Hundreds of tourists scammed after booking a luxury hotel next to El Retiro that never existed: "A man got hit by a jamacuco... and they took him to the hospital"

Everyone arrived with their suitcases: families who wanted to see the city, exchange students, businessmen... They had booked a room at the Hotel Palacio Central Madrid, a 53 square meter apartment with breakfast included, parking, spa... It was advertised on some of the most important accommodation booking platforms, located next to El Retiro, and cost between 90 and 150 euros per night. A bargain.

The only problem is that it was a scam. During the last few days, dozens of people affected, most of them foreigners, have been piling up on the sidewalk of Menéndez Pelayo Avenue, near number 19, trying to figure out what had happened to them. They asked, but no one knew about the aforementioned hotel, mainly because it had never existed.

Some criminals managed to impersonate several of the main room reservation websites to post the advertisement, with some photos showing open-plan rooms with king size beds, an equipped kitchen, large living rooms and a façade more typical of a mansion. They had also included 700 comments, to lend more credibility to their ruse. Of course, to make the payment they redirected you to another website.

"The residents of this building saw a lot of commotion and did not understand anything... They thought it could be a casting, since there were people waiting on the sidewalk with quite a few suitcases," Félix Sánchez, president of the Retiro Norte Neighborhood Association, explains to this newspaper. The scam has continued for at least four days, although the most chaotic day was the one experienced yesterday, Tuesday. "One man, one of those affected, got a shock or a drop in voltage... and fell to the ground. An ambulance had to take him to the hospital.

At the moment there is no official number of people deceived, although the number could well exceed a hundred. Many of them have already filed the corresponding complaint with the National Police.