£600 for cheese? The Brazilian beach scams that cost visitors dear

Tourists in Rio de Janeiro are being targeted by a card-payment scam where beach vendors add extra zeros to transactions, with UK consumer protection offering limited recourse for victims [1]. Lisa Selby was charged 4,000 reais (£590) for two slices of cheese that should have cost 40 reais (£5.90) [1]. She stated the vendor showed her the correct amount on the terminal, then turned it around and added two zeros before she tapped her phone [1]. Other recent cases include a British man charged £1,500 for a kebab and an Argentinian tourist billed £3,000 for a £3 corn on the cob [1]. The scam exploits tourists' unfamiliarity with local currency [1]. UK regulatory frameworks provide little help. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which regulates financial firms providing services to consumers [2], confirmed that pending transactions like Selby's cannot usually be reversed [1]. Chargeback schemes are voluntary services offered by card issuers, who set their own criteria [1]. Selby's bank, Monzo, initially promised a refund but later said the authorised payment could not be reversed, ultimately refunding her as a goodwill gesture after media contact [1]. Without a receipt showing the agreed price, chargeback claims fail [1]. Consumer advocates like Martin Lewis, a British financial journalist known for campaigns on consumer rights [3], have highlighted gaps in protection for such face-to-face scams. Unlike authorised push payment fraud, where banks often refund victims, these vending disputes are treated as buyer/seller disagreements unless evidence of overcharging exists [1]. The FCA noted victims could submit a claim for an unauthorised transaction, arguing they did not consent to the debited amount, and can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service if dissatisfied [1]. Financial institutions globally are mandated to implement anti–money laundering (AML) controls to prevent and detect financial crime [4], but these protocols do not directly address tourist fraud at the point of sale. To avoid the scam, holidaymakers are advised to pay cash or physically hold the card reader to prevent last-minute price alterations [1].