Paris Scam!

Recently, somebody who is planning to come to Paris for a visit, asked me if the area she planned to rent an apartment in, was safe. I answered that, globally, Paris is not a dangerous city, but that I could not guaranty she would not meet a pickpocket or so like in all big cities. I thought of this, when today, on the magnificent bridge Alexander III, I witnessed a classical scam: a kid pretends to pick up a gold ring just by you, shows it to you saying "you lost something" and when you say "it's not mine", the kid makes up a story and ends up asking you for money in exchange for the ring (which, of course is not made of gold!) This kid did it several times while I was taking pictures, but, from what I could see, it never worked!