British tourist swindled out of nearly £1,500 buying a kebab in Rio
Previous incidents show that fraudsters manipulate payment devices to charge tourists thousands
Aliver
A man has been arrested on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach after a tourist was sold a kebab for nearly £1,500.
The man was arrested on Monday, 13 April, after allegedly using a tampered payment device to exceedingly overcharge a British tourist for a meat kebab, Rio’s Civil Police told The Independent.
The victim paid 10,000 reais (£1,478) for the kebab rather than the 10 reais (£1.50) that he had offered for it.
The arrested man is thought to be part of a structured scheme of fraud, tricking foreign tourists with rigged card machines that mainly operate in Copacabana, Ipanema and Arpoador.
Police said British, Czech and Argentinian tourists have been identified as victims of similar crimes.
Investigations have found that scammers will pose as fake street vendors and approach victims with attractive offers.
When paying, the scammers will ask the victim to enter their pin number without verifying the amount on the tampered card machines. In some cases, the machines are already programmed to register much higher amounts, meaning the loss is only noticed after purchasing, police said.
Patricia Alemany, the head of Rio’s tourist police, told Brazilian newspaper O Globo she has been leading a team specialising in arresting those involved in similar crimes.
However, she pointed to the lack of supervision of street trading on popular tourist beaches that allows fraudsters to carry out scams.
“There is no supervision of street vendors on the beach, which creates an environment of public disorder and greatly facilitates this type of crime,” she said in a translated statement.
Police said they are continuing to investigate these scams in order to identify and locate the remaining members of the criminal group.
Food-related scams on tourists are common around the world, with incidents hitting headlines including Parisian restaurants pouring cheap wine after customers pay for high-end bottles.
DK Oysters, a restaurant in Mykonos, has become well known for charging tourists thousands of euros for only a couple of dishes, or hundreds of euros for just a few drinks, by not displaying any prices on its menus.
Read more: Everest guides accused of poisoning foreign climbers to force fake rescues in $20m scam
