Hotel Phone Phishing Scam

This post is a little overdue...I've been lazy..sorry.
It's nothing funny, it's informative. Sort of like the key card post.  This is a serious thing that has been going on in hotels apparently for a few years now, but it just came back around recently and actually has been happening in my town, and once at my hotel. Thankfully, no one was hurt by this scam in my hotel.

Here's what's been going on. Hotels are being targeted for this scam. Someone will call the hotel and state a room number they request to be transferred to. Once connected with the room, the scammer will say they are calling from the front desk and that there was a problem with their credit card authorization, and there is no need for them to come to the desk, they can just verify the credit card information over the phone. The guest will usually think nothing of it and give the information over the phone...and boom. Information stolen.
When this happened at my hotel, the gentleman hung up and immediately came to the desk ranting and raving because he had been in the room for almost a week and why are we just now telling him there was a problem with the credit card. We never would have known if he had not done that.

So I am here to tell guests in hotels, whether you are a frequent stayer, traveler, or just happen to randomly stay in a hotel one night. If you ever get a phone call from "the front desk" about your credit card, immediately hang up and go talk to them. It is something that needs to be reported to the police. Now, it is very possible that there really was a problem with the card and it was not noticed until after you had already checked in. However usually the clerk at the desk will request that you come down or stop by on your way through so they can physically run the card. I've done it before...ran the card through the machine and not the computer...it happens. But never ever ever under any circumstances whether it's 3am or anything give your information over the phone. If the clerk at the desk has waited until 3am to notice that there was a problem, they can wait until morning when you check out. I promise you...they can wait.

Hotel clerks...since we had this one incident, we have changed the way we answer phones, and what we do when we transfer a call to a room. Normally we would get a name, but now, we make sure to get a name. No just transferring to a room no matter how many times the same lady has called to check on her husband..always get a name. If the caller can not provide a name for the guest, we ask them for their name and number and tell them we will inform the guest of their call. There was only one time we did not get a name and phone number of the caller.

So, if you haven't gotten the point of this already....DON'T give out your credit card information over the phone to anyone who calls you in a hotel room, under any circumstances...and if you work in a hotel, always always always get a name before you transfer a call.

I try to not be as scarce...I have some stories, but...they're mostly things like "little old lady put her hand on the waffle iron and says 'Ow, that's hot'" ... *faceplant*

Until next time........

Weirdest. Night. Ever.

I've had a lot of people tell me they miss my blog...the stories and what not...so I figured I'd post this.
This isn't anything new...as a matter of fact, this is copied and pasted word for word from a post I made in a Facebook group the night it happened. I know I've told this story to quite a few people, but I still get a laugh every time I do, so I figured I'd share it with everyone.

June 16, 2012 6:05AM

This is BY FAR the weirdest night I've had working at this hotel....this beats the loincloth/drag queen by 683453411357 times....

There was a guy that decided we were meant to find each other and stood down here talking to me for almost 3 hours...he gave me a jar of homemade dill pickles and McDonald's cookies....

THEN (this is 5am by now) I get a phone call from a guy that after asking if we have rooms and the rates, asks me if I have a problem with the fact that he is a practicing nudist...

*THEN* a drunk/crazy/strung out guy wearing no shirt and bleeding comes in, being all drunk/crazy/strung out...enough for me to call the cops on him...asking for his friend (that doesn't exist) and saying that he's staying in room 127 or maybe 124 (and neither of those exist either) .....

So the cops get here and find him passed out in a ditch....get him up and they come in to talk to me....as the officer is walking in the door, I hear a "cockadoodledooooooo" come from outside....dude is acting like a rooster???

Oh nay nay...there is legit a FUCKING ROOSTER in the parking lot.....in a cage in the back of a truck...with about 10 chickens, a duck, 15-ish bunnies and a GOAT.

I've had 7 people call me so far asking about this stupid damn rooster...the guests said they were going to be gone by 5:45 (this thing started cockadoodling at 5:30) and here it is 6:15 and it is STILL going at it....

FUCKING ROOSTER.

I can't get over that part. I just can't handle all of this...my brain can not process it...I just......idk what to do, other than tell everyone I can this story...

F'real guys....a rooster. I still can't get over that. I took a video, I'm not sure if I still have it or not though. 

To go a bit more into detail, the drunk/crazy/strung out guy kept going back and forth...I saw him walking through the lobby when the "soulmate" guy was leaving...I assumed he was a guest. Then I saw him again when I was walking out of the store room getting coffee, trying to get in the side door. Again, I assumed he was a guest and just left his key in the room when he went out to smoke or something..happens all the time. After that is when he came in and started talking to me. Then it got creepy. 

Like the soulmate guy giving me pickles wasn't creepy enough. Those were pretty good pickles though.