r/Europetravel • u/CommitteeFunny5536 • Nov 07 '25
Safety Got scammed (most likely) while traveling solo in Europe - Any advice on what I can do next?
Hey everyone,
I was on a solo trip across three European countries, and on my last day in Italy I met this British guy who stopped me asking for help. He said he’d lost his cards and needed some cash urgently.
He offered to transfer me money from his Bank of Scotland account — around €1000 — to my Indian bank account, and I gave him €800 in cash in return. I took a screenshot of the transaction, and he even showed me that the amount had been deducted from his account. Since it was a SEPA transfer, I assumed it might take 3–5 business days to show up in my account. We exchanged numbers on WhatsApp (his name was “James”), and he kept in touch for a few days, saying he’d call his bank to check on the transfer. His last message said it might take up to 5 working days to clear.
That was the last I heard from him. My messages haven’t been delivered for the past three days, though I can still see his profile picture (just a dog photo — suspicious in hindsight). A friend in Europe tried calling his number, but it doesn’t go through. I even found him on Telegram — the account looks active and has a few “London” stories posted. But even there the messages were not getting delivered.
I know this has “scam” written all over it and I feel incredibly dumb for falling for it. But is there any way to confirm or report this — maybe by contacting Bank of Scotland about the transaction? Or is there any official way to check if that transfer was ever initiated?
Would really appreciate any advice or next steps.
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u/me-gustan-los-trenes Berlin-Warszawa Expert Nov 07 '25 edited Nov 07 '25
SEPA transfers are instantaneous. If you haven't gotten it within seconds, that's a scam.
More importantly though, Indian banks cannot receive SEPA transfers, which proves this is a scam. If that was real, it would be a SWIFT transfer, which indeed takes a few days to arrive.
Please report this to police. It is unlikely they can do anything unless you are very lucky, but at least this will show up in crime statistics.
I'm very sorry this happened to you.
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u/vg31irl European Nov 07 '25
SEPA transfers are instantaneous. If you haven't gotten it within seconds, that's a scam.
They can be instantaneous but they're not all instantaneous. It depends on the sending and receiving bank. My bank in Ireland only very recently started supporting receiving instant SEPA transfers. Sending SEPA transfers still takes 1-2 business days.
Maybe in some countries with less antiquated baking systems they're all instant now. I know N26 and Revolut have had instant transfers for quite a while now.
Sending to an Indian bank account isn't SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) anyway.
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u/CommitteeFunny5536 Nov 07 '25
I read somewhere that SEPA converts to SWIFT. Anyway, no more brainstorming this, it’s 100% scam, I know it now. Just thinking of ways to report it as a fraud.
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u/TumbleweedExpress251 Nov 07 '25
SEPA only works for EUR currency and cannot be converted. In your case, the transfer would’ve been via SWIFT if it was legit.
Take this as a lesson and only help for that much money which you’re willing to let go and forget later on as you never have any way of instant confirmation being a tourist and not having EU based account.
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u/RandomNick42 Nov 07 '25
That's not quite true, SEPA also works for other non -Euro currencies in Europe.
But for sure not to India
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u/me-gustan-los-trenes Berlin-Warszawa Expert Nov 07 '25
Yes, some countries outside of Eurozone, like Poland or Switzerland, are members of SEPA. However SEPA can only transfer the EUR currency.
For example transferring EUR from Swiss account to German one – can be SEPA. Transferring CHF between same banks – goes via SWIFT, may cost a lot and take time depending on which banks exactly are involved.
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u/TumbleweedExpress251 Nov 07 '25
I guess you meant Non-EU countries as the system is named after Euro itself and cannot be used for other currencies
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u/me-gustan-los-trenes Berlin-Warszawa Expert Nov 07 '25
This is not entirely true. At least Switzerland and Liechtenstein are members of SEPA and banks here do support SEPA transfers (only for EUR currency). I think the same goes for Norway, Iceland, probably some other countries.
But India sadly is not a member of Sepa.
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u/canaanit island child Nov 08 '25
SEPA transfers are instantaneous.
Nope. I think that's the goal but we're not there yet.
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u/me-gustan-los-trenes Berlin-Warszawa Expert Nov 08 '25
huh after looking it up, I was wrong
Every SEPA transfer I have ever made took seconds. I guess I was just lucky. And I rarely have an opportunity to use them as my life is mostly in CHF.
