Police in the German state of Bavaria have opened a criminal investigation into an attempted fraud after two Romanian nationals allegedly tried to exchange worthless “Belarusian rubles” for €500.
The incident took place on the evening of July 30 on the B16 federal road near Bärensee. According to Marktoberdorf police, the 16-year-old and 20-year-old men stopped passing vehicles, claiming they had run out of fuel and urgently needed money to buy diesel.
To persuade motorists to help, they offered to exchange Belarusian rubles for €500. The drivers, however, suspected a scam and refused to hand over any money. Police officers who arrived at the scene seized the Belarusian banknotes and opened criminal proceedings against both suspects on suspicion of attempted fraud.
Police also established that shortly beforehand the men had been stopping vehicles on the B472 federal road near the Bertoldshofen tunnel. In addition, the 20-year-old suspect had been fined earlier the same day for a significant speeding offence. Authorities collected a €200 security deposit from him.
Police did not specify which Belarusian rubles were involved. In practice, similar fraud schemes often involve obsolete banknotes or notes with little or no collectible value that are falsely presented as valid currency in order to create the impression of a valuable exchange.
