The MailOnline has gone undercover in the south of Tenerife and has evidence of the high-pressure tactics being used by conmen in electrical shops to fleece thousands of elderly British holidaymakers in credit card scams during their holiday in Playa Las Americas, Los Cristianos, and Costa Adeje.
They witnessed gangs of suspected fraudsters deliberately targeting older Brits while ignoring younger tourists. Scores of British pensioners have fallen victim to the fraud which typically involves them being offered a laptop, iPad, phone or a similar device at cheap price.
The scam takes place when fraudsters use intimidating tactics to get their victims into the shop, and once inside, they typically offer the vulnerable elderly tourist a device for a cut price. They then ask to take a deposit of say 30 euros to be taken on a debit or credit card, but when the customer inserts their card the unscrupulous store owner clones the card or steals their bank details, and thousands of euros in the process.
Often they ask the holidaymaker to return to pay the balance and then 'accidentally type in a far higher amount before asking them to type in their pin without offering a receipt to confirm the purchase price. Other versions of the fraud involve the scammers stealing PIN numbers or later charging a far higher fee than agreed using bogus bank debit forms.
The pensioners are often targeted on the last day of their holiday and typically only find out they have been conned days or weeks later when they check their bank or credit card statements at home in the UK when it’s too late to do anything about it.
UNDERCOVER OPERATION:
The undercover operation by the MailOnline involved retired police superintendent Ged Varley, aged 76, who volunteered to pose as a potential victim so they could secretly film the suspected conmen putting him under 'intense pressure' to hand over his credit card details.
He said: “They might as well have sat me down and put a spotlight in my face. It was an onslaught. They were so determined. But with my police background as a detective I can smell a scam a mile away and I wasn't giving in.”
“I knew straightaway that it was a scam”, he continued, “but I thought I'd go along with it and see how it operated. I went inside and he showed me a tablet and took me through how it worked and whatever. Then he said there was a better one which had more apps on it and was better value. I thought if I can get a tablet and a keyboard which he was offering for €30, then that was not a bad deal.”
“I tried to pay in cash, but they insisted I used my debit or credit card. But I was not falling for it. But I could not get away. I was there for more than an hour at the back of the shop and there were eventually three guys giving me the hard sell. I could see why people have given in.”
“I tapped in the wrong PIN code deliberately three times on their credit card machine and it was rejected. They looked absolutely crestfallen. But they were not giving up. And I was surprised when they accepted my €30 cash and then gave me the tablet and a keyboard.”
The conmen told him to return the next day with the €39 which he owed for the upgraded tablet. They told him to pay the final amount with a card after he earlier apologised for forgetting his PIN due to 'having a senior moment or two'.
He added: “They allowed me to walk out with the tablet because they thought I would return the next day and pay by credit card and then they could carry out their sting. They want to know when you are leaving, so that they can time when they take the money and you can't return to the shop to argue it out. It’s a terrible way to rob people. Elderly people who may not be that savvy about things like online fraud and how it works.”
There are now dozens of people who have come forward to admit that they’ve been scammed in this way whilst on holiday in the south of Tenerife. Fairplay to the MailOnline for exposing it as it’s hard to believe that the Tenerife authorities are allowing this to carry on.
It's ridiculous and cruel on people who just want to enjoy a bit of sunshine, and not lose their savings and ruin their time here. The Canarian Weekly has now created a file which is being handed in to both Adeje and Arona councils to highlight the problem to make them aware of the situation and the damage it is doing to their municipalities and tourism on the island.
Images all from the MailOnline
