A woman who bought a £150 tablet while on holiday in Tenerife, was left ‘distraught’ after discovering she’d been scammed out of more than £2,000. 84-year-old Bridget Manning was looking at clothes while on holiday last month when a shopkeeper approached her to ask if she was interested in buying any cheap electrical goods.
He offered her a ‘top of the range’ tablet for just €160 (£150) and to help seal the deal, even told her that she could hand over a deposit of just €30 to try the device out, before returning to pay the rest before she flew home.
After trialling the tablet, Bridget, a widow from Warwickshire, decided to make the purchase and popped in just before she was due to return to the UK.
However, once she landed she was devastated to discover that two of her bank accounts had been completely emptied of £2,128. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Bridget said: “It seemed like a good deal and they were very charming, they even offered me and my friends soft drinks and somewhere to sit down.”
“I need this money to pay my bills. I am so distraught, I’ve been crying for days and cannot sleep at night.”
Bridget says that when she tried to make the purchase she was told that the card she uses for her holidays wasn’t working, so she used a different debit card, which the shopkeeper told her had gone through.
Bridget says the scammer had deliberately dangled his hand over the screen on the terminal so she couldn’t see how much she was being charged and also says she wasn’t given a receipt.
After realising she’d had her money taken, Bridget got in touch with her branch of Bank Santander in the UK, who initially told her, as she had willingly used her card and PIN, there was nothing they could do.
However, since speaking to the Daily Mail, the bank has reimbursed Bridget the full £2,128. A spokesperson from Santander warned: “We would encourage all customers always to check carefully that they are paying the correct amount before making any payment, and if they are in any doubt not to make it.”
Even though this is a satisfactory resolution for Bridget, it doesn’t get away from the fact that this seems to be happening regularly, not just in Tenerife but in the other Canary Islands as well, giving our home a bad name for visitors who should not have to put up with this type of theft or scam when they come here on holiday.
