just playing, didn't scam anyone as he has no money; if you lose and gather your support, he has nothing to pay you back even if you're a squad of paratroopers on vacation. Second, these women if arrested would pretend these money are last means of subsistence for her and her N kids and she's got it from a good friend. All of these (partially) explains why police is not very eager to fight them properly; the only real way to get rid of them is constantly disturbing their play so that it becomes unprofitable and they vanish.
wish this was higher, yeah its really hard to arrest them when theres no concrete evidence theyre scamming, youd have to trap a whole group of them and check them all, a more straightforward solution would be to just ban these games in tourist areas which would make it easier to arrest those who still do them, but thats just one of the many scams that are done
@@aseldesu These gangs are controlled by ethnic organized crime and earn around 3-5K euro a day each, so until this business is profitable it would continue to exist. You can either detain them all for a day (almost impossible as they are not fleeing or resisting arrest and are respected citizens of EU member state) or just make it impossible for them to gamble by patrolling the area. I once had witnessed armed Gendarmerie maintaining positions in Tuileries and it wasn't much of a pleasant experience for tourists in the area, as the place just feels unsafe.. But there were no scammers :)
@@aseldesu You would not lose anything by outlawing this type of play. There are no legit players (because why would they, they would just lose money) and thus there is no benefit to allowing balls and cups. A law banning all balls and cups from being played could allow police to arrest these people.
If a scammer touched me in any way I would scream at the top of my lungs "don't touch me" or "he/she is assaulting me." I don't know why anyone would allow someone to grab them like that and not do the same.
True I feel that if your that scared to defend yourself then maybe you shouldn't be in an open location like that where you know it would be easy prey to those types. Btw I'd run hands if you touch me especially if you grab my shoes
That's a stupid comment that's obviously in hindsight. You're in a totally different headspace when on holiday walking around. The type of person to scream when they get touched wouldn't go into a crowded touristy place.
the guy that got his hand slapped away is on on it too. its to make you think he was going to show which cup had the ball under it but only to make the game player think thats the cup, which is why the other guy acted angry because he was pretending to show the woman which cup it is
The guy with the wristband grabbed me too, on the same place. It was honestly pretty scary. He is actually fairly strong. When i first tried to move my hand out of the way, he just held it stronger. I needed to put a lot of effort into getting away
@@themartinandersson Honestly, I was just having a good time with my girlfriend, and didnt want to ruin the evening further. Waiting for cops, or accidentally worsening the situation wasnt what i wanted to do. But i get what you are saying
I'm so sorry you went through this. Legit, what happened to you & continues to happen isn't ok & this makes me not even want to go. Personal space is so important, and I don't know why people think it's ok to just grab others without consent
As a Parisian, I remain deeply shocked to see so many criminals acting with impunity in our streets to this day. Our laws seem far too lenient toward such behavior, and the profits they make are so high that they simply don’t care about the consequences. Everyone here is aware of their actions, but with Paris being the most visited city in the world, there will always be at least one naïve person among thousands of visitors. Your work is undeniably of public importance, as far too many people are being deceived far too easily.
The laws are already there. It's the lack of political will. But parisiens love disorder, you should see who they vote for again and again and again. Hidalgo was filmed openly mocking parisiens who drive, went to parties during lockdown and she's still there. She even put the Parisiens behind barriers during the Olympics. One thing is certain about Parisiens. Is that they will never elect a populist candidate.
During the last presidential election, I got to learn a lot about the French election and vote counting process. The process seems like a scam. The first to cross a line wins a running race, not a democratic representative government.
Let's just say that gambling is generally prohibited in France. Exceptions are only permitted if state concessions have been granted (L320-1 - L320-9 CSI (Code de la sécurité intérieure), L321-1 CSI, L324-1 - L324-9 CSI). The penalties are variable and generally allow for the enforcement of fines, the confiscation of winnings and also valuable items (watches, cars). In order to maintain public order and security, the French police can also issue and enforce orders to leave the place and not to re-enter it, and if necessary reinforce them with imprisonment and fines (L2212-2 CSI, L132-7 CSI, R645-12 Code pénal). The penalties for non-compliance with such an order can be a fine of up to 1,500 euros for a first offense, up to 3,000 euros for a repeat offense, and imprisonment of up to two months for repeated violations of the order (e.g. use of violence against other people, as in this case). In Germany, there was a similar epidemic of shell gamers in the 1990s. The only thing that helps here is consistent disruption of the game by police officers on civilian duty. Shell gamers in France also have no immunity. There seems to be some stupid fear of disrupting tourist spots through police operations.
09:51 Its not a sewer its a Cable duct for fiber splices. If you look carefully you can see som black cables in a service loop. Best regards the fiber guru :-)
i appreciate your integrity in immediately saying the alleged pickpocketing wasnt really the case. you dont need to fake content with these people around
These scammers live 50% off of people being afraid of confrontation and getting into trouble. If anything let these videos be a lesson to stand up for yourself and not give in to bullshit, anytime, anywhere
In Poland i once got confronted by gypsies. He pushed into my hands some perfumes "for free" and then asked for money. I said I won't give money and told him to take perfumes back or I put them on the floor. He said that he will beat me up with his friend (he stood few meters away) if I do it. I told him something like "just try" and he took the perfumes and walked away. It was kinda scary to be honest, no idea if these fuckers could pull a knife or something. I can imagine a lot of people could fear, but come on, if there's hundreths of people around they won't do anything to you I think just because you refuse.
if you wanna experience scams, please visit Barcelona. I love the city with the vibe, the beaches and have some friends there, but the amount of scams and pickpockets are ridiculous
@irondasgr to be fair, it only happened once, since the locals have to deal with a City which is more and more focused on tourism rather than the people, who are actually living there (also fuck Airbnb in this Case). Those cafe's/restaurants were overpriced and are only shitty Tourist cashgrabs. If you wanna have a really good dining experience, please avoid Las Rambles at all costs.
