A British mum has been charged along with several others over an alledged scam that saw hotels pay out £9.5million on bogus food poisoning complaints. The scammers allegedly targeted hotels on the island of Majorca by encouraging tourists to make up food poisoning claims as part of a money-making racket. A mother from Essex has been charged with running the suspected along with seven other Britons.
Laura Joyce,42, from Essex was charged along with her brother Marc Cameron.
The siblings have been accused of being the ringleaders of a “profit-motivated organised gang”.
They are believed to have run the racket under the guise of a Spanish company called Elite Project Marketing SL.
Joyce and Cameron now face trial alongside five other Britons they are alleged to have recruited to entice holidaymakers into playing along in scam, along with the UK-based businessman who managed the process.
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42-year-old Laura, who was charged under her maiden name of Cameron, denied her part in the scam (Image: Solarpix)
Laura Joyce is accused of being one of the alleged ringleaders of a criminal gang (Image: Solarpix)
The suspected scammers have been accused of fraud and membership of a criminal gang.”
Those charged have been named as Ryan Bridges, Simon Robert Flanagan, Tegan Jewel Sumerlee, Susan Amanda Lyle, Nicola Marie Sanderson and Peter Carl Murphy.
A court ruling in Majorca read: “The gang specialised in obtaining the details of British tourists in all-inclusive hotels in Majorca it convinced, through a form they themselves elaborated, to falsely claim they had been ill during their stay in one of those hotels and be able to claim compensation in the UK.”
Police detectives believe the scammers’ activities cost three hotel groups around £9.5 million between 2016 and 2017.
A heavily pregnant Joyce was arrested in September 2017 before making a court appearance in May 2018.
Joyce’s lawyer Gabriel Llado has said his client confessed to handing over contact details of holidaymakers for payment but insisted this was done as part of a market research venture.
He denied that Joyce or any of the individuals she used to gather information from tourists had encouraged them to falsify food poisoning claims using chemist receipts.
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Gang accused of encouraging tourists to falsely claim that they had food poisoning (Image: Getty)
He stated that Joyce had only been involved in this activity for a short period of time and quit because she was not earning enough.
The 42-year-old who was charged under her maiden name Cameron denies her role in the scam.