Police are seeking a man who racked up a bill of over €6,000 at a Limassol hotel during the month of August and then disappeared without paying a cent.
On Wednesday, police issued a wanted bulletin for Ioannis Shacolas, 40.
According to the police report, Shacolas stayed at a beach hotel in Limassol from July 31 to August 30 and ran up a tab of €6,250 which he never paid.
Shacolas appears to have told the hotel management that his expenses would be covered by a well-known known local businessman. He even faked a call to the hotel by pretending to be the businessman in question, asking whether his ‘acquaintance’ had checked in at the hotel.
On August 30 Shacolas left the hotel, never to be seen again. When hotel management contacted the businessman to settle the expenses they were told that he had no knowledge of the 40-year old. The hotel then reported the case to the authorities.
While Limassol police did not give out the name of the businessman, the suspect has the same surname as Cyprus’ top entrepreneur, Nicos Shacolas, though they are not related.
Police said it was not the first time the wanted man had pulled the same scam. He had previously tried it at other hotels in Larnaca and Paphos.
Limassol police spokesman Ioannis Soteriades told the Cyprus Mail that Shacolas had gone to prison for his scams but was back to his old tricks after his release.
Besides the Limassol hotel case, Shacolas also has pending cases in court regarding a numbers of other scams.
Police are asking anyone who has knowledge of Shacolas whereabouts to contact authorities at the 1460 toll-free number.
Cyprus Mail
