03 March 2010

Scam, scam, go away!

Walking to and from French class this afternoon, I was accosted by no fewer than four scam artists.

Beggars are a common sight in Rome, but they tend to stay close to churches and busy shopping areas.  

The scam artists are much bolder and much, much more creative.  My guess is that the big American in his full Dominican habit is just too tempting a target to ignore.  I tried "No parlato Italiano," but they just switch to broken English and continue the scam. 

Today's most creative:  the decently dressed old lady parked in front of an ATM who flashes an obviously fake bank card and tries to convince you that the ATM is broken.  She just needs four euro!  Her scam falls apart when a young man walks up to the machine and gets his cash.  Oops.

Ugh.

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1 comment:

  1. I guess you could paint a bull's eye on the habit.......

    ReplyDelete