A Lithuanian’s surprising technique for avoiding the restaurant bill

He has become the enemy of restaurateurs. In Spain, a man has developed a new technique to avoid paying the bill at a restaurant. Ready to do anything to eat in sight, he went as far as simulate cardiac arrests at the end of meals. Arrested 20 times by the police, the man in his fifties even made a reputation for committing fraud, which earned him the nickname “gastrojeta”, reports West France.

Since November 2022, the police in Alicante, where all the crimes were committed, have arrested the 50-year-old 20 times. His last arrest dates back to September 12, 2023. “At 6:15 p.m., after he enjoyed a seafood paella and two whiskeys at the El buen comer restaurant on Calle Mayor, in the heart of the historic center, with an unpaid invoice of 34.85 euros“, tell 20 Minutes. Local media describe a “expert a nibble”. At first glance, “this scammer looks like a Russian tourist with money, but he is actually a Lithuanian citizen who does not speak Spanish (although he seems to understand it) and with no known address,” explains the site El Español.

His technique is well established according to the Argentinian daily The Nation. When it was time to pay the bill, he “holds his chest, throws himself on the ground and pretends to have a heart attack to win the sympathy of the shop owner and not pay the bill.” The crook with a big appetite was presented to a judge, who sentenced him to prison for reoffending too many times.