Thanks for correction.
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u/canaanit island child Nov 08 '25
I'm in Germany, and most domestic transfers are in fact instantaneous now, but some still take several hours or a whole business day. I'm not sure if that depends on the specific banks involved, but sometimes if you do them too late on a Friday afternoon, they won't arrive before Tuesday.
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u/orbitolinid European rock licker Nov 07 '25
I'm sorry this happened to you. There are apps that simulate banking environments but do nothing. Don't just give money to random people.
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u/Ill_Dragonfruit_2378 Nov 07 '25
Similiar thing happened to me one year ago in istanbul airport. I gave the scammer EUR1000 stupidly and never got the money back. Exactly same tactic. An expensive lesson indeed. Since then I never wanted to help strangers with money again.
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u/kwiklok Nov 07 '25
I'm sorry - the exact same thing happened to me and my husband on our honeymoon. It happened in Luxembourg and we have felt so incredibly stupid about it. There was nothing we could do about it except go to the police to record the incident. You won't get your money back.
Remember that these guys are trained professionals in scamming people, so try not to feel too bad about it. They are complete scum.
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u/ConfusedZoidberg Nov 07 '25
Common scam, no need to confirm anywhere. If some random person(often not a local themselves) asks you as a tourist for help with money, it will always be a scam.
You unfortunately have no approach to getting the money back, all the info you might have is probably fake, and you willingly gave the money away.
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u/Express-Pie- Nov 07 '25
This shit happened to me in Switzerland too. Trying to be a good citizen sadly bites you in the ass. People like this really ruin it for those in need.
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u/Endgame_Architect Nov 07 '25
Identical thing happend to me, but for only 30€ lol. Not worth stressing over it 🙏
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u/PrestigiousWheel9587 Nov 07 '25
File with police and bank but objectively nothing will happen; this is a cheap life lesson. Live learn wisen up and move on
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u/CommitteeFunny5536 Nov 07 '25
Which Police? Will Indian Police even take the complaint? I don’t think so. I was looking for ways to file a complaint with Italian Police using some online portal
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u/Soft_Beyond_8205 Nov 08 '25
Why would you send someone you JUST met 1000 euros? That is absolutely insane.
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Nov 08 '25
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u/vignoniana List formatting specialist · Quality contributor Nov 09 '25
Pro tip: You can use "them" instead of "him/her", which sounds like brain is turned off ;)
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u/Present-Librarian-89 Nov 07 '25
A lot of people are saying it’s always a scam if someone asks this - I have to disagree. I was in Spain during their massive blackouts earlier this year and a couple at the same restaurant as me and my husband were stressing because they needed cash for a taxi to the airport in the morning and no cash points were working in Barcelona. They were trying to get cash out when paying for their meal (EFT in some places was working by this point), and the restaurant couldn’t do it because they were concerned about running low on cash themselves.
Their phones worked so we used PayPal. The man transferred money over, and as soon as I saw it hit MY PayPal account (which happened instantly) I handed cash over to help them out. I didn’t rely on screenshots they showed me, I used my own app, and then swiftly transferred the money out of PayPal and into my bank account. No dramas.
I’m not saying that there are net scammers out there that do this, but not everyone is out to get you.
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u/south_by_southsea Nov 07 '25
This has brought back memories of being halfway up a mountain in Slovenia when a group of young Dutch women asked me if I could pay for their national park entry fees as the ticket booth only took cash and in exchange they sent me the money over PayPal. All totally legit but if they were scammers idiot 19 year old me would still have been suckered in regardless by a group of young women suddenly interested in me (well, my carefully planned travel money supply).
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u/amurow Nov 08 '25
Good for you, but this is one of the oldest scams out there. I encountered it as a student 20+ years ago. Better safe than sorry. Your situation was different, because you got the transfer first before you handed the cash over.
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u/GreatRailwayBazaar Nov 08 '25
When a total stranger asks you for around 800-1000€, it is always a scam! Asking for taxi money under the circumstances you’ve described might be or might NOT be a scam. And you‘ve waited to see that you get the money, so you couldn’t have been scammed anyways. (Ofc paypal friends thing)
When I was travelling I suddenly didn’t have any access to my card and couldn’t call the bank either. I asked some travellers to lend me money (but little money, like 50€) to get me going then I paid them back obviously. So it depends on the person‘s goodwill and the circumstances. There was no way I could transfer them the money on the spot yet they still helped me out.
