Construction workers stop fake cops scamming Thai tourists

Rotterdam residents prevented a tourist family from Thailand from being robbed by fake police officers on Tuesday. The Thai family, consisting of father, mother and daughter, were walking near the Mauritsplaats when they were approached by a man. The man claimed to also be a tourist and asked whether they would take a picture of him. Two other men then approached and chased the first men off. They showed the family police badges and asked to see their passports and wallets. They handed them over and allowed the "police officers" to search them. The two men took more than a thousand euros from the family's hip bag. When the family realized that their money had been taken, the two women started screaming, attracting the attention of bystanders. One office worker fished retrieved police badge that one of the suspects threw into the canal. A few construction workers caught and detained the two robbers and another passerby called the police. The police arrested the two detained robbers. Both are of Romanian nationality. The police are still looking for their accomplice. The Thai family got their stolen money back. In February the police arrested four, also Romanian, men in a very similar case in Amsterdam. These robbers used an almost identical scam to steal money from tourists, with one suspect bothering the tourist and two "police officers" coming to the rescue and stealing the tourist's money while checking passports.