Vancouver police have arrested three men in connection with a string of downtown thefts last week in which they allegedly posed as cops to rip off unsuspecting tourists.

Since last Wednesday police had 13 reported incidents where two men flashed fake badges to East Asian tourists and identified themselves as police officers, according to a VPD news release.

Meanwhile a third man, posing as a victim, "encouraged the tourists to hand over their wallets and passports to the fake officers," according to the news release.

When the fake cops returned the property to their targets a few minutes later, their money would be missing.

In each case, the men approached tourists in the waterfront area of downtown Vancouver, VPD spokesman Sgt. Randy Fincham told the media last week.

He said police must show photo identification on request. If in doubt beyond that, Fincham advised phoning 9-1-1 to make sure the supposed officer is a legitimate member of the force.

Fincham declined to identify the three suspects, but said police would be recommending charges of theft and impersonating a police officer against each of the men.