@@takashi3890 Hahaha still the only interesting thing to attend at the moment in Barcelone, today there was a street march on the matter again. Never a bore.
One time I was eating at a bar in Berlin by myself, and this Asian guy walked in. Tried to tell some story to the bartender, and she was like, I don't have time for this, but that guy over there is by himself, and is also a tourist, go talk to him. So he sat next to me, and while we ate, told me this story about how he lost €500 to a cups and balls scam. We got to talking, exchanged business cards, and he was an engineer at Apple office in Hong Kong. Blew my mind. Guy has a job that we assume requires some intelligence, lives in a huge city, so presumably should be at least a little street wise, still falls for it. I didn't push these points, because he was already beating himself up. But anyhow. It's not just Paris. Berlin is crawling with these scammers too.
You can see it in these comments too though. People seem to think that on some level it is still a fair game. People will say like, follow the one you think it is but pick one of the other two cups and you have 50/50 odds. It seems people know it is a "scam," but just a scam that requires them to be more clever as opposed to being a scam all the way down. It's not vegas with weighted odds, its just a scam with no chance to win. But yeah...people don't seem to get it.
There is a huge difference between "being smart" and "being experienced". You can be as smart as you want, there are things you just need to experience to understand them, either by yourself, or through someone else's retelling. The difference is that a smart person will understand something new much faster than someone less smart.
I saw the cup and ball scam in Berlin last summer. Before going I checked on UA-cam to see what I should visit there. I saw the ball and cup scammer and all the same friends as I did when I visited. The video was filmed 2 months before I went and the scammer had all the same “friends” surrounding him. The main guy kept trying to get me to play by clumsily tilting one of the cups in my direction just as his friend bet on the wrong cup. I was about to leave and he gave me 5 euros to start playing. I’m too smart for that. I wonder what happens if you palm your own ball and place it under the cup when you lift it.
I live in Berlin and recently saw the scam for the first time, too. It's not that usual here, but apparently it does happen. It was really interesting to see how the whole group is organised. I watched from the other side of the street and quickly I had two "body guards" left and right of me observing me. After some minutes of confirming that I'm watching them all, one of the guys went over and they all disappeared within seconds.
@@Ben-bb8mo I am also a resident. I have seen them playing at: Schlossbrücke, the Spree side of the East Side Gallery and along Treptower Park Ufer. They are mostly out in the summer months.
Hi Janek, I just got back from Prague for a short break from the UK. Want to just say a massive thank you for all your videos, from how to get from the airport to the centre to all the food recommendations and places to see. We tried quite a few of the restaurants and food places and loved them all. Admittedly did try the ‘traditional’ chimney cake. I didn’t like it very much. 😂 Can’t wait to come back to Prague again soon! What a beautiful place.
I remember being hassled by scammers at every Paris tourist attraction. I even stood there watching cops wander right past them watching everything and not do a thing on many occasions. My first hand experience is the Paris authorities don't care. And its ruining the city. I've told everyone I know to stay away.
i got pickpocketed in Prague and had no clue.. but a giant Czech man next to me told me, chased the man down (gypsie) and slapped tf outta him. it was hilarious.
@@shmurkles6347 If it's organized, absolutely. They've created this problem for themselves. Any gypsy could speak out about this, denounce whatever the mafia is doing all over europe. But it doesn't happen. The more who knows, the more will be aware about who and what avoid on european streets.
You could go around there with a tshirt or cap with a big text like " SCAM ALERT" " WATCH OUT FOR SCAMMERS" and so on, even a big picture on the scammers on the shirt 😂
6:16 the answer is in France scammers can file a lawsuits against the commerçants if they are a bit violent and if they are not violent the scammers stay
6:20 The answer here is very simple - lots of the shop owners and staff around this touristy place are also not local, either zero-gen or first-gen immigrants. They do not see it as "their problem", because they hardly respect the city as a place of their own heritage. You don't open a souvenir store or cafe in the middle of a tourist spot "for the love of the game", you do it to leech as much money from the traffic as possible.
3:50 so if someone is curious the woman is saying "he does this *moves the cups* then he does that, and then the ball is not anywere" one of the scammers replies "it's Quick quick, you have to see it" an she answers "No, but i am seeing he has the ball there" *points to the scammer hand
Don't forget that those guys are organized crime groups, they can really harm someone if they want to, so local shops are probably just minding their own business, even more as some of them are also somewhat scamming tourists the legal way, reselling Chinese products for 10x their price, etc....
4:33: I could imagine that the guy with the white hat used a signal to the surrounding scammers to send the van in so they force a breakout of the conversation with the tourist. The other 2 propably got mad because they had the situation under control and white-hat freaked out for no reason and they lose time on the street attracting potential victims.
i think the guy was was warning the hwite guy about the camera since the way the white guy said it doesnt seem directed to the romanian guy but more talking about somone else which would prolly be the cameraman
Hope I don't get to see you on Bulgarian TV! Joking aside - you two are doing an incredible job at, at least, pointing out what to look out for while travelling abroad. It's horrible that people like these scammers or sewage shop owners degrade beautiful cities and leave a lasting bad impression in tourists. I will never forget my personal experience with the bracelet selling guys in Greece and in France and the shoe cleaning scam in Turkey. I also do have great memories from those trips as well, but would have preferred not to have had unwanted encounters. Kudos for your brilliant efforts! If I was security or near the size and skills of it, I'd gladly volunteer to help you out in future videos 💪
I visited Prague several years ago. Loved the city. Unfortunately a friend of mine was scammed on currency exchange, although several of us told her not to do it on the street. Love to see your show and remember how beautiful the place is
I was raised in NYC. From 3 card monty to the pigeon drop, I thought I knew all the scams. Even when I go in a casino, I only bet money I planned to lose. Getting strong armed into a ruse is never an option in my playback. You have a great channel, and did teach me some newer tricks to avoid on my return to Europe.
