Mallorca
The reclamations from the United Kingdom came from 77 lawyer’s offices
Oct 20, 2017 - 6:10 PM
The National Police identified 800 British tourists for false poisonings.
The reclamations from the United Kingdom came from 77 lawyer’s offices
Oct 20, 2017 - 6:10 PM
Around 800 British tourists have been identified by the National Police as authors of the reclamations for supposed food poisoning in hotels across the Baleares when fully-booked applied.
The investigation started last summer after repeated complaints saw the start of the massive fraud now estimated at more than 60 million €. The laxity of the British travel laws grants the tourist to reclaim the entire amount without any evidence.
All the tourist had to do when back home, was the present a legal complaint for damages caused by food poisoning against the tour operator, which preferred to cover the costs rather than open any expensive legal proceedings.
The detectives established that the 800 tourists acted across 77 different lawyer offices, who are accused of establishing a criminal network based on the false reclamations damaging the income from the tourism season.
Some Britons taking part in the crime travelled to the Baleares to capture victims promising large gains, and when the tourist returned they presented the legal complaint, but the media coverage led to some claiming three years after the alleged health poisoning.
The lawyers’ web pages and TV adverts promised high percentage gains for their clients and the British lawyers took only a small percentage. For the Police, there was a clear purpose ‘to get rich quick’ using British legislation ‘to commit a clear crime of defrauding’.
The detectives have noted 800 of the claims made were false, given few turned to a local doctor to obtain evidence or for treatment during their time on holiday.
According to police data, since the investigation opened last summer, across the islands the total amount defrauded reached as much as 4.46 billion €, an increase of 700% compared before the fraud.
Not only the Baleares hoteliers were defrauded, on the Canaries and Costa Blanca also saw false reclamations over recent months.
The results of this investigation have been submitted to the instruction court two in Palma which has for several months been investigating the possible massive crime.
At the start of September, six people were arrested accused of defrauding 60 million € via this criminal route, which used a network of commercial agents uncovered in Mallorca and in other regions.
The British authorities have given an undertaking to fight against this type of fraud and last week the first prison sentence was handed down. A couple from Liverpool was sentenced to two years in prison for faking sickness during two summer holidays in 2015 and 2016. The couple had demanded 22,000 € from the tour operator.
Archive photo
|
The investigation started last summer after repeated complaints saw the start of the massive fraud now estimated at more than 60 million €. The laxity of the British travel laws grants the tourist to reclaim the entire amount without any evidence.
All the tourist had to do when back home, was the present a legal complaint for damages caused by food poisoning against the tour operator, which preferred to cover the costs rather than open any expensive legal proceedings.
The detectives established that the 800 tourists acted across 77 different lawyer offices, who are accused of establishing a criminal network based on the false reclamations damaging the income from the tourism season.
Some Britons taking part in the crime travelled to the Baleares to capture victims promising large gains, and when the tourist returned they presented the legal complaint, but the media coverage led to some claiming three years after the alleged health poisoning.
The lawyers’ web pages and TV adverts promised high percentage gains for their clients and the British lawyers took only a small percentage. For the Police, there was a clear purpose ‘to get rich quick’ using British legislation ‘to commit a clear crime of defrauding’.
The detectives have noted 800 of the claims made were false, given few turned to a local doctor to obtain evidence or for treatment during their time on holiday.
According to police data, since the investigation opened last summer, across the islands the total amount defrauded reached as much as 4.46 billion €, an increase of 700% compared before the fraud.
Not only the Baleares hoteliers were defrauded, on the Canaries and Costa Blanca also saw false reclamations over recent months.
The results of this investigation have been submitted to the instruction court two in Palma which has for several months been investigating the possible massive crime.
At the start of September, six people were arrested accused of defrauding 60 million € via this criminal route, which used a network of commercial agents uncovered in Mallorca and in other regions.
The British authorities have given an undertaking to fight against this type of fraud and last week the first prison sentence was handed down. A couple from Liverpool was sentenced to two years in prison for faking sickness during two summer holidays in 2015 and 2016. The couple had demanded 22,000 € from the tour operator.
Comment Form is loading comments...