There is a gang operating in Bolivia who plant a fake tourist on a bus with legitimate tourists. Then they, posing as policemen, halt and search the bus. Finding the fake tourist and the drugs, they order all the others tourists off the bus.
They take them to a sham police station where the tourists are ordered to hand over the credit cards, bank cards and PIN numbers. With these in hand, the robbers empty out the bank accounts, withdrawing the maximun daily amount until the accounts are empty.
Bolivian police investigating the disappearance of two Austrian tourists, Katharina Koller and Peter Kirsten Rabitsch, believe this is what happened to them. They have identified the fake police station, the gang members and arrested some, but Katharina and Peter are still missing.
This ploy may have also been used against British nurse Jenny Pope who disappeared from Banos, Ecuador and her bank account systematically looted. She also is missing, gone without a trace.
They are all feared dead.
Our sympathies to their families and loved ones.