Gentleman's club accused of fraud following mystery credit card charges

The man claimed he was ripped off after getting drunk and entering a strip club. Photo / Getty

A top London strip club is under fire after several clients alleged they were ripped off after visiting the establishment.

According to the UK Telegraph, one man claimed he woke up after a February 2019 night out at SophistiCats – which touts itself as the "No. 1 strip club in London with breathtaking lap dance" – to find £50,000 (NZ$99,000) had been charged to his credit card.

The finance worker apparently could not remember visiting the club and contacted police, who subsequently carried out an investigation.

Two other men have since reported similar alleged charges of £10,000 (NZ$19,800) each, news.com.au reported.

Police and Camden Trading Standards are now recommending the council not renew the venue's Sexual Entertainment Venues (SEV) licence this week when it is up for review.

According to The Mirror, the first man said he had no memory of the transactions, which included £28,000 (NZ$55,757) "in the last few minutes" before he left.

The publication said a police officer who examined surveillance footage said it was "clear" the customer wasn't aware of his surroundings.

In a report, the officer also claimed a waitress gestured to women to start dancing in front of the man as he entered his card details into a card machine.

"All of these actions appear to be aggressive sales techniques with the victim looking unaware of his surroundings and predicament," the officer said in the report, according to the Telegraph.

"This victim did not even know that he had attended the SophistiCats in Camden, as his last memories were of him and his friend having a drink in the SophistiCats venue in Soho, Westminster."

But in a statement, SophistiCats denied the claims against the business.

"These are allegations not incidents and the club will supply, at the hearing, a full rebuttal to all accusations," the statement reads.

Camden council will decide on the venue's licence later this week.