Was this an attempted pickpocket? (Montmartre)
Today my boyfriend and I were walking on one of the quieter side streets right outside the Musée de Montmartre when a guy approached us pretty abruptly. He had a missing front tooth, but otherwise actually looked fairly put together, and the girl he seemed to be with was especially very well dressed.
He asked “Do you speak French?” (in French) and I said no. Then he kept trying to talk to us and was kind of aggressive/persistent about it. I walked a little farther down the street because it felt sketchy, but I tried not to make it obvious that I was intentionally getting away so paused monetarily with him still in view.
A minute later he followed us and approached again with “¿Hablas español?” I again said “No, sorry,” and he sort of chuckled. At that point I noticed the girl was still farther back behind him (not behind us).
Then as we walked away more quickly, my audio tour literally started warning about pickpockets in Montmartre, which made the whole thing feel even weirder.
One other detail is after the Spanish question, he said something that sounded like “are you gee?” (we’re a gay couple). Maybe I completely misunderstood what he said.
The persistence felt strange especially on a relatively quiet street.
Does this sound like a known pickpocket/distraction setup? If so, how would the scam usually work from there? Is there a third person who would have done the pickpocket? The girl was too far away to do anything.