MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Travelers beware: Scammers posing as employees at your hotel could be after your personal information.
The Better Business Bureau issued an alert this morning saying local hotels have been targeted.
A ringing phone in your hotel room may have a crook on the other end of the line. That was the case for one Memphis visitor recently.
“An out of state customer had over $1,000 in fraudulent charges made to his credit card,” BBB representative Randy Hutchinson said.
The BBB said scammers are getting a hold of hotel room numbers and posing as employees to get your info.
“It’s reportedly coming from the front desk saying, ‘Our computer is down or somehow we couldn’t process your credit card information. Please give it to us again.'”
“It kind of sucks, because people are coming to enjoy your city and they want to see all the nice things, and for the most part, everyone’s friendly and doing a great job to be welcoming. And then a few people kind of ruin it for everyone else,” said Tyler Hilkewich, who is visiting Memphis from Canada.
What is worse is the BBB said scammers will call either late at night or extremely early in the morning to catch you off guard.
“You just want to get off the phone, give them the information and go back to sleep,” Hutchinson said.
The BBB said most hotels would never make a call like that to your room.
“If there was a problem checking in, they would have known it at the time you checked in.”
To keep your personal information personal, Hutchinson gave this advice: “Never give out this kind of information over the telephone during any unsolicited call at a hotel or anywhere else. If you think it might be legit, go down to the front desk.”
The problem has become so bad, some hotels are even posting warning signs to guests.
If you get a call like this, the BBB recommends letting your hotel know immediately.
