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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Anna Tims

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

Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro
Scam vendors on Brazil’s popular tourist beaches are a growing phenomenon. Photograph: marchello74/Alamy

When Lisa Selby* used her debit card to pay for two slices of barbecued cheese from a beach vendor in Rio de Janeiro, she expected to pay 40 reais (£5.90) for the snack.

But shortly after the payment had gone through, she realised that she had been charged 4,000 reais (£590) after the vendor added two extra zeros to the card reader.

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