This travel scam happened to a friend of mine. After doing a little research I found out that this has become a pretty popular way to catch you off guard while travelling abroad, especially if you’re checking into a hotel room late at night!
My friend, David Johnson checked into his hotel around midnight after a long overseas flight. When he got to his room he immediately got into bed to go to sleep. As he was just dozing off, the phone in the room rang. It was the front desk clerk who said they couldn’t read the last five numbers on the imprint of the credit card that he left and would he mind reading the numbers again. He got up and got his wallet and just as he was about to read the number something struck him as odd. He told the clerk that he would call him right back.
Needless to say, when he called down to the front desk and asked if they had just called him, they told him they hadn’t. What had happened was someone overheard him check in and give his name to the front desk. The con artist just waited about half hour, figuring he would just be dozing off, and then went to a house phone and asked to be connected to David Johnson’s room. Luckily my friend got that feeling in his gut that something was wrong and never gave away his credit card number. So the next time your phone rings in your hotel (or anywhere) make sure it’s who they say they are!