We all love to travel, who doesn’t? But falling victims to scams may just ruin our whole vacation. Yesterday, James Deakin shares this warning to fellow travelers are 2 of his friends had just fallen victim to what some claim to already be an age old scam.
“Guys, a piece of travel advice that could save you a lot of headache. This has happened now to 2 of my friends in the last week so it is definitely worth passing on.
This is a pretty clever scam.
Typically when checking in, you give the front desk your credit card (for any charges to your room) and they don’t retain the card.
You go to your room and settle in. All is good.
The hotel receives a call and the caller asks for (as an example) room 620 – which happens to be your room.
The phone rings in your room. You answer and the person on the other end says the following:
‘”This is the front desk. When checking in, we came across a problem with your charge card information.
Please re-read me your credit card numbers and verify the last 3 digits numbers at the reverse side of your charge card.”
Not thinking anything wrong, since the call seems to come from the front desk you oblige. But actually, it is a scam by someone calling from outside the hotel. They have asked for a random room number, then asked you for your credit card and address information.They sound so professional, that you think you are talking to the front desk.
If you ever encounter this scenario on your travels, tell the caller that you will be down to the front desk to clear up any problems.
Then, go to the front desk or call directly and ask if there was a problem. If there was none, inform the manager of the hotel that someone tried to scam you of your credit card information, acting like a front desk employee.
Feel free to share this. It may end up saving someone a LOT of hassle.”
A similar experience was also posted on a the website twocents.lifehacker.com where the author shares the following,
“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 (which sounded great from the hangover) 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.”
This can happen ANYWHERE in the world, so be sure to be extra vigilant.
Do you know anyone who has also fallen victim to this? Be sure to share this with loved ones and prevent that major headache during your vacation.
