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Internet Scammers Target Local Hotels
Posted by Editor | November 18, 2009 | Categories: Local Business News | 3 Comments
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A number of local hotels and vacation rental properties have reported receiving reservation request emails which don’t ring true.
The request is generally for a large number of people and rooms and is on behalf of “clients”.
Other signs of of a fraudulent reservation request include:
• The request is usually written in awkward English, often very formal with language like “Dear Sir/Madam”
• Usually they will just email the property directly but there have been some instances where they are getting more sophisticated and are filling in the property’s reservation form or filling in the reservation form from the reserve link for the hotel on Puerto Viejo Satellite.
• Often the dates or the details or the booking are not specified or vague.
• They will offer to pay for the advance reservation all at once with a credit card.
Here’s an excerpt of an email that a local hotel forwarded me:
Dear sir ma, I will like to book for rooms in your place for my clients who will like to stay for some days in your country for business purpose .so i will really appreciate it if you can kindly get back to me with a good and urgent reply.Below is the details of my reservation. Reservation details Room Type. 3 Standard single rooms. check in :20/ 1/ 2010 check out:27 /1/ 2010 Number of guest…3 people. Days of stay…7 days Guest Names. Mr John Cole Mr Andre Martin Mrs Sandra Smith Thanks and get back to me fast with the total cost of the booking so that isend to you my credit card details. Note that all payment for the reservation shall be charged before the arrival of my clients. thanks Waiting for your reply soon Regards Mack Jones
If you write back, they will give you a credit card number and ask you to charge the room charges to it. Then they will contact you to cancel or change the reservation and ask you to refund them via Western Union or wire transfer, saying that the credit card they originally used has changed or some other excuse. The problem is that the credit card number they gave you originally was stolen and the amount will eventually be charged back (reversed) in full to you plus fees from the bank.
To protect yourself, never refund clients in another form of payment other than the way they paid in. If they paid using a particular credit card, refund via that method. Otherwise you’ll find that the credit card amount gets charged back to you by the bank some weeks later and you’ve already sent them money via Western Union or some other method.
If English isn’t the first language of whoever is replying to your reservation inquiries, they may have difficulty spotting these requests. I would recommend going over these guidelines with any staff answering emails and have them ask someone whose first language is English if the request looks genuine.
If it all sounds a little bit too good to be true, it probably is.
Algunos hoteles y casas de vacaciones han recibido correo electrónico solicitudes de reservas que no parece verdades.
Normalemente, La petición es para un gran número de personas y habitaciones y es en nombre de unos “clientes”.
Otros signos de una solicitud de reserva de fraude incluyen:
• La solicitud se suele escribir en Inglés torpe, a menudo muy formal con el lenguaje como “Dear Sir/Madam”
• Por lo general, enviaremos un correo electrónico directamente al hotel, pero ha habido algunos casos en los que son cada vez más sofisticados y están rellenando el formulario de propiedades de reserva o rellenando el formulario de reservas desde el enlace de reserva para el hotel en Puerto Viejo Satellite.
• Muchas veces, las fechas o los detalles de la reserva o no se especifican o son vagos.
• Ofrecerán a pagar por la reserva con una tarjeta de crédito.
Aquà es un extracto de un correo electrónico que un hotel local me transmitió:
Dear sir ma, I will like to book for rooms in your place for my clients who will like to stay for some days in your country for business purpose .so i will really appreciate it if you can kindly get back to me with a good and urgent reply.Below is the details of my reservation. Reservation details Room Type. 3 Standard single rooms. check in :20/ 1/ 2010 check out:27 /1/ 2010 Number of guest…3 people. Days of stay…7 days Guest Names. Mr John Cole Mr Andre Martin Mrs Sandra Smith Thanks and get back to me fast with the total cost of the booking so that isend to you my credit card details. Note that all payment for the reservation shall be charged before the arrival of my clients. thanks Waiting for your reply soon Regards Mack Jones
Si escribes de nuevo, se le dará un número de tarjeta de crédito y le pedirá que cargue la sala de cargos a la misma. Entonces se pondrá en contacto con usted para cancelar o modificar la reserva y le pedirá a la devolución a través de Western Union o transferencia bancaria, diciendo que la tarjeta de crédito que ha utilizado originalmente ha cambiado o alguna otra excusa. El problema es que el número de tarjeta de crédito que le dieron originalmente fue robado. Últimamente, el banco se invertirá la carga en totalidad y el hotel se ha perdido el dinero que habÃa sido enviado a través de Western Union.
Para protegerse no reembolsar a sus clientes en otra forma de pago distintos de manera que pagaron. Si paga con tarjeta de crédito en particular, el reembolso a través de ese método al mismo tarjeta.
Yo recomendarÃa que revise estas directrices con todo el personal cuya incumba la responsabilidad incluye la respuesta de correo electrónico. Si no está seguro, deben preguntarle a alguien que es el primer idioma es el Inglés si la petición parece auténtico.
Si una repuesta suena demasiado bueno para ser verdad, probablemente lo es.
Comments
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This scam has being going on for ages. Other thing to watch out for is that they will make it really enticing by asking only for a “partial refund”, in an effort to make it look like you are going to profit on this cancellation.
Know that you will eventually receive a notice from bank telling you it was a fraudulent charge. So if you refunded them any money, you will be out of pocket.
We’ve been having this in the States for years … usually they say they are from GB and want to send a “Cashiers’ Check” … which turns out to be a forgery. I usually reply to the sender that I am hip to his tricks and that I’ve reported him to the authorities! Doesn’t stop em, but might once give them pause.
I have also reported this to abuse@hotmail.com as being used for fraud/abuse so hopefully they will disable the email account these are coming from. Most of the free webmail services have this kind of abuse reporting system if their systems are being used by fraudsters so this can also be effective since they do need to have a ongoing correspondence with someone to get money out of them.