Instascammer dupes Mallorcan restaurants into handing out freebies

Police are investigating a Instascammer who blagged free meals from restaurants and bars across the Balearic Islands by posing as a food influencer. 

The peckish fraudster would allegedly email various establishments across Mallorca and turn up demanding free dishes in exchange for promoting their business on social media. 

The not-so-skinny swizz told business owners he had more than 127,000 followers on Instagram. 

But the crook was caught out by the owner of a well-known pizzaria in Santa Ponsa – who discovered the man’s claim to foodie fame was all waffle 

The Italian restauranteur was initially taken in by the trickster charms and almost agreed to work with him. 

That was until he realised the deal for free marketing was a pizza nonsense – and the scammer only had a slice of the following he promised.

He said: “After analysing the profile, I found that more than 80%  of the followers were fake.

“A man was arrested in Italy for doing exactly the same thing and I just don’t want any other restaurateurs to be affected because we are all going through very difficult times.” 

Like a modern-day Frank Abagnale,  the con man reportedly dined out on free meals from a bar in Minorca and swindled more than 70,000 euros worth of food, gifts and hotel stays. 

The growing number of complaints from restaurateurs in the area persuaded the National Police to open an investigation.