Your videos are really interesting, just watched 3 videos in a row and just subbed, keep up the work ❤ and before i went to prague 2 months ago i read the book and watched your video ❤
@@ErwinHolland.Yeah which is why I’m not sure I see this as a scam - you have to be seriously naive and sheltered to fall for this. It’s why I’m glad the Police prioritise actual crimes and not divert resources to tackling this, as some point you have to have some sort of self preservation.
Well, of course its a scam. That people are stupid falling for it doesn't change that fact. And lets keep in mind, there are probably like 10 scammers around them, this is a "professional" operation, from some really sketchy people, that will threaten and intimidate you. This is not just some guy earning some money, these are whole organizations. The police should really do something to stop them.
Yeah, we are really happy that most of shit ppl gone from our country, in România you go to jail for this type of scams for a few years, so they chose to do it in other countries. 😂😂
Romanians took the trash out. Unfortunately who imported it doesn't know how to recycle (here in italy we don't do very well, we are also full of italian trash, seems like fascism made people proud of their trash)
Well, there is a syndrome described about it that mainly Asians suffer from upon arrival in Paris as soon as they face the real face of Paris. i can't remember the name though..
I think the stores are quiet on the issue because intervention by a single one would invite serious reprisals from the criminal gangs behind these scams. It would take them all united together to make a change. Just a guess though.
I encountered the Sacre Coeur group the other day and observed them and when they called me to play I told them they were Romanian scammers and that they were all in on it. After a bit of back and forth, they decided to leave. Then when I was walking back the same way, I saw them again and told them that I thought they had left. I could see the anger on their faces but they did nothing. Now I'm not sure why since the first time I observed them they were bullying anyone who objected anything, especially the tall bald guy, but I suspect it was because I kinda look mean and they probably realised they couldn't bully and intimidate me like they do with other tourists.
At 6:00 min you ask why the People from the Stores dont chase off the Shell Gamers. Its because they are all Scammers. The Shops maybe not in a illegal Way, but all of them are trying to rip off money from Tourists. So they are some kind of colleagues in my Opinion.
@@PixlyPenguin Likely something of the kind of one hand washes the other. The store owners don't disturb the cups and balls groups and the cups and balls groups don't disturb the store owners.
Comments like this are the reason the word "scam" has lost its meaning. There is nothing deceptive or fraudulent about selling souvenirs. If you go inside a store and spend money on a product, that's not a scam.
I know what you mean. But you also go by yourself to the shell player and give him money because you think you can win the game. The same happens in this shady Tourist shops, you go in and think you get a good produkt for a decend price. But in the end the buy a supercheap china product for way too much money. Its all a cartel
Come to Amsterdam, or utrecht, Romanians begging for money, and in the late evening they gather in their Mercedes cars and handover the money to the big boss.... also a huge scam
As a Romenian at 4:43 he told him '' i give / or hit man body part on the deth of my mother '' Romenian swer words are hard to translate and Romenians can combo swer words.
ah... yes 1.5 year of learning this beautiful language called french, planning your visit and this lovely video pops up to remind you that Poland is safer than you realize
So, I'm genuinely curious: if you knew when making this video, that you did in fact not spot a pickpocket. Why did you phrase the title of the video as a question?
@@Michael_Kzyv That's a good theory. The video has > 600.000 views now. A part of those views would never have clicked on the video if it had a more neutral title. It is almost as if a part of those 600k views (and thus, potential monetization) are... scammed here
There is a scam, really common too, which happened to me as a french : a guy comes and says he represents a youth association in poor neighborhood, and they make them do sports, arts etc. He often proposes a postcard against money (once someone proposed me a book). And they are really insistent. They can propose you to go to the ATM if you say you don't have money etc. I know there is a scam so I just ignore the guy. It's really sad because sometimes he can say you're racist... I saw this in my hometown, Le Mans, but also in Paris (I live in Paris since few years now). Once, I had to wait for my train and I met this kind of scammer. I was waiting outside since it was a sunny day. I ignored him, but I was spying him. Once, someone stopped to him and the scammer started his speech. I came and said "it's forbidden to ask for money in public places". The scammer was really angry at me, he told I was racist (which is kinda funny because I've grew up in a french and algerian family) he threaten me etc. And he said "anyway, it's better to do that than dealing drugs". I fully disagree with this wrong dilemma. The aim of all scammers is to touch your humanity, your ethics. Their speech are really emotionnal but that's nonsense. Unfortunately scam is very common in France. It's not really about cultural issues, but more about economic realities. Actually, the scammer is not the one which got all the money. There is a whole network behind it. Funny thing is I saw a lady in Paris which was a prostitute first I guess, then a Syrian beggar, and now a deaf scammer. I can't really blame her, because she acts the way other people want her to act. The most hurtful thing is children beggar. Everytime I see this, I call the security. Those children have to be in school, and if theirs parents can't take care of them, they have to be separated.
