A man listed his home as the Moldovan embassy online for a joke - and claims confused citizens would call up asking for advice. Hughie Shepherd-Cross, 24, put up a plaque and claims he uploaded his his home in Fulham, south-west London, address to Google Maps in a mischievous plot, last year.
But he has since apologised for any confusion and offence his antics may have caused. 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. 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 2021, while he was at home with his three housemates, he claims two foreign diplomats turned up at his door. He says they were looking for the Embassy of Moldova and their directions had taken them to Hughie's bogus address.
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!"
The real Moldovan embassy was approached for comment.
