Warning: Don’t Fall For the Clear Cup Scam in Europe

I travel to 20+ countries a year sharing my firsthand knowledge of reward travel, travel credit card deals, travel tips and more.

It’s truly crazy how many scams are out there these days. In fact, my head is spinning because there are so many to remember and to write about so I can warn others. It’s getting even worse due to artificial intelligence (AI) because you may think you’re seeing and hearing familiar voices but it’s not real. Images and videos can so easily be created and manipulated with technology. RELATED: Warning: Scammers Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Spoof the Voices of Your Loved Ones – Don’t Fall For It

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France Last year was a record year for Americans traveling to Europe and all the numbers are pointing to a repeat situation this summer. I took my family (we have two little kids, ages 7 and 4) on a Mediterranean cruise and then to Rome, Ischia, Naples and Munich. Fortunately, we didn’t have any problems but I did meet a fellow cruise passenger who was pickpocketed in Barcelona.

Unfortunately, I too fell for a scam in Budapest, Hungary 20 years ago when a couple of “college” girls invited me and my friends to a bar for a drink and the bill was 10 times what it should have been.

Here are some other popular scams to be on the lookout for:

But this post is about a new scam I just learned about thanks to an American woman named Amanda Rollins who has been living in Paris for the last six years. Amanda taught me and her followers on TikTok about the ‘clear cup scam’.

I’d never even heard of it but Amanda says it happens all around Paris, especially in the high traffic tourist areas of the center of the city. It also happens in other parts of Europe according to some of the comments on her thread.

What is ‘the clear cup scam’?

Amanda says the clear cup scam is when a homeless person gets a clear cup or cuts the bottom of a plastic bottle off and puts a couple of coins in the bottom to give it some weight. They then put the bottle on the sidewalk pretty far away from them so you won’t notice it and accidentally kick it over (the reason they use a clear cup).

They do this so you not only clean it up but that you donate money for feeling like such a jerk for kicking over a homeless person’s cup. But Amanda says the worst version of this, which happens very often, is when you kick over the cup and just keep walking. She’s says that’s what everyone should do but be prepared for them to chase after you and start yelling at you for kicking it over.

Amanda says the police are aware of the scam and when the police see it in action, they take their cup and their little cardboard sign and tell them to get out “because they know what they’re doing is wrong, dishonest and a scam.” Here’s her video.

@americanfille 10 of the most common scams in Paris, Part 3 Clear Cup Scam. Full video on my YouTube chanel 💃🏼 #pariscam #clearcupscam ♬ original sound – Amanda Rollins

KEEP READING:
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