Years ago I was in Paris and bottled water anywhere was pretty expensive but there were some people selling it in the street for cheaper but I noticed the seals were broken and assumed they were selling bottles refilled with tap water. Definitely wasn't going to buy from them. No idea of their cleanliness
I think hiring 10 security guards to come with you to confront groups of scammers would be a very interesting video lol
I would do this. 6'2", 250lbs(and most of it is actually muscle) and been doing martial arts my entire life.
Ironically I was just in Paris last month. Lot of fun but we didn't go to any parts with the scammers. Did see the guys selling the souvenirs and "sewer wine" though. One of them was approaching our group at a lookout point where you could see the Eiffel Tower. He took photos for us and was like "Oh do this pose" or "do that pose" to make it look like you're leaning on it or holding it and stuff like that.
Then after he took some pictures he pretty much shoved his mini Eiffel Tower statues into our hands and put some keychains on it and was like "Just buy this and you get this stuff for free" and had the most disappointed look on his face when my wife and I just handed it all right back to him and were like "No Thanks".
And I was like "Hey man, you're the one who approached us."
Vigilantism isn't cool. They investigate and uncover and confront within the law. Let the police do anything further than that.
@@ADDISON396 police there doesnt do anything :P
@@ADDISON396 Police doesn't do anything there they are useless and paid by these scammers. I too can buy a police in paris that's corrupt they are.
because the scammers totally wont run off if they got confronted by a guy with 10 buff security guards around him
6:20 Easier said than done, those store owners don't want to be targeted by gangs/organized crime for trying to fight them....
Yep. That's hard fact but it's true
They are a Mafia.
These guys are lucky to have left after filming them
You people sound kind of cowardly and pathetic, you're trembling in fear from these scammers
@@zipinha this is the dumbest comment 😂 no, kid, they're not "mafia" 😂😂
That is why the police are there. That is their job !
That last one was your wisest move, putting up a an e-mail and asking for people to forward there scamming evidence. This is the power of the team and co-operation, let's all of us unite our powers and see what happens in the end about it.
*their
@@WiseWik nope, there, at that place, you got confused (even though your suggestion grammar-wise suits too)
@@irondasgr then "there" should be at the end of the sentence
@@WiseWikGrammar catch-22
It’s their. Don’t argue, it just is.
“If there’s a beer belly and a fanny pack it’s a Mickey rat” hahahah
krysa
Thank you for your work honest guide.
You saved Prague from scammers and now you will save Paris if you keep returning there and keep posting videos about the situation.
You are the heroes Europe deserves.
Please save some Italian city aswell, there are scammers everywhere here.
In italy we have a similar channel called "Cicalone Simone" that single handedly "solved" (it's impossible to solve the problem at 100% without government real help) the problem of pickpockets in Rome's underground.
After his UA-cam videos, that were also cut and broadcasted on TV, Rome's Mayor increased police controls in the underground and thiefs now run away when they see him and his filming troupe, it's so hilarious
Plus new laws made specifically to target the gypsies doing that and abusing loopholes.
6:00 my guess is since those scammers are mostly not a single group but are actually organized, they would threaten the store/cafe owners and they don’t want to get into unnecessary trouble
the store/cafe owners maybe could ally together.
But probably easier said than done.
that's probably true, but where are the authorities? why wouldn't the store owners call them?
@@bobellino1423too common and too petty a problem for officers to take care of, they'd be stretched too thin
The cafe owner doesn't care, the scammers probably are spending a lot of money to buy water/beer/coffee and food while they're staying there all day. Is still profitable for them.
Yeah I assume the shops might be a bit sketchy and/or fear some sort of retaliation from those gangs. Maybe not too violent they could be quite a nuisance.
Now if you take a closer look on how they play you'll notice that the guy who's doing the actual play never keeps more than the current bank on him. After winning something, he immediately loses to one of his gang members, so the money always move around the team. There's one gang member, usually a woman, who keeps most of the cash on her; she gets it either by playing herself or receiving it from other members behind her back.
All of this is done for two reasons - first, if the guy that runs a play is being arrested, he was just playing, didn't scam anyone as he has no money; if you lose and gather your support, he has nothing to pay you back even if you're a squad of paratroopers on vacation. Second, these women if arrested would pretend these money are last means of subsistence for her and her N kids and she's got it from a good friend.
All of these (partially) explains why police is not very eager to fight them properly; the only real way to get rid of them is constantly disturbing their play so that it becomes unprofitable and they vanish.
LOL. Bullshit. LOL. Do you really think that the undercover police team is not able to document everything, secure evidence?
Nice catch !
wish this was higher, yeah its really hard to arrest them when theres no concrete evidence theyre scamming, youd have to trap a whole group of them and check them all, a more straightforward solution would be to just ban these games in tourist areas which would make it easier to arrest those who still do them, but thats just one of the many scams that are done
@@aseldesu These gangs are controlled by ethnic organized crime and earn around 3-5K euro a day each, so until this business is profitable it would continue to exist. You can either detain them all for a day (almost impossible as they are not fleeing or resisting arrest and are respected citizens of EU member state) or just make it impossible for them to gamble by patrolling the area. I once had witnessed armed Gendarmerie maintaining positions in Tuileries and it wasn't much of a pleasant experience for tourists in the area, as the place just feels unsafe.. But there were no scammers :)
@@aseldesu You would not lose anything by outlawing this type of play. There are no legit players (because why would they, they would just lose money) and thus there is no benefit to allowing balls and cups.
A law banning all balls and cups from being played could allow police to arrest these people.
