Fools Gold in Paris

Standing on the bank of the Seine admiring the brownness of the flowing water, we were about to walk away a man approached and said whilst holding a gold ring "Is this yours, did you drop it?"

I've never worn a ring but I said yes in the heat of the moment and took it as a potential nice little earner. The man asked for 3 euros for a coffee, fair enough I thought and paid him. Walking further along the river in front of me what did I spot? A man crouching on the floor behind two men and then grabbing their attention and holding a gold ring.  That was the point I realised I'd been had, the men must have been locals because they completely ignored him.  Who was worse, me for taking the ring I knew didn't belong to me, or the man for setting up the scam in the first place? I would like to think if it turned out to be real gold I would of sent it back to the French authorities, but probably not.