Hotel Scam Alert

Travel season is almost here. There are a lot of scams out there. (It's hard to keep abreast of  them all...)

I try to stay clear of writing about "bad news" - like scams - in my blog. But recently one of my sons, who works in a hotel, informed us of a hotel-related scam to be aware of... So I'm passing it on...

This is the situation: Someone calls a hotel, asking to speak to her husband / friend etc. in room number....

At this point a vigilant hotel employee should ask the name of the person the caller wishes to speak to... But if the caller is put through to the room, this is what the scammer says to the person in the room:

Hello, I'm calling from the hotel front desk. There was a problem with your credit card. Could you please give me your credit card information again.

At this point, the person in the room should reply: I'll come down to the front desk and sort this out.

But at no point should a hotel guest give credit card information to an unknown caller, even if the caller claims to be a hotel employee!