Watch Out! There’s a New Scam Targeting Hotel Guests
Jennifer Billock October 14, 2015
Hotel guests are creepily being scammed by credit card thieves through the phones in their rooms.
A new credit card scam is on the rise, taking advantage of hotel guests who’ve provided a card for incidentals at reception upon check-in. Somehow, the scammers are getting ahold of the guest list and room number, calling the rooms and asking for credit card information while posing as hotel employees.
Lifehacker reported the issue after a victim shared the following experience via Reddit under the “kcapulet” handle:
Sunday morning at 10:30 my hotel phone rings and it’s the manager letting me know their computer system is down at the moment … He lets me know that because the system is down they’re a few hours behind on recovering data. He confirmed my room number and offered me an extended checkout … and also offered to comp our least expensive night’s stay for the inconvenience.
He mentioned there were 30+ people in the checkout line and offered to check me out via the phone and said I could leave my keys as I left. He asked me to confirm my credit card number and I got a little hesitant and said I would feel more comfortable providing that in person.
Another version of the scam sees the criminals calling hotel guests and asking them to give credit card information over the phone because the original card number collected at check-in isn’t working. But, according to Consumer Affairs, that isn’t really something that would ever happen.
“We’ll know right when you check in that that card’s not a valid card, and we’ll ask you at that time to provide a different method of payment,” Neal Smith, general manager of the Hampton Inn in Knoxville, Tenn., told NBC affiliate WBIR. “There should be no reason someone is calling you in your room asking for sensitive information.”
[Photo: iStock]
Definitely a very old scam.
I'd not heard of it, so thank you.
It was going on back in the mid 90s when I was working in hotels.
This old trick is straight outta Africa. Scammer give money to his mate (who also has profitable sidelines in pimping and international espionage) on reception. Mate on reception gives guest list to scammer. Simples! If you want the full-on experience of this kind of thing, I recommend a stay at the Crowne Plaza Harare.
This is not new. It has been going on for at least 10 yrs.