Prague's notorious fake money scam is still running: How to avoid getting caught

One of Prague's most notorious tourist scams is still catching visitors out.

Last week, police arrested two foreign nationals accused of approaching tourists in central Prague with offers to exchange euros and dollars for Czech crowns, only to hand over expired Belarusian rubles with no monetary value.

Investigators linked the men, ages 52 and 28, to several incidents around Wenceslas Square and Prague Castle that caused losses exceeding CZK 30,000. Both received suspended sentences and were expelled from Czechia for several years.

The scam is anything but new. Prague journalist and YouTuber Janek Rubeš and colleague Honza Mikulka have spent years documenting so-called "ruličkáři" ("rollers") for their Honest Guide series, including videos showing scammers handing tourists worthless rubles instead of Czech currency.

The setup is deliberately simple. A stranger approaches a tourist on the street and offers an attractive exchange rate, typically for euros or dollars.

Instead of Czech crowns, the victim receives banknotes they may not recognize. In the latest cases, police said the scammers used obsolete Belarusian rubles that are no longer valid and effectively worthless.

Tourists unfamiliar with Czech banknotes may not realize the switch until they later try to spend the cash. The safest rule is also the simplest: never exchange money with someone who approaches you on the street.

The Czech National Bank advises customers to exchange cash only at designated exchange bureaus, carefully check the posted buy and sell rates and obtain a receipt for every transaction. Customers using licensed exchange offices also generally have the right to cancel a transaction of up to the equivalent of EUR 1,000 (CZK 24,000) within three hours.

For many visitors, paying by card or withdrawing cash from a bank ATM can remove the need to exchange physical money altogether. If using an exchange office, check how many crowns you will actually receive before handing over any cash.

The currency arrests were part of a broader police operation targeting crimes against visitors and residents in central Prague. In a separate case, detectives arrested two women accused of opening the backpack of a 78-year-old woman on Alšovo nábřeží and stealing its contents.

An off-duty detective happened to witness the theft and intervened immediately. Police later discovered that one of the suspects had been filming the crime on her phone and livestreaming it to social media, providing investigators with unusually direct evidence.

Both women received suspended sentences and were expelled from Czechia for three years.

For visitors, the two cases highlight two of central Prague's most persistent low-level crime risks: unsolicited money-changing offers and theft in crowded tourist areas.

And despite years of publicity surrounding the fake-money trick, it has clearly not disappeared. Honest Guide's repeated encounters with ruličkáři have helped make the scam infamous among regular Prague visitors, but police's latest arrests show that newcomers remain potential targets.