A BRIT abroad who told cops that he’d been conned is now under investigation for fraud.
The 48-year-old, who had been holidaying with his wife, claimed that he’d been the victim of a ‘Goodnight, Cinderella’ scam – when he had actually allegedly spent all of his cash on call girls.
The London transport worker told the police that he was conned out of £3,500 (BRL 22,000) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The scam is Brazilian slang for Rohypnol, GHB, or any date-rape drug that renders victims vulnerable to assault or robbery.
But the Brit is now being investigated after the police discovered that he’d actually spent that amount in a nightclub with call girls.
He has now been accused of making a false report and of fraud.
The Brit and his wife had travelled to the South American country for a holiday last month.
It was in the early hours of 27 November that he allegedly asked a taxi driver to take him to a nightclub in search of call girls, local media report.
The Brit – then in the company of women – allegedly began spending money on drinks at a club in Copacabana.
His wife, who was in their hotel room at the time, noticed the extravagant spending and assumed he was in danger.
So she called the bank and cancelled his card.
He allegedly left the nightclub with two women around 7am and went with them to another hotel.
A CCTV camera in the reception caught the moment he tried to use his newly-blocked card to pay for a room.
Unable to do so, he gave up, sent the women away, and returned to the hotel where he was staying.
There, he told his wife that he’d fallen victim to a scam and, hours later, went to the Tourist Police station to make a report.
His £3,500 nightclub bill – the amount he claimed he’d been conned out of – was allegedly reversed, which is why he is now under investigation for fraud.
This is not the first time that a Brit abroad has found themselves in murky waters.
For Rebecca Blake, things turned disastrously dark after she shared a taxi with an Irish man after a booze binge in Dubai.
The 35-year-old, who had moved out to the Emirate from Dorking, Surrey, met Connor McRedwood at a brunch party there in May 2012.
After hitting it off, the pair got into a taxi together, Connor,30, carrying an open bottle of beer.
Rebecca recalled: “I had no idea alcohol was illegal unless you had a licence. I had no idea that was going to be the moment my life completely changed.
“He had a bottle of beer on him. We got into a taxi and the driver started going completely the wrong way.
“We ended up having a bit of an argument. Next thing we know, the driver pulls over. There’s a police car on the side.”
The driver claimed they had been having sex in the back of his cab, and the pair were driven to a police station where Rebecca was breathalysed, handcuffed and thrown into a cockroach-infested hellhole jail.
She said: “My heart sank, I just knew something wasn’t right.
“It looked like a dungeon. It was all underground.
“The smell was revolting. It smelled of really strong urine.
“Women were just lying on the concrete floor on old mattresses, falling apart.”