If a scammer touched me in any way I would scream at the top of my lungs "don't touch me" or "he/she is assaulting me." I don't know why anyone would allow someone to grab them like that and not do the same.
Same. My anger issues could never.
True I feel that if your that scared to defend yourself then maybe you shouldn't be in an open location like that where you know it would be easy prey to those types.
Btw I'd run hands if you touch me especially if you grab my shoes
That's a stupid comment that's obviously in hindsight. You're in a totally different headspace when on holiday walking around.
The type of person to scream when they get touched wouldn't go into a crowded touristy place.
the guy that got his hand slapped away is on on it too. its to make you think he was going to show which cup had the ball under it but only to make the game player think thats the cup, which is why the other guy acted angry because he was pretending to show the woman which cup it is
Love the out of Prague series
Fr, every series is great
@@MonMon_Wnope, jfk secret airport scene wasnt great..
The guy with the wristband grabbed me too, on the same place. It was honestly pretty scary. He is actually fairly strong. When i first tried to move my hand out of the way, he just held it stronger. I needed to put a lot of effort into getting away
Assault.
@@sebastiandelgado943 Exactly. Why the victims accept this behavior without raising hell and call the police I don't know.
@@themartinandersson Honestly, I was just having a good time with my girlfriend, and didnt want to ruin the evening further. Waiting for cops, or accidentally worsening the situation wasnt what i wanted to do. But i get what you are saying
Next time, give him the sauce.
I'm so sorry you went through this. Legit, what happened to you & continues to happen isn't ok & this makes me not even want to go. Personal space is so important, and I don't know why people think it's ok to just grab others without consent
As a Parisian, I remain deeply shocked to see so many criminals acting with impunity in our streets to this day. Our laws seem far too lenient toward such behavior, and the profits they make are so high that they simply don’t care about the consequences. Everyone here is aware of their actions, but with Paris being the most visited city in the world, there will always be at least one naïve person among thousands of visitors. Your work is undeniably of public importance, as far too many people are being deceived far too easily.
The laws are already there. It's the lack of political will. But parisiens love disorder, you should see who they vote for again and again and again. Hidalgo was filmed openly mocking parisiens who drive, went to parties during lockdown and she's still there.
She even put the Parisiens behind barriers during the Olympics.
One thing is certain about Parisiens. Is that they will never elect a populist candidate.
During the last presidential election, I got to learn a lot about the French election and vote counting process. The process seems like a scam. The first to cross a line wins a running race, not a democratic representative government.
Let's just say that gambling is generally prohibited in France. Exceptions are only permitted if state concessions have been granted (L320-1 - L320-9 CSI (Code de la sécurité intérieure), L321-1 CSI, L324-1 - L324-9 CSI). The penalties are variable and generally allow for the enforcement of fines, the confiscation of winnings and also valuable items (watches, cars). In order to maintain public order and security, the French police can also issue and enforce orders to leave the place and not to re-enter it, and if necessary reinforce them with imprisonment and fines (L2212-2 CSI, L132-7 CSI, R645-12 Code pénal). The penalties for non-compliance with such an order can be a fine of up to 1,500 euros for a first offense, up to 3,000 euros for a repeat offense, and imprisonment of up to two months for repeated violations of the order (e.g. use of violence against other people, as in this case).
In Germany, there was a similar epidemic of shell gamers in the 1990s. The only thing that helps here is consistent disruption of the game by police officers on civilian duty.
Shell gamers in France also have no immunity. There seems to be some stupid fear of disrupting tourist spots through police operations.
@@KarthikS30712 are you from Bangalore?
09:51 Its not a sewer its a Cable duct for fiber splices. If you look carefully you can see som black cables in a service loop. Best regards the fiber guru :-)
Theres actually a video where some vendor literally hides his food in the sewers just be careful with the hygiene.
thanks for informing us that there's free wine
Thank you for exposing these scammers. I hope their work will at least become more difficult, if not stopped entirely.
i appreciate your integrity in immediately saying the alleged pickpocketing wasnt really the case. you dont need to fake content with these people around
These scammers live 50% off of people being afraid of confrontation and getting into trouble. If anything let these videos be a lesson to stand up for yourself and not give in to bullshit, anytime, anywhere
more like let these videos be a lesson not to go to paris lol
In Poland i once got confronted by gypsies. He pushed into my hands some perfumes "for free" and then asked for money. I said I won't give money and told him to take perfumes back or I put them on the floor. He said that he will beat me up with his friend (he stood few meters away) if I do it. I told him something like "just try" and he took the perfumes and walked away. It was kinda scary to be honest, no idea if these fuckers could pull a knife or something. I can imagine a lot of people could fear, but come on, if there's hundreths of people around they won't do anything to you I think just because you refuse.
Stand up for yourself and get 10 angry guys knifing you in the gut, how smart, thank you for the advice
if you wanna experience scams, please visit Barcelona. I love the city with the vibe, the beaches and have some friends there, but the amount of scams and pickpockets are ridiculous
In Barcelone at the moment the only interesting thing to attend is locals chasing tourists outside of cafes and other touristy points of interest.
@irondasgr to be fair, it only happened once, since the locals have to deal with a City which is more and more focused on tourism rather than the people, who are actually living there (also fuck Airbnb in this Case). Those cafe's/restaurants were overpriced and are only shitty Tourist cashgrabs. If you wanna have a really good dining experience, please avoid Las Rambles at all costs.
@@takashi3890 Hahaha still the only interesting thing to attend at the moment in Barcelone, today there was a street march on the matter again. Never a bore.
@@irondasgr the main focus in the protest was on the housing crisis in their town tho, not on tourism.
