British tourists are demanding a crackdown on rogue traders in Tenerife after being scammed out of thousands of pounds in a long-running scam that has ‘contaminated’ the holiday island.
The scammer usually works by offering Britons who have a lot to offer on a laptop, iPad, phone or similar device on the last day of their holiday.
But when it comes to payment via debit or credit card, the shop owners distract the buyers while either cloning their card or charging a much higher fee than agreed upon.
It comes after Bridget Manning, 84, revealed this week how she was secretly charged more than £2,000 for a tablet that was supposed to cost her just £150.
Andy Evans, 64, from Doncaster, lost a whopping £1,676 last year after buying a £14.50 upgrade for his device – and his bank still hasn’t reimbursed him.
Andy Evans (pictured), 64, from Doncaster, lost a whopping £1,676 last year after thinking it was a £14.50 monthly TV subscription – and his bank is still refusing to refund him
Jane Harrison, 58, from Bolton, said her elderly parents (pictured) fell prey to the fraudsters in 2019, leading to a five-month battle to get their money back. She told MailOnline that her mum and dad, now aged 85 and 90, were offered a tablet and phone for less than a few hundred pounds, but were secretly charged a whopping £2,800.
He told MailOnline: “I find it absolutely repulsive… it’s haunted me for the past year and I can’t believe this group is still getting away with it.”
Mr Evans was enjoying a drink at a bar with his wife in the resort town of Los Cristianos when they decided to buy some t-shirts and souvenirs for their grandchildren.
The former businessman said they went to the shop next door, where they were approached by the owner, who also happened to own the adjoining bar.
“He struck up a conversation and asked us about real estate and tobacco and all this before finally saying he had tablets for sale at a great price,” he said.
Mr Evans said he paid for the tablet with €50 cash before the store’s ‘software engineer’ approached him and insisted that the tablet be upgraded with a subscription package that would allow them to watch British television abroad.
“It was only €14.50 a month and I could cancel it at any time so I didn’t think about it,” he added. But when Mr Evans entered his PIN to pay the amount, the merchant said they were having ‘internet problems’.
“He took the machine away and waved it like he was trying to connect it to the internet, and I think that’s when they cloned my card,” Mr Evans said.
He added that the men then took him to another set of shops they owned in nearby Puerto Colon, where he made a successful €14.50 payment.
Mr Evans said he checked his account when he returned to the UK and saw that the amount of £1,678.76 was pending, leading to an urgent phone call to his bank Halifax asking them to stop the payment.
Mr Evans added: ‘After several conversations I was told by the bank that they could not stop the payment as I was present at the time of the transaction and it would be word to word.’
He said they put him through to Lloyds fraud who told him the same thing.
He added: “As you can imagine I am still furious about this and sorry to hear that this team is still dealing with it.”
Mr Evans believes the scammers are using the bar next to their shop to search for unsuspecting victims and gauge who’s there on the last day of their holiday.
The gadgets were sold to Jane Harrison’s parents as part of an alleged scam in Tenerife
Jane Harrison (pictured) said an Asian entrepreneur named “Gary” told her it was “completely legal” when she called the store to confront him when she saw her parents’ credit card bills. Ms Harrison added: ‘I have successfully recovered all their money with an additional £200 in compensation from Nationwide. It took about five months, but it was well worth it.’
“They knew it was my last night and I was going to meet my wife and friends,” he said.
“I consider myself quite astute and certainly not from yesterday, but these guys were very smart in their approach and follow-up.”
MailOnline has contacted Lloyds Banking Group for comment. A spokesman said they would review Mr Evans’ case again.
Meanwhile, Jane Harrison, 58, from Bolton, said her elderly parents fell prey to the fraudsters in 2019, leading to a five-month battle to get their money back.
She told MailOnline that her mum and dad, now aged 85 and 90, were offered a tablet and phone for less than a few hundred pounds, but were secretly charged a whopping £2,800.
She said an Asian entrepreneur named “Gary” told her it was “completely legal” when she called the store to confront him when she saw her parents’ credit card bills.
Ms Harrison added: ‘I have successfully recovered all their money with an additional £200 in compensation from Nationwide. It took about 5 months, but it was well worth it.
‘I contacted the consumer advice department in Adeje and they were great… they marched to the store and got them to refund just under £1,000, then we got the other £2,000 from the bank.’
Donal Byrne (pictured), 79, from Dublin, managed to avoid losing to fraudsters after he immediately became suspicious at checkout when they tried to distract him
She added: “These people should not be allowed to continue to defraud the elderly because this is the target of them.
”’Gary” should be evicted from the shop and Tenerife should not let this happen.’
Harry Mathers, 66, from Salford, told MailOnline he was also offered a tablet for £50 in September, before buying a ‘better model’ for £90.
The Briton said the store’s ‘engineer’ told him to set it up in English.
He added: ‘While the engineer was setting it up, the shop owner took us to a Chinese restaurant and bought us a meal each, before later collecting us and taking us back to the shop.
He then demonstrated how the tablet works and we agreed to buy it and he took my debit card and said it didn’t work.
‘He asked us if we were sure we had enough money and how much we thought was in the bill… I told him about £450, before he tried again and told us it had worked and gave us the tablet .’
Mr Mathers said when he got home he realized they had in fact taken £453.16 from his account, which was all he had there.
“I contacted Halifax but they said they couldn’t help because I gave them my card and put in my PIN which meant no fraud had occurred but if someone sells you something for a certain amount but decreases much more, this is fraud.’
Donal Byrne, 79, from Dublin, managed to avoid losing to fraudsters after immediately becoming suspicious at checkout.
Britons say the scammers are ‘tarnishing’ the holiday destination Tenerife (Photo: aerial view of Los Cristianos resort)
The retiree paid €150 for a laptop and was then offered an upgrade for €19.75, but the scammers tried to secretly charge him €1,975.
He told MailOnline: ‘The last day of my vacation in February 2022, I stepped into the clothing store and ended up buying – as I thought – a computer for a very reasonable price.
“When I went to pay, I was distracted at a crucial moment to confirm the transaction. I was immediately suspicious and demanded the receipt of the transaction, but it never came.
“I was lucky this happened around noon and I had time to call my credit card company and ask them to cancel the transaction. There was a certain reluctance to cancel and I was asked at length why I had voluntarily entered my PIN.
“However, a few days after returning home, I received confirmation that the transaction had been canceled and when I received my statement, the bookings were recorded as ‘Fraudulent Transaction’.”
He added: ‘I’m not really computer savvy, so the impulsive decision to go ahead and buy the computer when that juicy offer dangled in front of me was based on gifting it to one of my grandchildren.
The old saying is so true – if it seems too good to be true, it is too good to be true. My culprits were Indians and the exterior of the store gave all indications that it was a typical summer clothing store. No trace of computers for sale.’
MailOnline has contacted the local tourism minister for comment.
