Tourists flock to Victorian terrace thinking it's Moldova’s embassy after prankster puts up fake plaque
Sarah Rodriguez
Updated on March 16, 2026
DOZENS of tourists turned up at a Victorian terrace where a prankster had put up a plaque saying it was Moldova’s embassy.
The residential address ended up listed on Google Maps as the official embassy of the tiny former-Soviet state.
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It saw scores of confused Moldovans turn up outside and foreign diplomats arrive for meetings.
But it was all down to Hughie Shepherd-Cross who claimed he put up the sign at his home in Fulham, West London, last year as a “harmless joke”.
He posted a fake address and his phone number online.
Apart from a few calls from baffled Moldovans, little happened for months. Hughie, 24, said: “I pretty much forgot it was even there.
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"I’d get the odd call but I couldn’t understand a word they were saying.
“Then it went on Google Maps and suddenly dozens turned up. When two foreign diplomats knocked on the door, me and my housemates were in jeans and T-shirts and had no idea who they were.”
The real embassy of Moldova — population just over three million — is in nearby Chiswick.
It is now listed correctly on Google Maps.