@@takashi3890 ..because of toxic tourism
One time I was eating at a bar in Berlin by myself, and this Asian guy walked in. Tried to tell some story to the bartender, and she was like, I don't have time for this, but that guy over there is by himself, and is also a tourist, go talk to him. So he sat next to me, and while we ate, told me this story about how he lost €500 to a cups and balls scam. We got to talking, exchanged business cards, and he was an engineer at Apple office in Hong Kong. Blew my mind. Guy has a job that we assume requires some intelligence, lives in a huge city, so presumably should be at least a little street wise, still falls for it. I didn't push these points, because he was already beating himself up. But anyhow. It's not just Paris. Berlin is crawling with these scammers too.
You can see it in these comments too though. People seem to think that on some level it is still a fair game. People will say like, follow the one you think it is but pick one of the other two cups and you have 50/50 odds. It seems people know it is a "scam," but just a scam that requires them to be more clever as opposed to being a scam all the way down. It's not vegas with weighted odds, its just a scam with no chance to win. But yeah...people don't seem to get it.
it's pretty much in every major city with many tourists 😂
There is a huge difference between "being smart" and "being experienced". You can be as smart as you want, there are things you just need to experience to understand them, either by yourself, or through someone else's retelling. The difference is that a smart person will understand something new much faster than someone less smart.
Having a good career doesn't mean having street smarts.
I got nearly beat up on the Schlossbrücke for yelling out loud "scammers" when passing near those guys playing...
I saw the cup and ball scam in Berlin last summer. Before going I checked on UA-cam to see what I should visit there. I saw the ball and cup scammer and all the same friends as I did when I visited. The video was filmed 2 months before I went and the scammer had all the same “friends” surrounding him. The main guy kept trying to get me to play by clumsily tilting one of the cups in my direction just as his friend bet on the wrong cup. I was about to leave and he gave me 5 euros to start playing. I’m too smart for that. I wonder what happens if you palm your own ball and place it under the cup when you lift it.
I live in Berlin and recently saw the scam for the first time, too. It's not that usual here, but apparently it does happen. It was really interesting to see how the whole group is organised. I watched from the other side of the street and quickly I had two "body guards" left and right of me observing me. After some minutes of confirming that I'm watching them all, one of the guys went over and they all disappeared within seconds.
@@Ben-bb8mo I am also a resident. I have seen them playing at: Schlossbrücke, the Spree side of the East Side Gallery and along Treptower Park Ufer. They are mostly out in the summer months.
Hi Janek, I just got back from Prague for a short break from the UK. Want to just say a massive thank you for all your videos, from how to get from the airport to the centre to all the food recommendations and places to see.
We tried quite a few of the restaurants and food places and loved them all.
Admittedly did try the ‘traditional’ chimney cake. I didn’t like it very much. 😂
Can’t wait to come back to Prague again soon! What a beautiful place.
I remember being hassled by scammers at every Paris tourist attraction. I even stood there watching cops wander right past them watching everything and not do a thing on many occasions. My first hand experience is the Paris authorities don't care. And its ruining the city. I've told everyone I know to stay away.
Honest Guide, another thing to point out. At the time of writing this, the comment you’ve hearted is actually a bot. They try to “sell stuff”.
where to find that comment?
@ it seems like it’s gone right now
i got pickpocketed in Prague and had no clue.. but a giant Czech man next to me told me, chased the man down (gypsie) and slapped tf outta him. it was hilarious.
was (gypsie) necessary?
@@shmurkles6347 yes. its always gypsies. its very easy to avoid pickpockets. just avoid gypsies. never let them get close to you. never.
@@shmurkles6347 yes
@@shmurkles6347 If it's organized, absolutely. They've created this problem for themselves. Any gypsy could speak out about this, denounce whatever the mafia is doing all over europe. But it doesn't happen.
The more who knows, the more will be aware about who and what avoid on european streets.
@@shmurkles6347 Lefty spotted!!
10:10 Bros wine inventory is MASSIVE
It really brings a new tone to the "I was drinking shitty wine."
Love that you guys expose this type of of people scamming for a living should not be legal
You could go around there with a tshirt or cap with a big text like " SCAM ALERT" " WATCH OUT FOR SCAMMERS" and so on, even a big picture on the scammers on the shirt 😂
6:16 the answer is in France scammers can file a lawsuits against the commerçants if they are a bit violent and if they are not violent the scammers stay
It would be seen as discrimination against Roma lmao
@@aidanc9396Good. Discriminate.
YAAAAY! The Czech word at the end is finally back!
Mickey Rat killed me 😂
I watch every episode. I have been to Prague and Paris many times. Your videos are very funny, useful and especially helpful...Great job.. keep it up
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
I love this channel, it should have 10M subs
The fact that this video is about scammers and an hour after posting and over 100 comments the bot is the only one to get a ❤ is hilarious 😂
Man those paris vids were a gold mine of content
6:20 The answer here is very simple - lots of the shop owners and staff around this touristy place are also not local, either zero-gen or first-gen immigrants. They do not see it as "their problem", because they hardly respect the city as a place of their own heritage. You don't open a souvenir store or cafe in the middle of a tourist spot "for the love of the game", you do it to leech as much money from the traffic as possible.
Great work guys! Glad you guys are exposing them online, the more people know about the scam, the better.
3:50 so if someone is curious the woman is saying "he does this *moves the cups* then he does that, and then the ball is not anywere" one of the scammers replies "it's Quick quick, you have to see it" an she answers "No, but i am seeing he has the ball there" *points to the scammer hand
not a sewer, a communication cable Pit, love your show
Loving paris episodes! ❤😊
0:43 lmao Kanel Joseph video is comedy 😭😭 yall gotta do a collab !!!
