Fake Prince Harry cons Austrian floor fitter Published duration 16 March 2014

image copyright Reuters image caption As it turned out, Prince Harry did not need renovation works at Buckingham Palace

A Facebook user posing as Britain's Prince Harry has conned an Austrian floor fitter out of thousands of euros.

The fake prince offered the workman a million-euro contract to renovate the parquet floors at Buckingham Palace.

The tradesman then transferred 27,500 euros (£23,000) to several UK bank accounts, which the fraudster said was necessary to set up a British business.

The Austrian contacted police after not hearing back from the "prince". Investigations are ongoing.

But authorities in the province of Burgenland have told the floor-fitter that his chances of getting his money back are "slim", the Austrian Kurier newspaper reports.

The victim had initially transferred 2,500 euros to a Lloyd bank account, before sending another 22,000 euros for an alleged security deposit and a third sum of 3,000.