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u/BobcatSpiritual7699 Nov 08 '25
This is just pure luck and a rare exception. You should never encourage anyone to repeat this incredibly risky behavior.
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u/Present-Librarian-89 Nov 08 '25
What a ridiculously over the top response 😂 it’s not “pure luck”. It’s not that hard to protect yourself by staying in control of the situation (in my case, that was using PayPal ensuring the money hit my account before I physically handed cash over). It’s not that complicated.
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u/New_Potato_3534 Nov 09 '25
Nope.... It was pure luck. Paypal doesn't work that way. It isn't that complicated, except for you...
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Nov 07 '25
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u/Europetravel-ModTeam Nov 07 '25
Your content was removed, because it was unnecessary, unhelpful or considered spam. Comments should be genuine and add something useful to the conversation. If making a recommendation, explain why!
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Nov 07 '25
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Your content was removed, because it was unnecessary, unhelpful or considered spam. Comments should be genuine and add something useful to the conversation. If making a recommendation, explain why!
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u/Ordinary_Ad3705 Nov 08 '25
You will not get your money back, the only thing you could do to -at least- find some closure is to file a police report.
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u/Single-Mycologist936 Nov 08 '25
Sorry scam. There is no Iban and Bic code in India, a transfer of this type goes through Swift (and this is not possible simply on the banking app) or certain specialized online services. Unfortunately you will never see the money again
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Nov 08 '25
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u/Europetravel-ModTeam Nov 09 '25
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Nov 08 '25
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Nov 08 '25
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u/Automatic_Drawer1483 Nov 09 '25
Just don’t. I would never engage with anyone asking for money in the slightest way. Just say sorry and walk away. I wouldn’t trust anyone when it comes with money, especially if you don’t know them.
Why bother helping them anyway? Also even if you’ve lost your card you can probably just use Apple Pay for most of the things in Europe?
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u/Cautious_Use_7442 Nov 09 '25
This is a common scam. If someone can access their account on their phone, then they can get access to their cash (either by adding cards to their wallet or transferring it to another bank that can add cards to their wallet)
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Nov 08 '25
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u/CommitteeFunny5536 Nov 08 '25
Did I ask for any sympathy here?! No none. Very helpful your comment is btw!
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u/nzamat Nov 08 '25
I mostly agree with you, but every scammed person results "dumb" a posteriori. But that's the whole point of most scams, they are simple and based on instinctive thinking, so after the fact it is always very simple to criticise the scammed. This is part of the reason why some people feel ashamed to report being scammed. If we shame the scammed, we are helping scammers get away!
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Nov 07 '25
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u/Europetravel-ModTeam Nov 07 '25
Your content was removed, because it was unnecessary, unhelpful or considered spam. Comments should be genuine and add something useful to the conversation. If making a recommendation, explain why!
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u/Affectionate_Sir1245 Nov 09 '25
.He send me 1000 and i gave him 800.You are worst then the scammer himself
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u/rybnickifull Croatian Toilet Expert Nov 09 '25
Sort out your grammar and formatting, but no, OP is not "worse than the scammer" given the latter presumably offered the €200 bonus. Don't insult people with no evidence, that makes you worse than a scammer.
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u/CommitteeFunny5536 Nov 09 '25
Alright. I delivered €800 because I needed some amount in my account for my expenses for the rest of the trip. I told him I will transfer the rest when it gets credited in my account. Anyway doesn’t matter, cuz I was the victim here. Haha. How, very uplifting of you btw.
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u/Any_Strain7020 Nov 09 '25
Oldest trick in the book. They put your account number in the transaction reference field, and their own account number in the beneficiary field. In other words, they send money to themselves.
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Nov 07 '25
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u/TrampAbroad2000 Nov 07 '25 edited Nov 07 '25
OP wasn't hacked, they were shown a fake bank transfer (purportedly into their account) and handed over 800 euros in cash to the scammer.
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u/skifans Quality Contributor Nov 07 '25
That's almost certainly just a completely fake app I'm afraid that does nothing other than give you that confirmation of whatever you have typed in.
I would be very surprised if Royal Bank of Scotland told you anything but by all means ask.
Please do report it to the police. Even if the money is lost they don't know it's a problem if it's never reported.