When out on vacation, we tend to bring a lot of valuable things such as cameras, cellphones and laptops. However, since we can’t really bring everything all the time, we leave them in our hotel rooms thinking everything will be okay. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.
Just yesterday, James Deakin shares his experience in a well known resort in Clark. Please note however that this could happen ANYWHERE, so it’s best to just be extra careful all the time. Read James’ story below:
Photo taken from GettyImages
“Friends, be aware of this modus operandi. This happened to me recently in Fontana Resort in Clark and it cost me my brand new MacBook Pro, and a bag containing a lot of other valuables and personal effects worth even more than the laptop. I’m sharing it here in the hope that it could prevent someone else from falling victim to the same MO, and I encourage you to do the same.
Thieves are either cloning your room key or working with a master key. Either way, they seamlessly enter your room when you step out for a swim or a meal and clean you out––and not in a housekeeping type of way, either. Just read the comments; you will see that I’m just one of countless victims here.
It is difficult to say if the thieves are working with hotel staff here. But it is even more difficult to believe that they are not because––according to their own security––each key card issued has its own unique ID number (even when you are issued multiple keys for the same room) and security registered my hotel door being opened by MY key while I was with the CEO of the place. So unless someone pick-pocketed me in front of the CEO, went back and ransacked my room, then politely returned and snuck the key back into my pocket without any of us noticing, the key was cloned.
The most upsetting part about this was that I was with my wife and three kids the whole time. And the thought of it happening in the middle of the night while they were sleeping makes me ill. It is a good thing the villa was empty at the time and nobody was hurt. But I dread the thought. To think there was a security guard stationed right across my villa the whole time, who even said he saw a person enter my villa at the exact time the unauthorized entry was recorded, yet nothing happened because he assumed the guy was one of my crew.
As upset as I was, I kept silent about it to give security and management a chance to investigate it and handle it properly. But 6 weeks later, not only has nothing happened, but as you will read below, I find out that that this is far from an isolated case. This has been happening for a long time now to countless guests. It has even been brought up in the media and with CDC, yet despite all that, no measures have been installed to prevent it. Not even CCTV, which is the bare minimum. So I’m letting you all know so you can be prepared and hopefully not fall victim. Be safe. Be vigilant. Feel free to share.”
What do you think of this? Has something similar ever happened to you?
