Hotel Workers Arrested For Stealing Guest Credit Cards
10 owners, managers and employees of 7 Joliet area hotels were arrested last night for selling guest credit card numbers. A scam, authorities say, that could be going on across the nation.
The hotels involved were Holiday Inn Express and Super 8 franchises.
Often, the thieves targeted guests who lived in different states and sometimes waited up to a year to sell the numbers.
"To track them became next to impossible," said State Attorney Glasgow.
Sheriff Kaupas said the informant used knew about similar scams in other states and had learned his theft technique from outside Illinois.
What can you do to protect yourself? We're not sure, but going cash-only comes to mind. And if you've stayed in a budget hotel a year ago, check your credit cards and credit reports for any irregularities.
Arrests target theft of hotel guests' credit [CT] (Thanks to Nancy!)
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Comments:
I guess I SHOULDN'T have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express!
Oh man! I just booked a reservation for a Holiday Inn Express a couple weeks ago. I'll have to keep a careful eye on my card activity.
Time to change my reservations over to Hotel 6
This crime could happen at any hotel, not just the ones mentioned in the post. Although I think it would be more likely to show up at a budget motel. Just a hunch.
In a goodly number of hotels, as opposed to motels, one is actually required to give credit card information nowadays - especially at the chain hoteliers. I'm not aware of a way to work around this requirement, especially when traveling abroad, so as always, one should pay the strictest attention to credit card statements...
Called my bank and they said there's nothing you can do except remain vigilant.
Credit cards should offer the option to create a number that will expire after like a month or so to prevent against these types of frauds.
Don't hotels usually require a credit card to check in--to cover incidentals and room charges? Yikes.