Back to the articleMight not be phishing #
Posted Friday 6th February 2009 01:00 GMT
Could it not simply be a HOSTS style attack from existing malware/kits?
Phishing scam aims to hoodwink hotel habitants
Scammers #
Posted Thursday 5th February 2009 23:59 GMT
I do not know about the malware sites, but I do know for a fact that they do try to scam the hotel's themselves.
The way the scam usually works is that they send an email asking for rooms for four or five people for a ten day period, then asking for the total cost of this and whether the hotel accepts credit cards. As the hotel has no way of know if this is a scam or not, they have no choice but to reply in case it is a legitimate request. When the scammer receives the response, they then send back a message saying that due to some problems with transferring money, they are unable to get money to the travel agent. They would like to give the hotel a credit card number for the hotel to charge, (room and tax plus a small token for their help) and forward the rest on to their travel agent.
You can check out any time you like... #
Posted Friday 6th February 2009 04:38 GMT
...but you can never leave.
Re: scammers #
Posted Friday 6th February 2009 12:35 GMT
Am I being thick? How are they scamming the hotel?
Re: Scammers #
Posted Saturday 7th February 2009 03:52 GMT
AC asked: Am I being thick? How are they scamming the hotel?
If the hotel was stupid enough to fall for this and actually charge the card and forward money on, the card would then most likely be reported as stolen. The credit card company would then refuse to pay the hotel. Therefore the hotel would be scammed out of the money they forwarded.
As if. #
Posted Sunday 8th February 2009 05:55 GMT
Sorry, I'm not buying it. I don't think any hotel anywhere would put a charge against a card number mailed to them and then forward funds to somewhere else.
Re: As if #
Posted Monday 9th February 2009 06:51 GMT
I happen to agree with you, but I still get the messages from them anyway trying to get me to do it. It's gotten to the point where I have created a template for answering them. The only thing I have to change in it is the name of the person writing to me and the dates that the people are supposed to be staying at the hotel.
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