Mason Jones (Reporter)
EXCLUSIVE by Mason Jones
TWO British holidaymakers believe a gang of pickpockets are linked to a branch of one of Europe’s largest phone shops.
The claims come after both were robbed just after using the same Fuengirola store to top up their phones.
The British pair – who are friends from Kent – insist a Spanish employee singled them out as targets by appearing to signal to someone outside that they had cash on them. Both were robbed within minutes.
Roy Holledge, 76, from Maidstone, had asked the employee of the shop, that cannot be named for legal reasons, to top up his phone for €20.
But after giving him a €50 note the worker had made a great fuss about it being fake.
“I naively said I had just got out of the bank and opened my wallet to show him the rest of the money,” he told the Olive Press.
“He then held the note in the air and pointed to a corner of it.
“I realise now he was pointing to someone outside that I had money on me,” he added.
Holledge and his partner left the phone shop before being pickpocketed in a nearby supermarket just minutes later.
So it came as a huge shock that a friend Hilary Brown, 74, from Tunbridge Wells suffered the same experience after visiting the shop this summer.
On this occasion the employee also held the note up and pointed to the corner before Brown was then robbed of €250 and had her bank cards taken in a nearby store.
“It was incredible because my bag was all zipped up and kept close to me at all times,” she said.
Both cases have been reported to the police, however as we went to press, we were unable to get a comment.
Have you been a victim of the same scam? Contact newsdesk@theolivepress.es
