A scam on Westminster Bridge - BBC London

An age-old trick that looks harmless is being used to scam tourists on Westminster Bridge.

The game involving balls and cups is believed to have caused hundreds of pounds to be lost from players passing by.

Scammers are standing in the crowds ‘playing’ the game and then winning all of the profit from the money the general public are putting in.

[konstantinpinaev]

It is non-stop on London Bridge, Westminster bridge and southbank. I’ve never seen police doing anything about it.

[London_News_Exposed]

Please ask the police or Westminster council to put signs on both ends of the bridge, warning tourists of Scammers! ❤

[kevinpawsey]

If anybody fools for this type of scam they must be the biggest mugs going

[ruhri]

I was in London in December and was surprised at how many of these scammers populated this crowded bridge.
I have already heard that there are decoys who pretend to play there. Anyway, there were many people standing in front of these cups scammers. As soon as a police car drove onto the bridge, these scammers quickly packed up their stuff, as soon as the police were out of sight, they went straight on.
This trick is very old, I'm surprised people still fall for it.

[RA-jtgr]

Around 8 to 10 of the ppl around him are in on the scam.
If you walk past them and come back an hour later you will see the same ppl standing around him 'winning' or ' losing'

[zeke]

Why even bet on something so stupid? Those people are practically asking to be scammed.

[lcec]

The irony is that they're doing this RIGHT outside the houses of parliament.. I see every time I go to London and police even walk idolly past them. Disgusting stuff

[Drenwickification]

I got arguing with a group of these about a year ago. I was recording everything they were doing and some of the other ‘betters’ in the crowd started getting aggressive saying I shouldn’t record. I was like lol stfu I can record whatever I want. They packed up within a few mins and moved and so I went and recorded the other group doing it, they did the same thing then they left.

I spoke to some of the police outside westminister palace and they didn’t seem that bothered about stopping them

[akasta]

No deterrent is being enforced whatsoever.

[dezloofficial]

Been to London so many times and it's unreal how many people fall for this

[Lemonator]

Hahha kicked one of their cups by accident, went straight in the river

[Axvenx]

This is also a Scam in Paris. Where they do it near the Eiffel Tower

[paddydoublems]

I remember seeing these guys five feet apart from each other when I was in London last year. Only the tourists would get conned by this. There was one guy, who was local, and was like "I'll put £20 on it!!!". I pretty much knew he was in on the scam since locals aren't stupid enough to be taken in by this.

[Dead-blto]

They wouldn’t have this problem if they started throwing them over the bridge.

[lawrencelewis]

I saw this being done in Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie. As soon as I took out my camera, they took off, a group of about 5 people. Why do people think they can win? They can't.

[geoffpoole]

It's still going on. Lmbeth Council and the Met need to pull their fingers out.

[QuattroBajeena]

I love driving pass in my van and shouting
its a scam.

[tazb]

Saw a Chinese tourist hand over £140 to them today, should have seen his face when there was no ball under his chosen cup. Scammers packed up and left within split seconds. Felt sorry for the guy but his greed got the better of him.

[awoooo]

You're paying to see a magic trick.

[JG-tkov]

A fool and his money are easily parted