Diplomats thought man's house with joke plaque was Moldovan embassy

Diplomats arrive at man’s Fulham house thinking it is the Moldovan embassy after he put up a plaque for a joke

• Hughie Shepherd-Cross, 24, joked that his Fulham home was Moldovan embassy
• He bolted a fake plaque to his house and listed his address on Google Maps as it
• But he got calls from confused Moldovans and even two diplomats showed up
• Hughie has now apologised for ‘geopolitical confusion’ his ‘joke’ has caused

Diplomats and bewildered Moldovan citizens turned up at man’s house after he bolted on a plaque claiming to be the eastern European nation’s embassy for a ‘joke’.

Hughie Shepherd-Cross, 24, also listed his home in Fulham, south-west London as the Moldovan embassy on Google Maps, leading to confused people of the former Soviet state calling to ask for advice.

But he has since apologised for any ‘geopolitical confusion’ and offence his prank may have caused to diplomats and the Moldovan people.

Hughie said: ‘I received multiple phone calls from confused Moldovan citizens from where I’d listed my number online to make the address look more real.

‘Two foreign diplomats even turned up looking for the embassy and I answered the door with my housemate.’

Hughie Shepherd-Cross (pictured outside his home with the fake plaque bolted outside the door), 24, listed his home in Fulham as the Moldovan embassy on Google Maps

In December last year, Hughie claims two foreign diplomats turned up at his front door (pictured) thinking it was the real Moldovan embassy

The prankster added: ‘Passers-by and neighbours were very confused from both the plaque and the fake address popping up on the road.

‘I’m very sorry for any geopolitical confusion I caused, it was meant to be a harmless joke and I didn’t mean to offend the people of Moldova.’

The real Moldovan embassy is based just a few miles away in Chiswick.

But the High Commission for Grenada is at the end of Hughie’s road – which gave him the idea.

The joker says he added his phone number online to make the address look legitimate and got his friends to leave fake reviews.

A few months passed and nothing had come from his practical joke apart from a few rogue calls from Moldovans trying to contact the embassy.

But in December last year, while he was at home with his three housemates, he claims two foreign diplomats turned up at his front door.

He says they were looking for the Embassy of Moldova and their directions had taken them to Hughie’s bogus address.

Hughie has since removed the plaque for the ‘Embassy of Moldova’ from outside his house

Hughie said: ‘The High Commission for Grenada is at the end of my road, so I decided to get plaque made saying Embassy of Moldova for a joke.

‘I stuck it on with screws outside my house, and made a fake address – but for months nothing happened, and I pretty much forgot it was even there.

‘When the two foreign diplomats knocked on my front door, me and my housemates were in jeans and t-shirts and had no idea who they were.

‘They must have been so confused seeing [us] standing in front of them, and because of the language barrier we couldn’t answer any of their questions.’

After engaging in a brief exchange with Hughie and his housemate, the two men left.

Hughie has since removed the plaque – which he said was good timing.

He said: ‘There has been reports of Putin planning to invade Moldova, and if he did, and we still had the fake embassy address, who knows what would have happened!’

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