I fell victim to a wedding ring scam in London

As the circus man P.T. Barnum once famously said: “There’s a sucker born every minute.” And sad to say, I am one of them. I fell prey to a scam, in the Chelsea area of London, along the Fulham Road. 

A man suddenly blocked my path by bending down to inspect something that had fallen on the sidewalk. He quickly picked up the item and, with what I now know was feigned surprise, beckoned me to look at it. 

“Real gold,” he said. I nodded my head in agreement. It did indeed look like a thick band of gold. Probably a man’s wedding ring. I despaired for its owner and wondered how he would explain its loss to his wife.

I also wondered what this vagrant — that’s what he looked like — was going to do with it. Probably try to pawn it and never give a thought to its real emotional value. Although I needed no convincing the poorly dressed, but amiable fellow pointed out in broken English that there was a marking inside the ring which proved it was 14K gold. I agreed that it did look like the real McCoy. 

“Take it!” he said. I couldn’t imagine why he was offering me such a gift and so my cynical heart softened. What a simple sort, I thought. Wrong. He wanted money. So, I offered him some. “That is all?” he complained. I pulled out a few pounds more and off he went, no doubt assuming that I was as mercenary as he in profiting from something that didn’t belong to me either. 

Feeling quite civic- minded, I walked over to the police station on King’s Road to see if anyone had reported missing jewellery. I explained what had happened to the duty officer. He smiled. “Did you give him any money?” the officer asked. I was a little startled at the question, expecting at least a thank you for my small act of good conscience and muttered “Well, yes, a reward.”  “How much?” he asked. Starting to feel a little self-conscious, I told him. “I gave him ten pounds.” “You got off pretty lightly, love.” 

With that the officer asked to the see the ring and then walked over to his desk drawer. I was stunned. On a chain which measured over two feet long, there hung a coil of gold rings. Just like ‘mine’. Dozens of them. All paying testimony to foolish people and the men who had conned them. 

“No!” I gasped. “Yep,” the officer said. “These guys get them at a plumbing supply store. They’re plumbing rings.” I vented for a moment. “Do I look stupid?” I thought. The police officer was empathic. “There are a lot of people just like you who come in here and still a lot of others who are too embarrassed to report it,” said the officer. Still, I was furious at the little thief. I subsequently learned that his gang had moved on to other parts of the city, pulling the same scam among the same unsuspecting public.

It makes me angry when I think about it. But there is also something quite comforting about that coil of plumbers’ rings. Yes, it is evidence that at least 200 people were scammed. But the collection also reflects the civic-mindedness of dozens of people who went out of their way to help an unknown citizen and right a wrong. n