I paid £150 for a tablet in a souvenir shop in Tenerife…and it ended up costing me £2,128
- A heartless new scam has started in Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands
- Stores offer products at low prices and pressure customers to make expensive upgrades
- The shopkeeper then secretly and ‘accidentally’ pays too much with a credit or debit card
- Have you been affected by this scam? Please contact laurence.dollimore@mailonline.co.uk
Sunseeker Bridget Manning was browsing through bright summer clothes in a souvenir shop in Tenerife three weeks ago when the shop assistant asked her if she was interested in their cheap electronics deals.
The 84-year-old widow was told she could get her hands on a top-of-the-range tablet computer for just £150.
In fact, she only had to deposit £26 to take the tablet to try it out.
A new electronics scam that has taken off in Tenerife causes retailers to ‘accidentally’ overcharge a credit or debit card without the buyer’s knowledge
After a little back and forth to change the language of the tablet from Spanish to English, she returned to the store on Los Cristianos promenade on the day she was to fly back to England, and paid the full amount for the gadget.
But on returning home to Warwickshire, Bridget found that her two bank accounts had been emptied of £2,128 – money she had saved by taking on cleaning and ironing jobs in retirement.
“It seemed like a good deal and they were very charming – they even offered me and my friends soft drinks and sat us down,” she recalls of the scammers.
“I need this money to pay my bills. I’m so distraught – I’ve cried for many days and can’t sleep at night.’
Bridget, a retired legal assistant from Stratford-upon-Avon, had fallen for a callous scam that started in Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands.
Money Mail has heard from a number of victims who say the ruse usually starts with a store offering a product at a very low price and then pressuring the customer to upgrade to a different item at a significantly higher price.
The retailers then “accidentally” charge a credit or debit card without the buyer’s knowledge.
When Bridget bought her tablet, she was told that her card, which she uses for holidays, didn’t work.
After three attempts, she tried a second debit card – for her main bank account at Santander – and entered her PIN. This was ‘accepted’ and she received a warranty on the tablet.
But she now remembers how the scammer dangled his hand in front of the payment terminal screen to obscure the amounts entered.
Bridget Manning was told she could get her hands on a ‘top of the range’ tablet computer for just £150
Bridget says she was unable to see the total amount charged and has not received a receipt.
As part of the bluff, the store clerk asked for photos of her passport, using the excuse that it would help her declare the tablet when she went through customs.
As Bridget found out, a red flag for this scam is the salesperson suggesting you go back to the store on the last day of your vacation to make full payment.
The idea is that you are many hundreds of miles away before you realize you have been duped.
When Bridget informed Santander that she had been a victim of a scam, she was refused any compensation on the grounds that she voluntarily entered her PIN to make the payment.
Money Mail has asked the bank to re-investigate.
After we got involved, Santander agreed to pay Bridget back the full £2,128 she lost.
A spokesman for the bank says: “We advise all customers to always check whether they are paying the correct amount before making a payment, and if in doubt not to do so.”
It failed to explain how both accounts were completely empty.
It’s vital to see the amount you’re paying on the card terminal before entering your PIN, she added.
Lynn Mackenzie was also a victim when she was on holiday in Tenerife in November last year. She was told to sign up for broadband to set up the tablet in English, but that the subscription could be canceled as soon as she got home.
When she realized it was a scam, she urgently asked her bank to block the payment, but it was too late – £1,750 had already been transferred.
Another reader, Susie Adlington, was shocked to discover that her father had been scammed.
He was on a surprise holiday to Tenerife that she and her uncle had taken him to celebrate his 87th birthday.
“We were on a scooter when a man came out of a store on the boulevard and started talking to us about buying a tablet and a SIM card for a phone,” says Susie.
Her father lost £1,500 to the scammers, while her uncle handed over £280 in cash. A surprise birthday in the sun turned into a nightmare. These horrible people prey on the elderly.’
j.beard@dailymail.co.uk