We were another victim of a identity theft scam while staying at a Mesa hotel for Christmas 2012. The caller bypassed the automated system, which put the call straight through to our room.
At 10:30 p.m., just as we were going to sleep. The caller asked for my husband’s credit card information but only introduced himself as the manager. He told my husband that there was no need to come down to the office. Supposedly, the computers went down earlier that day and lost all info. Had we not been so tired, one of us would have gone down to the office to deal with it, instead of on the phone.
We called the office and the main office numbers the next morning and were told that this was not the first time it has happened at this hotel. Our bank had caught and flagged the attempted charges that next morning, in 3 different states from where we were at.
We fixed our problems from it and got our money back on one of the charges. We were lucky to have caught it quickly enough, I fear that these scams will not stop.
Please get the word out again about it, so that maybe we can save the next person targeted. I do not blame the hotel. I simply feel sorry for them being involved in the scams.
Heather Mayo
Harker Heights, Texas
Masterrogue666 posted at 8:32 pm on Thu, Jan 10, 2013.
Lots of red flags here:
1. "At 10:30 p.m" - The first thing words out of my mouth would be "Why are you calling me so late!", then I would have hung up.
2. Managers don't usually work the late shift, and would normally identify themselves.
3. "No need to come to the office". BIG red flag! They like to swipe the card for proof.
The best rule to live by is that if it's an incoming call, NEVER give out important information.
I'm thinking it's one of the workers at that place...
Masterrogue666 posted at 11:01 am on Sat, Jan 12, 2013.
EVT: Somehow the ORIGINAL article has been changed here....
Bluepoet posted at 11:29 am on Mon, Jan 14, 2013.
Is this the new "comics" section?[beam]
Bluepoet posted at 12:10 pm on Tue, Jan 15, 2013.
No legitimate business would call you and ask for credit card info...scam 101...
Glad you were able to stop the damage, but the only time a motel phone should ring, is if you left instructions for a wake up call, in the morning.
As for the hotel in question...if you know it's happened before, is there some way you can stop it, or at least make it more difficult, like say, a switchboard system? It's hurting your business, after all...