A call with Washington Mutual confirms that besides vigilance, there’s nothing you can do to stop hotels from stealing your credit card information.

powered by ODEOThough we were pretty sure of the answer, we wanted to follow up last week’s story about Illinois hotels reselling guest’s credit card numbers. Investigators said the scam could be repeated elsewhere, and evidence points to it already being underway.

Many of the stolen credit cards were used over a year after the guest visited the hotel, making tracking difficult.

We suggest that banks allows consumers to generate temporary credit card numbers which would expire after a month or so.

Previously: Hotel Workers Arrested For Stealing Guest Credit Cards

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.