A 50-year-old Lithuanian resident was detained in Spain for allegedly faking a heart attack at 20 restaurants over a year to avoid paying his debts.
According to the Spanish newspaper 'El Pais,' the individual, only named Aidas J, targeted restaurants in Alicante.
Aidas' most recent con saw him ordering seafood paella and two whiskies at 34.85 euros at Alicante's El Buen Comer restaurant.
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After eating his lunch, the man allegedly attempted to leave without paying. When approached by restaurant employees, he claimed he would get money from his hotel room to pay his bill, but the hotel's owners had none of it.
Irked by his inability to leave, the man staged a heart attack, collapsing to the ground and clutching his chest.
''It was very theatrical. He pretended to faint and slumped himself down on the floor,'' the restaurant's manager told the U.S. Sun.
Rather than contacting an ambulance, the restaurant's manager contacted local police, who quickly identified the man due to his previous heart attack.
"The man’s image had reportedly been shared among many area restaurants to try and stop him from striking again," a spokesperson from the Alicante National Police is quoted as saying by Insider.
"He was arrested multiple times in the city of Alicante. The modus operandi was the same."
The scammer was jailed for 42 days after refusing to pay two fines for his fraudulent conduct, but the owners of the hotels he defrauded want him to serve a longer sentence.
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