The scam that Brits use to pay for their holiday in Spain

[Perikles]

According to this article in El País, there has been a sudden and huge increase in the scam of taking an all-inclusive holiday in a hotel in Spain, then claiming on the insurance for the galloping trots caused by food poisoning. They reckon that 70% of all such claims are false. (How do they know that?)

Polite people refer to the disturbance of the digestive system as "Spanish tummy". 

[Delderek]

It's masterminded by the "No win No fee" solicitors*. They are now openly advertising for people in Tenerife to "interview" possible clients.

*You could Substitute the word Leeches for Solicitors.

But the fightback has started:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4548686/Hotel-sues-fake-holiday-bug-pair-170-000.html?ito=social-facebook

[Janet]

It's been going on some time, and people get quite aggressive when the scam is criticized ... they argue that these "claims gatherers" are just doing a job, and they need the income. It's a bit like Millers leaflets in that they cause a problem but you can't complain without generating abuse from those you're trying to "deprive of an income" ...

The British and Spanish Governments have been working on this for some time (I posted THIS last year), and have recently announced that working with Ashotel there are going to be private investigators checking people in hotels and, especially, their social media profiles, particularly on Facebook and Instagram, to see if they can identify a disconnect between posts showing people larking about in pools or nightclubs and claims to have been laid up in bed poisoned by a hotel ...

This is the type of vehicle that was brazenly parked in central Costa Adeje. What a scummy scam, and how sad that it's so associated with British holidaymakers ... and British scammers.

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[Nova]

Hopefully Brexit will put the blockers on scams like that, once the UK has severed its ties with the European court system.

[Janet]

not getting that ....

[Nova]

Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part.  I figured that these ambulance chasers depend on the open borders to be able to drive round holiday resorts in their carnival floats, and that the claims procedures are facilitated by reciprocal agreements across the EU.  Maybe it's not.  But I'd have thought that if the EU wasn't a factor there'd be richer pickings for these "claims clinics" hanging round hotels in India or Egypt.

[Janet]

I think they just go where Brits are on holiday, and the ambulance chaser firms are in the UK anyway. The people who do the claims gathering are employed as autonomos (or illegally, probably), and the vans are sourced here and painted here, so I don't think open borders, or EU courts, will make a difference. I think this is why the Governments decided they had to act jointly, and in collaboration with Ashotel. They couldn't see an alternative other than coordinated legal action.

One thing that will keep them in Europe, as opposed to India or Egypt, is the modern legal systems in European countries. Try chasing a claim in Goa, or Sharm ... is there anyone even still there?! ... and these systems operate independently anyway, and separately from the EU infrastructure, because of national jurisdictions.

[Perikles]

Unrelated, but funny....

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[Nova]

Unrelated, but funny....

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The El Duque area really isn't what it used to be 

[Michael]

The El Duque area really isn't what it used to be