The con was pretty straightforward. Sexy eastern European women working the South Beach strip in Miami would pick up guys at hotels who looked like they had money and entice them back to private clubs with champagne bottle service. The man would think that he was paying a couple of hundred dollars, but actually his credit card was getting swiped for thousands. In one instance, the bill came to $43,000. Now the FBI has swooped in and arrested 17 people connected to the “b-girl” scheme, reports the Miami Herald.

In order to encourage the bills to go even higher, the “B-girls” or “Bar Girls” would pour their drinks into buckets or planters. For the help in the grift, the girls would get a 20% cut. The suspects are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Some of the signatures were forged as well.

It might be hard to feel too sorry for the men themselves but the b-girls have been giving the local area a bad name. “This scheme preyed on our tourists and gave our tourism industry a black eye,” U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer said in a statement. “We are pleased to have put this ring out of operation.”

Feds bust South Beach club operators in sexy ‘B-Girls’ case [Miami Herald]

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