The bad guys and gals are at it again. We stumbled upon an article today from Northwest Florida Daily News (www.nwfdailynews.com) alerting the public of a recent hotel scam.  

The Okaloosa Sheriff’s Office is warning hotel guests to not give personal information including billing details over the phone as criminals are calling the guest room pretending to work at the front desk.  The criminals tell hotel guests that the front desk computer system crashed and credit card information was lost.  They go on to say that fire regulations require the information be current in the computer system and that a discount will be applied to the hotel bill for the inconvenience.  Seriously – can’t these shady folks be gathered up and sent to a deserted island where they can rob one another?

In the midst of summer vacation, the last thing hotel guests (or any person) needs to encounter is a breach of personal information.  So be safe as you travel and if you work for a hotel, remind your staff to avoid transferring calls to the guest room unless the caller can identify the guest’s name.  Also, if you are traveling with valuables, be sure to secure them in the hotel safe.