Lap dancing club in Magaluf cons drunk Brits out of thousands

Two managers of a lap dancing club in Magaluf have been arrested for fraudulently charging thousands of pounds to drunk British punters' credit cards.

The Romanian men are believed to have swindled as much as €40,000 - around £35,000 - out of their victims, with some holidaymakers losing as much as £2,600 each, police told local news outlet 20 Minutes.

"On other occasions, they have verified that it was the dancers themselves who, when they saw how drunk the clients were, took their credit card," says 20 Minutes.

"Several British tourists have been identified who have filed complaints once they returned to their country and realised the scam. The investigation remains open and new arrests of more involved people aren't being ruled out."

The police are investigating several other clubs in the Majorcan town which they believe have also been charging drunk tourists for non-existent services.

It's suspected that there may be many more victims who are too embarrassed to report the scam.

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Drunken British tourists make easy game for crooks in Magaluf. Two years ago, 20 people were arrested there on suspicion of similar offences, for stealing credit card numbers and swindling punters out of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Again, the victims were generally extremely drunk, "since in this state it is easier to trick them to obtain the security codes of the cards or to carry out a series of charges of a high amount," the interior ministry said at the time.

And the town has also long been a happy hunting ground for pick-pockets. Men claiming to be promotions managers for strip clubs have been caught cosying up to potential customers, relieving them of their valuables and cash.

Last year, a survey from travel company eShores revealed that a third of UK tourists have had their belongings stolen while on holiday, with Spain the riskiest destination.

However, last month the Spanish authorities announced a crack-down on loud music, in a move aimed at calming drunken revellers down.