New hotel scam that you need to be aware of

How does it work? When you arrive at your hotel you give the front desk your credit card to cover all changes to your room. But later, after you settle in, the phone rings and the caller says something to the effect: “This is the front desk, and we came across a problem of your credit card information. Can you please re-read your credit card information and verify the last 3 security digits on the reverse side of your card?”

But of course, it is not really the front desk clerk on the other end of the phone, but a scammer who called the hotel and asked to be put through to your room number. For security reasons, hotel operators are not supposed to transfer a call to a room unless the caller can supply the name of the guest. But experts warn that this precaution is not always honoured, especially during busy peak travel periods.

What to do: If this happens to you, never give out your card number over the phone. Ask for the name of someone to speak to and tell the caller you’ll come down to the front desk in the morning to clear up any problems in person. If you discover there is not a problem with your charge card information after all, inform the manager of the attempted scam.