It seems that scam artists tend to gather in the airports and train stations, where they know unsuspecting tourists will be. The first time we went to Paris, we arrived by way of Brussels, so we took the train to Gare de Nord in Paris. There was a group of young men, waiting to take advantage of tourists who were confused. We spoke with an American couple who had been approached by one of these young men, and like you, they thought he was being kind when he offered to help them find the ATM machines. Well, when they got there, he had a friend who backed him up, and he tried to grab their credit card. We were alerted to their presence by this couple and were careful to avoid them... we also saw the same group working the train station on the way back to Brussels.

Sandy in Illinois