Amanda Rollins, 34, moved from Massachusetts to Paris six years ago. Since leaving the US, the 34-year-old actress has been sharing tips on visiting or living in France with her over 912,000 followers on TikTok.
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Recently, the American warned tourists to be cautious when exploring the City of Lights because homeless individuals are becoming “aggressive” with one of the most “common” scams.
At the beginning of the video, which has amassed over 28 million views so far, she says, “This is one of the most common scams you’ll encounter in Paris – the ‘cup scam.'”
Amanda showed a video of the scheme in action:
The cup scam is when a homeless person places some coins in a transparent cup and puts it right in front of them in the middle of the sidewalk.
They do this so that people might knock over the cup, and their guilt persuades them to give money to the homeless person.
They place it in high-traffic areas, knowing that people are likely to knock it over.
If tourists knock over the cup and don’t give them money, they become aggressive and start ‘shouting.’
Amanda shared that one of her followers even recounted knocking over one of the cups but didn’t put money inside – this led the homeless person to spit on them.
At the end of the clip, she said, “If you’re here in Paris and you knock over the cup, don’t feel obliged to give money unless you want to, and if they start getting loud with you, just keep walking.”
Photos and video: Tiktok @americanfille