I just want to warn travelers that beautiful, idyllic Brugge also has its scam artists. Walking down one of the side streets in the middle of the afternoon, we were stopped by a young man wanting us to take his picture. He seemed nervous, though, as he was having trouble explaining how to use his video camera. Suddenly, a second well-dressed man in a sport coat came toward us, flashed a badge %26quot;Polizei%26quot; that also had a name and his picture on it, and demanded our passports. My husband and I immediately turned around and started quickly walking back to the main street while my husband shouted at the guys, %26quot;You, you follow me.%26quot; He loudly repeated this three times. The men stayed where they were with shocked looks on their faces. The %26quot;policeman%26quot; finally said, %26quot;No problem%26quot; and walked off in the opposite direction. Our intent, if they followed, was to go to a shop on the corner and have the shopkeeper call the police.
We could not find a Brugge policeman, so we continued our walk back to the train station. Guess who was there? Our %26quot;policeman%26quot; and %26quot;video camera man%26quot; were there together buying train tickets. Luckily, they did not get on our train. We had had all the drama we needed for one day! A man I met who worked in finance (Euro) told me that a stolen passport is going for 17,000 euros. Not letting those jerks get ours, though, was %26quot;priceless.%26quot;
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If anyone claiming to be a policeman flashes a badge that is not in the national/regional/local language (%26quot;Polizei%26quot; is German: in Dutch this would be Politie, in French, Police), you had better be suspicious!
A good tactic is to ask to accompany the %26quot;policeman%26quot; to a police station.
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My wife and I just returned from a trip to various places in Europe, including Brugge...and seem to have met these same men, by the details of your experience!!
We were taking a stroll inside a beautiful church campus near the lake, when the first guy walked up to me and (with the same nervous exporession) asked me to click his picture. No sooner had he started talking that the second guy (the %26quot;policeman%26quot;) approached us, and demanded to see all our passports, and even our wallets!!
Quite taken aback as we were, we did show him our passports (the point about the badge not being in the local language hadn%26#39;t struck yet!)...and that%26#39;s when he demanded to see our credit cards (he did the same to the other guy, who complied and even told him his PIN). That%26#39;s when we got suspicious, and refused point blank to show him our credit cards.
And just as your case, it didnt take a moment for him to back out...he started saying %26quot;yes yes, you go, be careful..do not talk to strangers%26quot;...yeah, like we would, after this!!!
We looked for a (genuine) policeman all the way back to our hotel but couldnt find any...
Probably the crime rate in Brugge is still not alarming enough for the police to be very alert, but if this was any indication, they better buckel up while its still so..
These guys didnt really look very professional after all, their play seems to fall apart the moment their %26quot;victims%26quot; get suspicious...but people, Brugge may not really be the safe haven it looks for long, if conmen like these are not nabbed on spot!
Till then, please beware...keep your wits about you..though its easy to get carried away..what with so much beauty around you!! :-) :-)
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Same again...me and my fiancee came across the same pair, plying the same scam, in the same location but their roles were reversed - we didn%26#39;t have passports or foreign currency - only euros - the pair were uninterested. Brugge needs to sort this out. it would be simple to set this pair up with a honey trap...
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This once happened to us in Barcelona, about 10 years ago, but it%26#39;s the first time I%26#39;ve heard of it happening in Brugge.
My advice to anyone worried about this, is don%26#39;t let it stop you from visiting Brugge.
We%26#39;ve been going there for 12 years, and have always found it to be one of the friendliest and safest places we%26#39;ve ever visited.
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