Scammers at The Eiffel Tower

On Saturday we all went to the Eiffel Tower! 

It was way bigger than I thought it would be. Dad and I both didn't feel like walking the imposing 1665 steps to the top, so we both stayed down at the bottom. It was really windy and I only had 2 layers on, so we got hot chocolate.

While we were walking along the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, we saw a small crowd gather around a man with 3 steel cups, a foam ball, and a mat. He was switching the cups around and obviously you had to guess where the ball was. Dad and I joined the crowd to get a better look, and people were throwing large bills, up to 300 EUR at him! We saw people losing, but surprisingly many won double what they put in. After watching for around 20 minutes we walked over to another man doing the same thing. 

After watching for a short time an Indian man in his mid 20s walked over to us, and quietly warned us it was a scam, and everyone winning was in a gang.

At first we didn’t believe him, but watching for another 30 or so minutes, the man with the cups took a break, and a man posing as a tourist TOOK HIS PLACE scrambling the cups! There was obviously something up, and when Dad asked a "tourist" if he had won any money three big sketchy guys walked up.  Man 1 said: "This is my team, don't ask questions. Leave now." Man 2 put his hand on Dad's cheek, obviously threatening and Man 3 just stood there looking dodgy as ever.

Scam alert: https://youtu.be/OuAHG4BbEoY

Thanks for reading! And until next time, if it seems too good to be true, it is... and if there are cups involved, just don’t even.