French Drivers Fall Victim to Fake Belarusian Ruble Scheme
Two young Frenchmen fell victim to a fake Belarusian banknote scheme in separate incidents. The first case involved a 19-year-old who stopped to help a family with a blocked card and was asked to pay for fuel in euros, but the scammer offered to return the debt in old Belarusian rubles.
The young man agreed, thinking he would make a profit from the exchange, but only realized his mistake after returning home and researching the currency. He had been given 1000 rubles, which were supposedly worth 152 euros, but are no longer valid.
In the second case, a 35-40 year old man with a slight accent asked to have his Audi A6 refueled and offered 500 rubles in exchange for euros. The victim was suspicious at first but went along with it, taking out another 800 euros from an ATM to help the scammer feed his family.
It wasn't until he photographed the banknotes using artificial intelligence that he realized they were fake. He lost a total of 301 euros and filed a police report.