Here Come the Travel Scammers

By Robert McGarvey

As sure as we are now – in fits and starts – getting back on the road, scammers, flimflam artists, and thieves are right behind us and now they have an edge because many of us have lost our instincts when it comes to being suspicious of what might be criminal activity.

Eighteen months ago most of us would have have spotted a travel related scam before it bit us but now we are fresh innocents and you can bet the hucksters are hungry for our dough.

Matters are so sinister that the Better Business Bureau has rushed out a warning headlined: BBB Scam Alert: Beware of hotel scams.

Time for a refresher on road smarts.

Phishing.  Enormously popular with criminals today is telephone phishing where, usually, the scam is that “this is the front desk, there’s a problem with your credit card, could you give us the number again?”  Often the call comes in fairly late at night so you may be drowsy too and in PJs.  Give over the number and expiration date and, oh, will you verify the spelling of your name?  And that will present the criminal with a credit card that can put to immediate use buying gift cards and other cash equivalents.

The antidote: No matter how late at night it is, say you will be down to the front desk in a few minutes and hang up.  At this point you have three options: Do nothing whatsoever, just assume the call was a scam. Or actually go down to the desk and don’t be surprised if the staff has no clue about this issue with your card. Or call the front desk and ask, is there a question about my credit card?

Food Scams.  This actually is a new one on me but it makes perfect sense.  The BBB explains how it works: “Make sure the menus left in the hotel room are authentic…. Scammers will distribute fake menus to rooms with phone numbers that connect the caller to them instead of the hotel or a real business. They will collect the callers credit card information over the phone then never deliver food.”

I salute the cleverness of the criminals.  Make up a flyer, insert fake quotes (“the best pastrami in Phoenix,” Pete Wells NYTimes), and for sure calls will come in.

Word of caution: before ordering with a restaurant unknown to you, check Yelp to see if it in fact exists. While you are at it, skim the reviews.  I personally find Yelp of hit or miss utility – but it will definitely help you detect a restaurant that does not really exist. And you may even get some useful insights about the joint’s quality or lack.  (Hint: there is no great pastrami in Phoenix. The nearest is Langer’s in LA.)

Fake WiFi: They are called “rogue access points” and what this refers to are WiFi networks with names like “Free + Fast WiFi” or “Your Hotel’s Best WiFi.”  The problem is that a tech savvy criminal can spend maybe $100 and create a WiFi hotspot that exists mainly to collect personal information from users, possibly to download malware to their computers.

This is very bad and, as I said, it is also very cheap for the crook to perpetrate.  It often surfaces at meetings, convention centers, airports and, definitely, hotels especially public areas.  How to detect it? Usually it is very slow but, hey, isn’t that the norm for hotel WiFi even when we are paying to access it?

My advice is this: don’t use hotel WiFi or airport Wifi at all.  Ever. I use a hotspot that I create with my phone. (In Android, go to SETTINGS/Network and Internet/Hotspot. Similar works on iPhone)  It takes literally seconds to create, in most cases its speed is comparable to that of a hotel network (sometimes faster), and, yeah, in many cell plans you will pay a few bucks for data in a two hour session but that is money well spent if it keeps you out of the clutches of these cyber criminals.

This all sounds simple? It is. But criminals also know we are out of training and no longer instantly see risks when before we would have.  

Just remember: they are out to grab your money and if we have lost our cautions we are easy prey.  Stay alert, stay safe, safe travels.