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Pigeon Poo scam alive and well in Granada

We’ve literally just arrived in Granada and in our first couple of hours here my friend had been relieved of his credit card by a local felon using the fake spray of pigeon poo trick. I was a little way ahead of our group when my wife yelled to tell me had been struck by bird poo and a friendly local was going to show him where he could wash it off.

I was immediately running back yelling “it’s a scam!” and dashed into the university of Granada building the scammer was brazenly using and into the gents to find my friend washing his shirt in a sink with the scammer fussing about him. He made it clear we - there was another friend with me - weren’t welcome, but I asked my friend to check for his wallet which he confirmed he had then despite scammer’s protests we suggested he ‘do one’ (British Legal Term). He actually didn’t take much persuading/threatening to make him leave.

It was only when we left that my friend checked and found a single one of his many credit cards was missing. This we cancelled by phone immediately and then asked the nearest police officer we could find for help. He directed us to a tourist office police station behind the cathedral where they efficiently dealt with the theft. We also called at the university to alert them that their facilities were being used for a part of petty theft. They have CCTV of their entrance that the police can call on and better yet my friend was able to positively identify the tea leaf (British Legal Term) as he has ‘previous’ (BLT) from police mug shots and he can look forward to being ‘nicked’ (BLT) in the near future.

So…a warning to those planning to visit Granada to be on their guard (I was assured by the police that this is a rare occurrence) and a big thanks to this forum where I first read of this scam in the first place. And today…..the noticeable absence of any birds!

Ian

Posted by
2618 posts

Sorry this happened but thanks for sharing. I'll be there in a few weeks.

Posted by
14790 posts

Ian, so glad you picked up something from the forum! You give such good information about Yorkshire that I'm happy that the forum has returned the favor!

So sorry for your friend!

Posted by
4867 posts

Way to go with the quick thinking and quick action! I bet it could have been much worse without that!

Posted by
2567 posts

So the thief removed someone’s wallet, stole only one card from the wallet, then returned the wallet, in the midst of all this?

Posted by
1343 posts

It’s a bit of a long and complex tale for here, but the heavy mob - literally and metaphorically - coming through the door and getting antsy may have prevented him taking more. Certainly restricted his time available to do much. But in essence, yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.

Plus, my friend had left his phone charging at home, so that wasn’t available to take. In that respect the scammer chose poorly because no gold jewellery or expensive watches on offer either.

Ian