Several year ago, I had a free afternoon and decided to roam the nightclub area of Paris where Lido de Paree and the famous Molan Rouge  were  located.  Not much going on but a few OLDER WGs were in the area.  Walked a couple of blocks and noticed a couple of establishments had hawkers in front.  They were hawking for you to come in for a look at the dancing girls for $1. USD.  The posted pics showed skimpy dress girls doing their dance, so my curiosity got to me and figured it was worth a dollar.

They were friendly and I followed them down the stairs to a darkened room with a small stage.  There was a girl doing a little dance fully clothed.  A few minutes later, a bottle was delivered to my table of which I didn't order.  I sat there for about five minutes and the girl did nothing more than when I first got there.  Decided to leave and I couldn't until I paid for the bottle of so called champagne that I didn't want.

I refused and started for the stairs.  The hawker asked for $400 USD to settle the bill.  I said NO WAY cuz I didn't order that bottle.  Then 4 hoods surrounded me and held me from ascending the stairs.  I told them I didn't have 400 but only 200 on me.  So after going thru my belongings, they took the 200 USD and change and let me go.  I figured it was better than having bruises and pain for the rest of my trip.

Of course, complained to the locals with no avail.  I didn't speak french nor they English.  Also, only venture with several buddies rather than alone.  this not of happened with a group.

Good luck
RC

Lesson learned, I am sure France is not the only place in this world with this type of scam.

Yeah, London's SoHo is notorious for this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clip_joint

Hm, I can't help but suspect you are taking advantage of new forum rules by posting this "warning" from several years ago, and getting 5 K's by starting a new thread.  However, you are a nookie newbie, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

This is an extremely common scam, which you can read about in this forum ad nauseum, particularly for Beijing and Shanghai.

For the Mods:  It seems this should be in the "Talk is Cheap" section rather than a WG report.

Need to walk in with a taser lol.. Sorry to hear about that. I was once a victim in London's Soho when I was about 19 and didn't know any better. I managed to get out withou paying and was chased outside by 3 big guys while the fourth one stopped at the door. As I waved down two local police that were walking by they went back downstairs again. The Police told me not to go back there again and pretty much did nothing   Lesson learned now. Never go upstairs or downstairs when you see a closed door.

[ Last edited by  Loveasia at 11-9-2012 00:18 ]

When punting overseas, it's always good to take precautions so that I won't get myself into such situations. One thing that definitely works is to do research beforehand about punting in the particular foreign land. Besides knowing where to go, research also importantly tells me what to avoid and what the common scams are. If you had done so, you prob won't get yourself into such a situation. I'm not trying to be harsh on you btw...just giving out a general tip to all our bros out there.

Cheers!

Bro, the place is Pigalle and notorious for these type of activities, just like what Soho in London was.  I have heard Soho is being cleaned up now

Several years ago I took an old GF to Paris and our hotel was booked in this area. . .

After I booked the hotel I looked at reviews (stupid booking then looking at reviews I know) the booking was a last minute one...

I read that the area was pretty bad and some reviews even stated that foreign girls were afraid of the area etc..

So I paid extra to change to a different area.

When we were in Paris, we went to this area & I am glad I changed.