Four caught scamming Amsterdam tourists out of thousands

The police arrested four men on the Houtmankade in Amsterdam this morning on suspicion of defrauding tourists. The police came onto these men's trail after receiving several reports from tourists. The suspects had quite the scam which they used on tourists. One of the suspects would approach a tourist, acting suspiciously. Two other suspects would then come and chase the first one away, presenting themselves as police officers and questioning the tourist about the suspicious man. They would then ask to "check" that all is in order with the tourist's money and passport. Several tourists fell for the scam and lost several thousand euros. A police officer spotted the foursome this morning when he noticed a man asking for a tourist's passport. The tourist did not trust the man and left with an excuse. The officer then followed the suspect to the three others in a car on Tasmanstraat. The four suspects, aged 45, 43, 42 and 35 years, were arrested. All four men are of Romanian nationality. The police found counterfeit police identification on one of the suspects.