facts verse presents beware of this new
hotel scam when you are checking in to
your hotel in this day and age there are
scam artists everywhere there is always
someone out there trying to dupe you out
of your money before you even have a
chance to realize what is happening
years ago the only scams that you heard
about were the crown prince's or the
Kings who sent out emails hoping that
someone would be dumb enough to give out
their bank account information these
people claimed to have a great deal of
money that they needed in a US bank
account and they would offer millions of
dollars to whoever was willing to help
once they got the bank account
information they would use it to
completely clean out the account over
the years there have been thousands of
new scams and thousands of poor
unsuspecting victims most scams are done
either online or over the phone if you
are planning to travel and you are going
to be staying at a hotel it is important
that you know about a new scam that is
so smart even the most intelligent
vigilant person can be duped beware of
this new hotel scam when you are
checking into your hotel when you check
into your hotel you often need to give
your credit card information when you
check in so that they can charge you for
any additional room fees such as
long-distance phone calls taking items
from the minibar and even if you do any
damage to the room when you check in the
desk clerk will take your credit card
information and return the card to you
they do this so that you can still use
your card during the trip normally you
will give the clerk your credit card and
you won't hear about it again until you
check out there are scam artists who use
this to their advantage this is how the
scam works the scam artists will start
by calling your hotel room they say that
they are calling from the front desk and
that there was an issue when they
processed your credit card they will ask
for the card number the expiration date
and the three-digit security code on the
back what you don't know is that the
hotel scam artist is not even calling
from inside the hotel they simply call
the hotel and they ask for a particular
room number when they get your room they
act so professionally that you would
have no reason to believe that it is
actually the front desk calling you the
only thing that they won't do that the
front desk would do is referring to you
by name this is because they won't know
your name they got you by just asking
for your room number if it really were
the front desk calling would they say
mr. mrs. so-and-so this would let you
know that it actually is the front desk
and not a scam artist when you give the
scam artist your credit card information
they will have no problem using your
card to shop til they drop this is
enough information for someone to buy
just about anything online by the time
you realize it your card could be maxed
out if you used a debit card they could
have cleaned out your entire bank
account before you even know what is
going on this can really ruin a trip it
can also take the credit card company
month to straighten things out so that
you can use your card again if they
cleaned out your bank account it can
take a while before you get your money
back
this can disrupt your entire life it is
very sad that there are people who make
a living stealing and scamming but it is
a fact of life fortunately there is a
way that you can protect yourself and
keep yourself from getting scammed if
you ever got a phone call from the front
desk asking you for your card
information you can do one of two things
first tell the clerk that you will be
right down with the card if they tell
you that you can easily give it to them
over the phone let them know that you
aren't comfortable doing that and you
will be heading down shortly to
straighten things out another option is
to tell the caller that you are in the
middle of something and you will call
down within a few minutes if they insist
that you give them the information right
then and there you should hang up if it
really was the front desk calling you
can be sure when you call you can also
explain why you hung up they will
understand completely if the front desk
has no knowledge of the situation it was
a scam artist it is very rare that the
front desk will actually need your
credit card information a second time
however it could happen it is best to be
sure who you are talking to if you are
going to protect yourself and your money
this is something that is really
happening
the original story was posted by someone
who was actually scammed this way
in order to help others avoid having
something like this happened to them
they wanted the story to get out
sadly the person who was scammed this
way is still trying to clean up the mess
that it caused sadly this scam isn't the
first and it clearly won't be the last
these people spend their days thinking
up ways to steal money from honest
hard-working people the best way to
avoid being scammed is to always remain
vigilant you should never give out your
credit card or bank account information
to someone who calls your home or hotel
room you should also avoid donating
money online to any organization over
the phone you have no way of knowing
whether or not these people are
legitimately collecting money the best
way to avoid being scammed is to trust
no one keep your passwords private and
avoid giving out any personal
information whenever possible there is
always a scammer out there waiting to
take your money subscribe for more
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