Recreation

Stayed in the Hampton Inn in Bowling Green, Ohio this past Saturday. I was awakened at 1am by a caller impersonating the front desk clerk to try and get me to reveal personal information. Luckily, I caught on to his game before falling victim. Here is a copy of the email I sent to Hampton regarding it:

Was awoken at 1am by a male caller with a Southern accent who identified himself as the front desk clerk, and asked to speak to the registered guest. I told him that that was me. He apologized for waking me up and said that they'd had a computer crash which resulted in 25 guests' information being lost. Said his insurance policy mandated that he have an accurate guest count, so he needed to re-register those guests. Because of the error, he said that I'd be entitled to a 40% "rebate" on my nightly rate. I said ok.

He then said, "I'll be right with you, sir. I realize you've been waiting awhile and I'll be with you in just a moment." (As if he was talking to a guest checking in.)

He then verified my room number (209) and asked how many nights I'd be staying. I said "1." Then he asked my first name. I said, "Lisa." Knowing then where this was headed (that he was eventually going to ask for my entire name, address, and credit card number), and realizing that I had no caller id to confirm that I was actually talking to Hampton Inn's front desk clerk, I told him that I'd go downstairs and "re-register" with the front desk clerk. He thanked me and hung up.

I was ready to go downstairs, but my husband said we should just call. I did, and it was a girl who answered the phone. My husband told her that someone had just called our room asking us to re-register, and she said that it wasn't her. She didn't ask any more questions or seem concerned at all.

It seems that someone was trying to take advantage of my groggy state to trick me into giving my information, probably so that he could use my credit card number to make fraudulent purchases. Just thought that you should know. If you have any way of founding out what number called my room at 1am, you should follow up, because someone is very clever and trying to defraud your guests. P.S. I'm not sure what your policy is for transferring calls to rooms, but obviously the caller didn't know my name.

Westcoaster

Thanks for the heads up. And thanks for taking the time to report this to the hotel.

cordelli

It's a fairly common scam that has gotten press for years.

Snopes even covered it in 2008
The BBB and the Rhode Island Attorney General and many other agencies have issued warnings on it because it is becoming more and more popular.

It's sad that it becomes more and more popular because people fall for it, or even worse fall for the extension of it, when they say they will send somebody up for their credit card information and they just open the door for them

Recreation

Interesting. I'd never heard of it. I also wonder why hotels aren't requiring the guest's last name before transferring a call into a guest's room, especially at 1am.

mahohmei

There could be a few things at play here:

- Maybe the front desk will transfer a call to a room with nothing but the room number.

- Maybe the scammer is another guest in the hotel.

- Maybe the scammer somehow knows a phone number that bypasses the reception desk and allows a caller to key in the room extension.

Regarding a computer crash: whenever I've checked into a hotel for one night, they typically slide my credit card on the spot and give me a receipt to sign. If every computer in the hotel blew up, they'd still have received their money for my night's stay.

nrr

It's also possible that the caller was using a house phone (in many hotels there are lots of these--less likely, but possible, the caller was a registered guest and calling from his room.)
[Side note: In casinos, there are 100's of house phones, allowing one to call directly to a room without going through the switchboard.]

Often1

The short answer is that you should never, ever, never give out personal information to a caller you do not personally know. These are 100% of the time scams.

Most hotels have direct-inward-dial systems now because they don't staff an 'operator' position, particularly overnight. Even if the property could have done something here, it's your information and you need to be proactive in protecting it.

ESPECIALROB

I very rarely utilize telephones in hotel rooms nowadays. Anyone that needs to contact me has my cellphone number, so upon check in to my room, I disable the ringer, unplug the phone, or ask the front desk to hold all calls.

As I'm a light sleeper, doing this is an absolute must for me, to avoid being awakened and/or bothered by people I don't know calling my room in the middle of the night.

cordelli

They don't usually go through the front desk. Most of the hotel phone systems have access numbers into the system that allow people to punch in the extension. Many of them don't disable the feature for the rooms, they just leave it functioning figuring that nobody will have the number to access it. In many cases, those access numbers are not that hard to find or figure out through trial and error.

It's also possible on many systems to call some office you know nobody is in at 1 am (say the catering manager), get their voicemail system, and with a few keystrokes be transferred to another extension, in this case a room.

There are many ways around the front desk to get a room phone to ring from outside, how successful you are depends on how good you are and how locked down the hotel made their phone system.

gobluetwo

In North America? What types of hotels? At least half (sometimes more) of my hotel stays in a given year are for 1 night only and I've only once had this happen, at a Comfort Inn on a last minute reservation. Otherwise, I've never been asked to sign anything upon checking (at various Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Hyatt, Kimpton and other properties). I can't recall if I had to do so for my 1 night stays in Prague or Zurich (2 different hotels), but certainly a very rare occurrence for me in the US and Canada.

On topic, this is an old scam. Never happened to me, but I'd hope I'd be in a state of mind to recognize what's going on.

mahohmei

This August, while driving between FL and NJ, I stopped at a Best Western and a Comfort Inn along the way. I handed over my credit card and got my receipt for the night right then--in the morning, I had only to hand over the keycard and walk out.

oldpenny16

Thanks for bringing this up. It is an old scam but folks are still fooled.

A variation is telephoning someone's room and asking for a false name. If a woman answers the phone, then the person makes up a story about having to come to check to see if (and variations) to see if the tv has been stolen.

This happened to me in Tampa Florida. I called the front desk and found out it was a scam. They offered to move me to a new room, but I figured if someone was watching they would see the room change and declined the offer.

That was the last time I stayed in a motel that had the doors open to the parking lot.

Critic

Is it possible you were booked in under some form of deep-discount "advance purchase" rate? I find myself agreeing with gobluetwo - I've done quite a few single-night stays (primarily at Marriotts & Hiltons), and while I'm always asked for a CC at checkin (for incidentals, primarily), I've never been given a folio indicating 'paid in full'.

There's only one major exception I can think of: Walt Disney World resort hotels (meaning the Disney-operated on-property resorts) typically make you settle your room bill up front, even if you're staying a week.

Recreation

It was an advance online booking via Hampton Inn's website. I was asked to sign the registration form, initial where the rate was listed, and provide my car make and model. Note that this is a college town, so they may operate in kind.

So, yes, they had all this information even if the computer crashed.

mahohmei

Sorry, but I'm a bit lost here. Is the point of this scam to get a guest to allow a stranger into their room for robbery/rape?