Don't Fall For This Surprisingly Simple Hotel Scam
There's an email going around you might want to pay attention to if you've got a hotel stay in your future, and if you're here reading HotelChatter, we're betting you do.
The forwarded email warns of a scam plaguing hotel guests, whereby a scam artist outside of the hotel gets your credit card information very easily and with your complete trust, and here's how:
'Someone' calls the front desk and asked for (example) Room 620 (which happens to be your room). Your 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 cross a problem with your charge card information. Please re-read me your credit card number and verify the last 3 digits numbers at the reverse side of your charge card.'
Not thinking anything you might give this person your information, since the call seems to come from the front desk. But actually, it is a scam of someone calling from outside the hotel/front desk.
It's an almost embarrassingly simple scam, but thankfully it's one that can easily fail if you follow the "duh" steps of telling the person on the line that you'll go down to reception yourself to sort it out. Then do go down to the front desk and ask if there is a problem; if no, notify them that someone is calling the hotel with the intention of stealing guests' credit card information.
Although no specific hotels are mentioned in the warning, we believe that it's wise to be aware of this and be protective of your identity and card information, especially while on the road. This goes for international hotels too!
[Photo: HotelChatter]
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