Five women from a "hostess club" in Palma have been arrested by the National Police and charged with offences related to prostitution, fraud, forgery and membership of a criminal organisation.
The Brazilian owner and the four other women (from Guinea and Romania) came under investigation in June. This followed reports to the police of credit-card scams at a club in the S'Aigo Dolça area. Clients said that after having had a drink, they could not remember anything until the next day. They later became aware of withdrawals from their cards.
The police so far know of eight victims. In one case over 5,000 euros were taken from an account. A high-end phone was also stolen. Investigators have been able to verify the theft of 12,000 euros from eight clients but they suspect that the amount is very much more. Some clients will not have reported anything in order to avoid any family issues, while other clients - foreign visitors - will not necessarily have been aware of deductions from their cards until back home.