this happened to one of my students

http://learn-aprender.blogspot.com/2...ets.html#links

So easily done to because we tend to comply with people who appear to be that authorative. Thanks for the warning.

Rosemary

The lesson, I suppose would be to politely ask to see proof that he was a police officer.

the guy flashed a badge at him bil

now that he has seen the real thing he'd know the difference - but having not had any real contact with the police here before, he had no idea

I remember reports of a similar type of scam taking place in Madrid after the train bomb attacks. At that time there were quite a few plain-clothes detectives stopping people in the street, especially anyone who didn't seem local. The local crims took their chance to stop and "interrogate" tourists, and favoured targeting those who didn't speak Spanish. For some reason this died away - I think the local police were aggrieved and made sure they dealt with this sort of scam! I think if you are faced with this type of situation, the best thing to do is to bring in uniformed police as soon as possible - shouldn't be a problem if the plain-clothes guy(s) is genuine. Make a call on the mobile or call for police help via a shop or bar.