Have you heard the one about the woman who found the gold wedding band on the beach in Mattapoisett? We have, too – over and over.

Back in April, a woman’s post about a gold wedding band with an inscription bearing the initials of the couple and the date 7-5-52 started popping up in people’s newsfeeds on Facebook. A woman allegedly named Lynne Ames, who claimed she found the ring on the beach while visiting Mattapoisett, created the post and, months later, that Facebook status has been shared well over half a million times.

The day in April when we first heard about the gold ring post, we attempted to contact Ames on Facebook through a private message, asking her for more details about the discovery. We never heard back from her.

Since then, several of our loyal readers have forwarded us Ames’s Facebook post, which of course, we always appreciate every time the community reaches out to us about the goings-on in Tri-Town. The problem is, no one seems to know Ames personally, no one knows how to contact Ames directly, and no one appears to know any of Ames’s family or friends, either. In addition to that, Ames offers the public no option on her Facebook page to friend request her, and Facebook also lists Ames as a male. We began to sense a few red flags, which led us to ask, is this mystery ring for real, or is this some kind of Internet scam?

The “gold ring scam” is no new concept. Travelers to foreign countries especially have fallen for this one. The concept is simple. A scam artist bends down to seemingly pick a gold wedding ring up off the ground. They then ask the unsuspecting tourist if it is their ring. They act so concerned about the person who lost it and present themselves as the do-gooder and then wind up asking the tourist if they have a few extra bucks to spare. Could this just be an online version of this simple yet, apparently, effective con?

If you personally know Lynne Ames, or if you have contact with any of her friends, we want to hear from you. If you have had any contact with the Lynne Ames who allegedly found this gold ring on the beach, we would like to hear from you.

The date from Ames’s public Facebook post from April was recently changed to June, and since we last checked it on July 22, the post has disappeared entirely from the page.

Alas, we are skeptical of Ames and her supposed mystery wedding ring found on a Mattapoisett Beach. But who doesn’t love a good mystery?

If you have any information Ames or the wedding band, email us at news@wanderer.com. If you can give us any information leading to Ames, we won’t give you any money, but how about a free aardvark T-shirt?

By Jean Perry