An American woman who posts on TikTok as Summer Kotb (@summerkotb) said she was robbed in Paris, a city she still calls one of her favorites. In videos that began with a clip that reached about 949,500 views, she said the incident happened at Gare du Nord as she waited for the Eurostar home to London.
Kotb said in her first TikTok that she did not just get “kind of robbed.” She said she “got f–king rocked.” She stated that her suitcase, purse, tote bag, MacBook Pro, work iPhone, work laptop, and U.S. passport were taken. She said she did not want to make the story about money or brand names.
She said she was then stuck in Paris because the U.S. Embassy was closed and she was waiting for an emergency passport appointment. “I also think people need to be warned about what’s happening,” she said in that video. She added that she would not let the theft jade her from the city or country she loves.
Kotb said the theft at Gare du Nord was followed by messages asking her to meet
In a second TikTok video, Kotb said she was “super thankful and grateful that I was just robbed” and not stabbed or in the hospital. She said things happen all over the world and that the video was not about Paris. She said Paris and New York still tie for her favorite cities.
She said that at Gare du Nord, taking the Eurostar, she was “definitely sussed out as a woman alone from the moment I walked in.” She said a man followed her and “two-teamed” her with someone else so one person could distract her while the other took her things. The problem of predatory targeting is not unique to Paris, as a Tennessee woman reported a man followed her into her hotel.
She said that as soon as her belongings were taken, the people involved “immediately wanted to lure me to another destination with them to get back my stuff.” After she filed a police report and got away, she said she received messages from different men on TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
She named men who she said contacted her as Oliver, L, Period, and Gerard. She said they claimed they had her U.S. passport and other belongings and tried to get her to meet them. She described messages that mentioned a tramway, a workplace until midnight, a door a guard would open, and going before items went to lost and found.
Kotb said there was “a little bit of an essence of human trafficking energy.” She said she is almost 37 and recognized the alarm bells, but worried a younger woman who needed her passport or could not afford extra days in Paris might go. She said she wants people to be careful at Gare du Nord, especially as a woman alone.
In a third TikTok video, she addressed comments about her tone, makeup, nails, and word choice. She said she did not post the first video until more than a day and a half after the incident. She said her nails were done before the trip and that she bought makeup and a $40 Carhartt T-shirt because she “looked like s–t.”
She said she “cried a s–tload hysterically with noise” and was “screaming in the train station” before she collected herself. She said she has two phones and that her personal phone was in her right hand, which is how she recorded the videos. Her work iPhone, she said, was among the stolen items.
She said she listed the stolen items to show it was not a simple pickpocket. She said she was leaving Paris at the end of her trip, took an Uber to Gare du Nord, and was waiting for the train to London with her belongings. She thanked viewers who sent kind words.
Some viewers questioned how Paris could be anyone’s favorite city. One commenter said a friend named Belly tracked thieves to a rave, got a bag back, and later met people who became roommates. Another wrote, “Don’t travel with expensive stuff, I travel with everything from SHEIN.”
One commenter said they were removing Paris from their bucket list. Another noted that her phone was not taken. A further comment asked her to share as much information as possible so others could learn how it happened and what advice she would give.
Published: Sep 22, 2026 01:00 pm