Oh and don't forget about thse "artists" which just selling printed stock paintings of places on bridges
This guy is so honest, and not just because of the name
6:00 maybe they are paid off by the scammers to keep quiet? Would make sense if they knew exactly what was happening
Or they get threatened by them if they speak out against them
Don't forget that those guys are organized crime groups, they can really harm someone if they want to, so local shops are probably just minding their own business, even more as some of them are also somewhat scamming tourists the legal way, reselling Chinese products for 10x their price, etc....
2:45 dude on the left was happy about that FAKE money 😂😂😂
4:33: I could imagine that the guy with the white hat used a signal to the surrounding scammers to send the van in so they force a breakout of the conversation with the tourist. The other 2 propably got mad because they had the situation under control and white-hat freaked out for no reason and they lose time on the street attracting potential victims.
i think the guy was was warning the hwite guy about the camera since the way the white guy said it doesnt seem directed to the romanian guy but more talking about somone else which would prolly be the cameraman
or maybe not idk
Hope I don't get to see you on Bulgarian TV! Joking aside - you two are doing an incredible job at, at least, pointing out what to look out for while travelling abroad. It's horrible that people like these scammers or sewage shop owners degrade beautiful cities and leave a lasting bad impression in tourists. I will never forget my personal experience with the bracelet selling guys in Greece and in France and the shoe cleaning scam in Turkey. I also do have great memories from those trips as well, but would have preferred not to have had unwanted encounters. Kudos for your brilliant efforts! If I was security or near the size and skills of it, I'd gladly volunteer to help you out in future videos 💪
picpocket in Paris?? Never heard that one before
PICKPOCKET PICKPOCKET PICKPOCKET!!!!!!!
Same shit happened in Catalan Barcelona
"Why you pickpocket my brotha" Lol
I heard that from another channel
I visited Prague several years ago. Loved the city. Unfortunately a friend of mine was scammed on currency exchange, although several of us told her not to do it on the street. Love to see your show and remember how beautiful the place is
You need to work together with kees van der spek he is dutch but he does a lot of this to and he is awesome
I was raised in NYC. From 3 card monty to the pigeon drop, I thought I knew all the scams. Even when I go in a casino, I only bet money I planned to lose. Getting strong armed into a ruse is never an option in my playback. You have a great channel, and did teach me some newer tricks to avoid on my return to Europe.
6:10 shop owners don't do anything because 1. that's a police job 2. they don't want broken windows the next day.
Yeah, or they could also be in on it
Your videos are really interesting, just watched 3 videos in a row and just subbed, keep up the work ❤ and before i went to prague 2 months ago i read the book and watched your video ❤
You should buy the RayBan’s with the camera in them. Would help a lot I think!!
They have it but there is limited time you can record on it, so they also need to use different tools when they film all day.
Really appreciate your work, lets hope the authorities start doing something about it after those millions of views.
Who TF buys a wine bottle under the eiffel tower in the middle of the street?
I want to meet these kind of people, I just cannot visualize them.
The same people who go for the ball guessing game.
It's such an obvious scam, has been around for decades. I really don't get it either.
An initial estimate is that 25% of domestic dwellings in the EU have a lead pipe
@@ErwinHolland.Yeah which is why I’m not sure I see this as a scam - you have to be seriously naive and sheltered to fall for this. It’s why I’m glad the Police prioritise actual crimes and not divert resources to tackling this, as some point you have to have some sort of self preservation.
Well, of course its a scam. That people are stupid falling for it doesn't change that fact.
And lets keep in mind, there are probably like 10 scammers around them, this is a "professional" operation, from some really sketchy people, that will threaten and intimidate you.
This is not just some guy earning some money, these are whole organizations. The police should really do something to stop them.
If the wine is completely sealed is it that bad it was down there? Also the tourists who buy it wouldn't know unless they saw it.
I have always wanted to run by and snatched the scammers money and just keep running and not look back 😂
Lol, Romania is watching how their Gypse problem is travelling into other countries. 😄
Yeah, we are really happy that most of shit ppl gone from our country, in România you go to jail for this type of scams for a few years, so they chose to do it in other countries. 😂😂
Romanians took the trash out. Unfortunately who imported it doesn't know how to recycle (here in italy we don't do very well, we are also full of italian trash, seems like fascism made people proud of their trash)
Texan guy said he knew it was a scam but still played 😂😂
Fanny pack and beer belly = Romanian, thank you 😂
You mean gipsy. They are not Romanian, although they speak our language. They are indians.
@ they’re Indian originally?
@@ThomasCassidyYT yep
@ interesting
Love it. You should have put posters around telling people it is a scam. Or walked round with it on a t-shirt.
Why would you go to paris and then be like.. yeah, im gonna spend my money on the street with a ball and cup.
Gotta love it when someone doesn't actually read/watch something then ask questions answered within
love you man honestly i ll try to convince my parents to go to paris and video tape them especially since i speak romanian
Come to brazil, we have a lot of scams and a lot of people to watch your videos when you tag the video with BRAZIL... do that, you will love it
My favorite channel. Like the hungarian Tolvajkergetők.
Super brzy česká verze 🎉❤
Really need you to do this in London, we have the cup scammer in several places and even on Westminster bridge!
7:30, start yelling and call for help or call the police!
My God, unless you're a small child, just walk away.
The thing is, at that moment, there won't be any police nearby, and those scammer f**ks know that.
@@janitorizampedthe scammers are very pushy and can be very aggressive if you don’t play.
