Holiday hell: £5,789 bill after phone theft and terrible exchange rates

Tourists abroad are increasingly being targeted by criminal gangs whose priority is not mobile phone handsets, but the more valuable sim card inside. Photograph: Poike/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Hello and welcome to this week’s Money Talks – a roundup of the week’s biggest stories and some things you may have missed.

Money news

Airport bureaux de change offering less than a euro for a pound

UK house price rose £17,000 in year to June, ONS figures show

Rail fare increases prompt call for part-time season tickets

Santander slashes its 123 interest rate

Younger generation ‘face overwhelming pensions bill’

Budget airlines stand accused over credit card fees

Gas meter blunder leaves thousands of consumers out of pocket

Feature

A knife-point attack on holiday … then a £5,789 bill from Vodafone

Make a note of your IMEI number, which identifies your handset and enables service providers to block the sim in case of theft. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

In pictures

Homes in windmills

A chance to make this miniature windmill in Lot-et-Garonne, France, your home. Photograph: Group Mercure

In the spotlight

Top UK firms are paying more in dividends to shareholders than they pay into their pension schemes, a report has revealed. Deficits mean many are closing final salary schemes and workers are getting less – it’s a scandal, says Patrick Collinson.

Strike action is looming over plans by Royal Mail and the Post Office to cut their pension schemes to ribbons. Photograph: John Giles/PA

Consumer champions

Currys claim that dishwasher could not be collected doesn’t hold water

DPD has put our address on a blacklist

BT leaves me hanging on with no hope of being connected

Money deals

Save 10% on annual and single trip travel insurance until 31 August when you quote Summer10.

If you need to transfer money overseas get free online transfers with Moneycorp, providers of the Guardian money transfers service.