It’s summer, and you’ve finished packing for that vacation you’ve been looking forward to for months. Everything is in order, and you’re ready to go. You’ve heard the hotel is really nice, and you can’t wait to see your room.
Sounds great. But even while you’re on vacation, the scammers are not. Don’t let them ruin your vacation.
People on vacation want to relax, and some may let down their guard when they’re away from their everyday life and activities. Here are some scams to guard against on your next vacation.
The first one begins almost as soon as you’ve reached the hotel. Once you’ve checked in and gone to your room, you receive a call from someone who claims he works at the front desk. The caller tells you that there is some problem with your credit card and he wants to confirm the number. Sounds plausible, no? But the caller is not actually from the front desk. He’s a scammer, and if you tell him the number, he’ll soon be buying up a storm at your expense.
If you get a call like this, tell the caller you will come down to the front desk to sort things out. Do that even if you get the call in the middle of the night so you will know whether the call was legitimate. It’s worth missing some sleep to make sure you don’t get scammed.
Next there are scams that take place while you are staying at the hotel. Here’s one of them.
You get a flyer in your hotel room advertising pizza or another kind of takeout food, ostensibly from a company in the area. You decide to order, call the number, and give them your credit card or debit card number. They tell you how long it will take, but you wait and wait and wait, and no food arrives. Eventually you get tired of waiting and call them back. They promise that your food is on the way, but again you wait, and again no food arrives. Eventually you order room service instead. But in the meantime, the scammers who have your card number are buying their Christmas presents on your nickel. The easiest way to avoid this scam is to check with the front desk before you call the number in the flyer, or just ask Google whether the business is for real. If you pay for your food in cash when it’s delivered, you can also avoid this problem.
And just when you think that no more scams can happen because your vacation’s nearly over, there’s the checkout scam. In this scam, the hotel asks for payment by credit card when you check out, but you say you prefer to pay in cash. Or you offer to pay by credit card but the hotel tells you that the transaction didn’t go through and instead wants you to pay in cash. If the person behind the front desk is dishonest, he can take your cash but also charge your card, which enables him to keep the cash for himself without anyone noticing. If you find out later but you didn’t retain your receipt, or if the receipt you received did not show the cash payment, then you are out of luck. To avoid this, when you check out, use the same payment method that the hotel kept on file for you when you checked in.
If you believe you’ve been victimized by a scammer, contact MyChargeBack for a free consultation. We’ll tell you if we can help you recover your money.
