It’s become kind of a right of passage to come across your first scam artist when growing up. It’s all a part of finding your own way in life, you’ve got to learn that sometimes putting your trust and faith in people can leave you disadvantaged and sometimes even vulnerable. At some point or another you’ve got to face the ugly of the world and what you do to keep it from happening again is a whole separate conversation — so to help keep you informed as to what all is going on in the world we wanted to make sure you knew about the latest hotel scam.
Think about your stay at a hotel. If you’d booked it early you check in, head to your room and forget about it entirely. If you didn’t book ahead you pop up to the front desk, give them your payment details then head up to forget the scenario, either way it should be a quick and not fairly memorable. Now imagine the front desk calling you stating they needed to verify your payment information once more; it’s a bit of a pain in the ass but other than that you just read off the information and once again forget about it. That would be until you learn your account has been taken.
It’s a scam some people are using to steal information and a crapload of money from unsuspecting people trying to get along with their days. To do this, they call up the front desk and ask to speak with someone in a particular room. The front desk unknowingly forwards the call up and Mary’s the name, you’ve just freely given a stranger your card info.
The worst part is that you don’t even have to be in the same area as the thief, all they need to do is call in knowing a few room numbers. If they’re smart they’ll target the suites and penthouse rooms specifically. Just one more scam that can be easily rectified by knowing a desk clerk will never ask for your information over the phone, they’ll ask to see you in person first.
So the next time you get a call in a hotel room asking for payment information, make up some fake story to keep them on the line for as long as possible and really take some steps to sell it. Then, when it’s all said and done, and if it’s good, share it with the world. I miss those old telearketer pranks and this situation would make it so much more deserved..