Customers fleeced of thousands at strip club - but bank refunds

29 October 2023 , 09:57

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Customers fleeced of thousands at strip club - but bank refunds

Two men whose bank accounts were raided when their drinks were spiked at strip clubs have had thousands of pounds refunded. In separate incidents the men woke up to find scammers had cleaned out their accounts.

Their banks initially said there was nothing they could do as their PIN numbers had been used to make the payments. But both appealed to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) who has now ruled in their favour and ordered the bank to pay back the missing cash.

In the first case a man went to a club in Spain where he paid for “services” costing £1,300. Identified only as Mr M, he said that when he returned home later, he found more than £5,000 extra had vanished from his account. He claimed his drink was spiked and he was left “dazed and confused” and that staff at the venue must have seen him enter his PIN.

The FOS ruling said the bank, Cashplus, should have done more to check the extra payments were valid. It has ordered the bank to pay back the missing £5,500 from Mr M’s account and pay him another £150 to make up for his distress and inconvenience.

The men were visiting strip clubs when they were scammed (Getty Images/RooM RF)

It comes amid reports of a string of similar fraud claims in the past made by other customers who had visited foreign clubs.

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In the second case a visitor to an adult club – who was identified only as Mr H – said he was given a “free shot” of booze which left him feeling “strange and euphoric”. After being ushered into a private room he was pressured to make a purchase using his bank card and was separated from his friends who he had gone out with, reports the Star.

He sent his friends a text message plea saying he was being held prisoner at the club and asking for help. Local police were called to try to find him and he was eventually found hours later in the streets near the club.

He found that £8,000 had been drained from his bank account, including maxing out his £2,000 overdraft limit. The man's bank, Smile, refused to refund the cash saying all the payments had been correctly verified but the FOS ruled with Mr H, believing his story that he had been drugged and then scammed.

A spokesperson for the Financial Ombudsman Service said: “Consumers should raise any suspicious card transactions with their bank as soon as possible. If people don’t feel their bank is treating them fairly, they can contact our free, independent service and we’ll see if we can help. Each week we resolve hundreds of financial disputes efficiently and without bias.”

Paul Greaves