A man from Spain’s Blanca region was arrested for dining at upscale restaurants and then pretending to have a heart attack to avoid paying his bill.
The 50-year-old scammed over 20 restaurants, as reported by Daily Loud. A photo of the man has been circulating among the region’s restaurants as a warning.
The man’s scam was exposed when he was presented with a bill of $37 (Rs 3,081 approximately) last month at a hotel’s restaurant. When the staff left after giving him the cheque, he tried to leave.
However, he was stopped and reminded about the bill. The man claimed that he was going to get money from his hotel room but the staff didn’t let him leave.
At that point, he started faking a heart attack by slumping on the floor and pretending to faint.
“It was very theatrical, he pretended to faint and slumped himself down on the floor,” the manager of the restaurant told a Spanish news outlet. “We have sent his photo around to all the restaurants to try and stop him from striking again.”
According to Spanish news agency EFE, the scammer asked the restaurant to call an ambulance, but they refused to do so and informed the police. When the cops arrived, they recognised the man from the several run-ins at other restaurants in Alicante and arrested him.
The man had been living in the city since November 2022.
