French couple tell how they were scammed by Britons in car park
Family told couple they had ‘lost all of their papers and had their bank cards stolen’ before asking for cash
The family were in a car with a UK number plate. Photo for illustrative purposes only
Andy Soloman/Shutterstock
A French couple have told how they were scammed out of €200 by a 'family' of British holiday-makers in a car park in south-west France.
Lara and her partner claim they were approached by the group whose car has a UK number plate at a supermarket in Balma, the eastern suburbs of Toulouse.
In the car was a man, a woman, and two young children.
Speaking in English, the man explained that “he was on holiday with his family and had lost all his papers, that his bank card had been stolen,” Lara told French media Actu.
The scammer added that he said he had contacted the embassy, but that they now had no way to pay for fuel, she said.
“The man told us that they had planned to go to Disneyland and that they needed money to pay for petrol, feed the children and get home,” she added.
Scammer charmed couple
“We were fooled from the moment he tried to reassure us by pretending to understand our mistrust. And then he was very friendly, making jokes and asking us things about ourselves,” she said.
The man promised to pay the couple back on the spot in exchange for the cash, saying he would make a transfer to their account via his phone.
Eventually, the couple, both students, agreed and handed him €200.
However, he asked multiple times for more, even offering to pay the money back with interest.
The scammer asked Lara for her IBAN bank account number to make an online transfer, showing them via an app on his phone that he had confirmed it and the money would be in their account soon.
“He even asked me to look at the app to confirm he put in my IBAN correctly. At that moment, it is difficult to tell if the app is false or legitimate,” Lara said.
The couple got home and checked their account, only to see the money had not gone through.
Read more: New scam over household bins in France: how to avoid being caught out
One of many similar scams making the rounds
Lara looked up the key points of the scam online after realising she had been duped, and noticed it was not an isolated case.
Many similar scams have taken place this summer, as holidaymakers take to the roads for France’s coastal and rural areas.
Sometimes this type of scam is called “the Irish scam”, as the fraudsters are, or pretend, to be Irish.
However, as in Lara’s case, they can claim to be from any English-speaking country, including the UK, and often have paperwork of some kind or a vehicle with non-French registration to back up their claims.
Scammers often approach with a family in tow, to pull on heartstrings and increase the chances of looking genuinely in need, and are likely to approach couples or families, to lean on the family aspect of their so-called plight.
Police near Toulouse said they had not heard of a specific scam of this type being carried out in Balma, but that many fraudsters were on the roads in the Haute-Garonne department this summer.
“There are so many scams happening at the moment, and they seem to be more and more credible, so it is hard to see them coming. However it is still important to lodge a complaint, so that we can see if there have been several reports,” the Toulouse gendarme said.
Other police forces may post on social media if a number of victims have reported a scam in their area, so it is good to regularly check local pages.
Read more: Eight scams doing the rounds this summer in France