@@Scarle55 my god karen, unless you're a small child, just walk away.
@@janitorizamped Karen? 😭 you joined 15 years ago you’re the Karen here
More videos from paris please awesome video!
Real face of Paris
Well, there is a syndrome described about it that mainly Asians suffer from upon arrival in Paris as soon as they face the real face of Paris. i can't remember the name though..
Love your efforts since 2016
I think the stores are quiet on the issue because intervention by a single one would invite serious reprisals from the criminal gangs behind these scams. It would take them all united together to make a change. Just a guess though.
Yeah...
I encountered the Sacre Coeur group the other day and observed them and when they called me to play I told them they were Romanian scammers and that they were all in on it. After a bit of back and forth, they decided to leave. Then when I was walking back the same way, I saw them again and told them that I thought they had left. I could see the anger on their faces but they did nothing. Now I'm not sure why since the first time I observed them they were bullying anyone who objected anything, especially the tall bald guy, but I suspect it was because I kinda look mean and they probably realised they couldn't bully and intimidate me like they do with other tourists.
the store owners don't do anything because tourists come and go vs these guys could really fuck up the business later as a gang.
Man: I have to pick a pocket or two!👀 4:34
6:13 the stores do nothing because it's all mafia
great job spreading awareness
At 6:00 min you ask why the People from the Stores dont chase off the Shell Gamers. Its because they are all Scammers. The Shops maybe not in a illegal Way, but all of them are trying to rip off money from Tourists. So they are some kind of colleagues in my Opinion.
But the money won't be spent at their shops right?
@@PixlyPenguin Likely something of the kind of one hand washes the other. The store owners don't disturb the cups and balls groups and the cups and balls groups don't disturb the store owners.
Comments like this are the reason the word "scam" has lost its meaning. There is nothing deceptive or fraudulent about selling souvenirs. If you go inside a store and spend money on a product, that's not a scam.
I know what you mean. But you also go by yourself to the shell player and give him money because you think you can win the game. The same happens in this shady Tourist shops, you go in and think you get a good produkt for a decend price. But in the end the buy a supercheap china product for way too much money. Its all a cartel
Thanks for reminding me another thing I don't miss.
Thats absolutely insane
nice moonswatch! I expect it's one of the rare authentic ones since you are probably the last person on earth to fall for a scam
Come to Amsterdam, or utrecht, Romanians begging for money, and in the late evening they gather in their Mercedes cars and handover the money to the big boss.... also a huge scam
"Krysa" sounds so cute. (Like anything Czech really) We call them "Szczur" :D
They hate it when i keep used diabetic needles in my bag.
As a Romenian at 4:43 he told him '' i give / or hit man body part on the deth of my mother '' Romenian swer words are hard to translate and Romenians can combo swer words.
No not Ricky Rat 😢
Thank you for your work!
Hello 👋
ah... yes 1.5 year of learning this beautiful language called french, planning your visit and this lovely video pops up to remind you that Poland is safer than you realize
you can have just 2 brazilian jiu jitsu body guards, trust me
So they can go sit on the ground in case of an attack?
I want to see this Geek in a fight 😂. Good job on the detective skills tho. Pls do UA-cam boxing 😂😂
police in Paris? it doesn't exist.
Yes! New video
You should try the scammer's handshake when he holds the ball..😂
I really wish local police/courts would do something. First arrest is a warning, second they lose a hand, and third its lights out.
So, I'm genuinely curious: if you knew when making this video, that you did in fact not spot a pickpocket. Why did you phrase the title of the video as a question?
So that we click on it
@@Michael_Kzyv That's a good theory. The video has > 600.000 views now. A part of those views would never have clicked on the video if it had a more neutral title.
It is almost as if a part of those 600k views (and thus, potential monetization) are... scammed here
There is a scam, really common too, which happened to me as a french : a guy comes and says he represents a youth association in poor neighborhood, and they make them do sports, arts etc. He often proposes a postcard against money (once someone proposed me a book). And they are really insistent. They can propose you to go to the ATM if you say you don't have money etc. I know there is a scam so I just ignore the guy. It's really sad because sometimes he can say you're racist... I saw this in my hometown, Le Mans, but also in Paris (I live in Paris since few years now).
Once, I had to wait for my train and I met this kind of scammer. I was waiting outside since it was a sunny day. I ignored him, but I was spying him. Once, someone stopped to him and the scammer started his speech. I came and said "it's forbidden to ask for money in public places". The scammer was really angry at me, he told I was racist (which is kinda funny because I've grew up in a french and algerian family) he threaten me etc. And he said "anyway, it's better to do that than dealing drugs". I fully disagree with this wrong dilemma. The aim of all scammers is to touch your humanity, your ethics. Their speech are really emotionnal but that's nonsense.
Unfortunately scam is very common in France. It's not really about cultural issues, but more about economic realities. Actually, the scammer is not the one which got all the money. There is a whole network behind it. Funny thing is I saw a lady in Paris which was a prostitute first I guess, then a Syrian beggar, and now a deaf scammer. I can't really blame her, because she acts the way other people want her to act. The most hurtful thing is children beggar. Everytime I see this, I call the security. Those children have to be in school, and if theirs parents can't take care of them, they have to be separated.
The magic of editing lol
Only Honest guides would ask you to "only mail scam related stuff please" :D
Hi
Years ago I was in Paris and bottled water anywhere was pretty expensive but there were some people selling it in the street for cheaper but I noticed the seals were broken and assumed they were selling bottles refilled with tap water. Definitely wasn't going to buy from them. No idea of their cleanliness