Joe Gradeless

I've just got back from a great four-day break in Paris (first time).

However I thought I would warn people about a ticket scam which operates in
the Metro ticket hall at the Gard du Nord - but no reason not to assume it
doesn't work elsewhere.

I waited in a longish queue to buy a carnet of tickets for the metro (10
tickets for the price of 7 cost 10.50 Euro). I was approached by a man who
told me that there were ticket issuing machines available in another part of
the hall. I (foolishly) went with him. He bought me the tickets using his
credit card (although I have no doubt it was stolen) - he told me the
machine only accepted French cards. He then wanted the money for the tickets
(50.10 Euro). I realised I was the potential victim of a scam and told him I
only had a credit card (I must remember to confess my lie). He wasn't very
happy.

I rejoined the queue and noticed that there were 2 other (at least)
operating the same scam.

Jo

Jcoulter

"Joe Gradeless" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

    > I've just got back from a great four-day break in Paris (first time).
    >
    > However I thought I would warn people about a ticket scam which
    > operates in the Metro ticket hall at the Gard du Nord - but no reason
    > not to assume it doesn't work elsewhere.
    >
    > I waited in a longish queue to buy a carnet of tickets for the metro
    > (10 tickets for the price of 7 cost 10.50 Euro). I was approached by a
    > man who told me that there were ticket issuing machines available in
    > another part of the hall. I (foolishly) went with him. He bought me
    > the tickets using his credit card (although I have no doubt it was
    > stolen) - he told me the machine only accepted French cards. He then
    > wanted the money for the tickets (50.10 Euro). I realised I was the
    > potential victim of a scam and told him I only had a credit card (I
    > must remember to confess my lie). He wasn't very happy.
    >
    > I rejoined the queue and noticed that there were 2 other (at least)
    > operating the same scam.
    >
    > Jo
    >
    >
So why not use your card to get the tickets? even if it was a scam, the
perp showed you a better way.

Joe Gradeless

"jcoulter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > "Joe Gradeless" <[email protected]> wrote in
    > news:[email protected]:
    > > I've just got back from a great four-day break in Paris (first time).
    > >
    > > However I thought I would warn people about a ticket scam which
    > > operates in the Metro ticket hall at the Gard du Nord - but no reason
    > > not to assume it doesn't work elsewhere.
    > >
    > > I waited in a longish queue to buy a carnet of tickets for the metro
    > > (10 tickets for the price of 7 cost 10.50 Euro). I was approached by a
    > > man who told me that there were ticket issuing machines available in
    > > another part of the hall. I (foolishly) went with him. He bought me
    > > the tickets using his credit card (although I have no doubt it was
    > > stolen) - he told me the machine only accepted French cards. He then
    > > wanted the money for the tickets (50.10 Euro). I realised I was the
    > > potential victim of a scam and told him I only had a credit card (I
    > > must remember to confess my lie). He wasn't very happy.
    > >
    > > I rejoined the queue and noticed that there were 2 other (at least)
    > > operating the same scam.
    > >
    > > Jo
    > >
    > >
    > So why not use your card to get the tickets? even if it was a scam, the
    > perp showed you a better way.

Sorry if the point was misunderstood. The machines in question were hidden
from my view (from the queue) behind a pillar. The scammer pointed them out
to me, took me over to them, and proceeded to 'buy' the tickets with his
card. He clearly expected me to pay him in cash (50.10 euros instead of
10.50 euros). He told me the machine only accepted French cards. Whilst I
might appear to be dumb, foolish, and naive at least I did not hand over any
money so the only loss was 5 minutes or less of my time. I decided not the
use the machines for two reason - a) the scammers were hovering around the
machines and I did not want to be involved in any further 'incident' and b)
I wanted to report the activity to the ticket clerk at the desk.

I hope that clarifies matters.

Jo

Jcoulter

"Joe Gradeless" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:



    > Sorry if the point was misunderstood. The machines in question were
    > hidden from my view (from the queue) behind a pillar. The scammer
    > pointed them out to me, took me over to them, and proceeded to 'buy'
    > the tickets with his card. He clearly expected me to pay him in cash
    > (50.10 euros instead of 10.50 euros). He told me the machine only
    > accepted French cards. Whilst I might appear to be dumb, foolish, and
    > naive at least I did not hand over any money so the only loss was 5
    > minutes or less of my time. I decided not the use the machines for two
    > reason - a) the scammers were hovering around the machines and I did
    > not want to be involved in any further 'incident' and b) I wanted to
    > report the activity to the ticket clerk at the desk.
    >
    > I hope that clarifies matters.
    >
    > Jo
    >
And I missed the 5x markup which was undoubtedly the point of the
excercise.

127 . 0 . 0 . 1

On Tue, 03 Aug 2004 14:41:56 GMT, [email protected] wrote:

    >I'm always fascinated how capitalists are regarded as 'businessmen',
    >whilst scammers are regarded as crooks

that's because you're a clueless fool

    >... when in reality, they're both
    >just as twisted and dishonest.
uh huh, someone stealing a credit card and using it to scam tourists
buying train tickets is hardly a capitalist, fool

/

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