A Brand New Hotel Scam (Or, One Day My Nigerian Prince Will Come)

Scamming Credit Cards is considered a sport in some countries, most notably Nigeria and Indonesia, and there's a new scam out there that specifically targets hotels.

Here's how it works. Credit Cards are assigned in series, so all the scammer needs is the last four digits of any credit card and they can guess what expiry date the next card issued has. For example, if you have a card number that ends in 5897 there's somebody out there with a card that ends in 5898. Since most cards are issued with a 4-year expiry it's not as overwhelming as you might think.

Once they have a card that they know will work, the scammers will contact a hotel offering them a deal most hoteliers would never pass up. Usually, this is a group booking for an imaginary tour company. However, there's a problem with the booking. Unfortunately, their tour operator in (insert your city/country here) has no way to process credit cards. So, all the hotel has to do is charge their credit card for their stay, plus a large amount to be then transferred to the “Tour Operator”. After this is done, the hotel booking can be cancelled, and the amount refunded. But, it doesn't really matter as it will be three weeks before the hotel finds out that they just charged someone in Newark for a booking coming from Germany. So, the hotel loses however much money it 'forwarded', and the scammer gets away scot free.

Here's an example of a typical e-mail from one of these scammers.

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Hello Sir/Madam,

Greetings ,

My name is Mr. Adam Smith Scammy McCheaterface. aviationspecialists.company
Company Plc]. I want to make a reservation in your Calgary motel for some 4 staffs and 2 trainees uncomplaining them as they all coming for course Training .

Details:
..................

Arrival: 10th of March. 2012

Departure: 21th of March. 2012

No. of Rooms: 6

Type of Rooms: Single or double
No of Guest: 6

Duration: 10 nights

Please Confirm availability and get back to me with your rates and total cost. and let me know dates that are available if you don't have this date available
Hope to hear from you soon. Please write back to me with my private email (totallynotascam@yahoo.com)

Kind Regards,
Adam Smith Scammy McCheaterface

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From: Centro Motel
Subject: RE: HOTEL RESERVATION
To: totallynotascam@yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 10:14 PM

Dear Mr. Smith McCheaterface,

Thank you very much for your inquiry! Yes, we have rooms available here at the Centro Motel, and the best price for you is $99.00 per night, per room for our queen size bed suite.

Thank You!

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From: totallynotascam@yahoo.com
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 1:49am
To: Centro Motel
Subject: TOTAL COST FOR HOTEL RESERVATION

Thank you for your mail and confirmation of the 5 rooms availability for the 6adults Which will be shared amongst them.I am grateful to that but i will like to have the total cost of their stay/ breakfast for 10 days summed up and sent to me calculated in Euro, USD or GBP so that I will make Deposit of your cost services through my credit card for you to hold the reservation for us. Arrival: 10th of March.2012 Departure: 21st of March. 2012 No. of Rooms: 6 Type of Rooms: single or double No of Guest: 6 However, I wish to inform you that we also made an arrangement with a travel agent who will be handling the travelling arrangements/logistic needs of my Son and the people coming with them. Hope to hear from you soon Best Regards, Adam Smith Scammy McCheaterface

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From: Centro Motel
Subject: RE: TOTAL COST FOR HOTEL RESERVATION
To: totallynotascam@yahoo.com
Date: Thursday, September 29, 2011, 4:44 PM

Dear Mr McCheaterface

I can hold 6 rooms for you from March 10th till march 21th for 11 nights Queen Bed room type at rate of $99.00 CAD. Total Amount In CAD is $9558.66, and in USD it's $9240.84 with all the tax included. We can hold your rooms only for 2 weeks, so kindly confirm me with in two weeks.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

Thank You!

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From: totallynotascam@yahoo.com
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2011 6:43am
To: Centro Motel
Subject: PAYMENT DETAILS FOR HOTEL RESERVATION

Hello, Thank you for your mail below. The staff along with the trainees coming with them has agreed to stay in your hotel rooms for the period of time requested,Anyway, just to ease up the total cost,I will be making a part payment with my credit card to enable you hold the reservation for us. However,Like I told you earlier I also made an arrangement with a prepaid travel agent who will take care of traveling documents and logistics need for the group during their coming and entire stay in your hotel,but because I will be making a trip soon to Chicago Usa ,for a Conference, I called the travel agent this morning to send my credit card details for them to charge for the services but they informed me that they don't have a credit card facility to charge my credit card. So I have decided that only your hotel will have to charge my credit card. I will send to you the credit card details as soon as I hear back from you. Once you receive the credit card details I will direct you on what to do. Because I will like you to settle the agent from my card. So upon the receipt of my credit card details you are to run the charges of $10,000 and deduct $3,000 for your service and send the remaining $7,000 to the agent whose information will be sent to you Finally,confirm this arrangement and provide me with your information below i will be completing the total payment of the reservation 2 weeks before arrival for the group. (1) Your hotel full name/address................. (2) Name of the Manager/Owner.................. (3) Hotel's telephone and fax numbers......... Regards. Adam Smith Scammy McCheaterface

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At this point we just told Mr. McCheaterface that we wouldn't, under any circumstances, forward any funds off of a credit card. He stopped e-mailing us.

Alberta's New Distracted Driving Law

Being a Boutique Motel, we here at Centro tend to have a lot of guests who drive in to get here. It is, after all, sort of the point of staying at a Motel, you are guaranteed of having somewhere you can park your car. However, there's a new law coming into effect here in Alberta that's going to make life a little more difficult for anyone driving in from out of province.

Have you ever used your cell-phone while driving? Obviously not for texting, people who try and drive while texting deserve a swift kick in the butt, but just a regular phone call? Well, starting on September 1^st, 2011 that can earn you a fairly hefty fine here in Alberta.

The new Law, Bill 16, doesn't stop there. Gone are the days when you can eat in our car worry-free, from next week on eating while driving also constitutes a violation of Bill 16. This makes me a little sad. After all, it kind of makes Drive-Thrus sort of pointless. I mean, if you;re going to have to stop and pull over to eat the food anyways, what's the point of using a Drive-Thru to get it?

So, just to recap, from now on in Alberta you cannot Eat, use your phone, or listen to headphones while driving or you'll get a $172.00 ticket. God help you if try doing all three things at once.

The Royal Tyrell Museum and Dinosaur National Park

            Everyone coming to Calgary knows about the Rocky Mountains. While Calgary itself has a lot to offer visitors, there’s always the lure of the spectacular Rocky mountains in the background. However, there’s more to Alberta than cows, oil, and big rocks. There’s also Dinosaurs. An easy and surprisingly scenic hour and a half drive north East from Calgary will land in the Badlands of Dinosaur Olympic Park, one of the richest sources of paleontological finds in the world.

            While it is located in the ominous sounding Alberta Badlands (they should really be called the Alberta Bad-“Ass” Lands, click here to sign my petition), the Royal Tyrell Museum lives up to its majestic honorific. There are over 120, 000 fossils here, with 47, 000 square feet of floor space devoted to the various exhibits showcasing the incredible biological history of the planet. The exhibits cover every stage of evolution in the last 3.9 billion years of planetary history. The most popular exhibit is the Dinosaur Hall, with 40 fully assembled Dinosaur skeletons including Albertasaurus, Chasmosaurus, and everyone’s favourite, Tyrannosaurus Rex.

            While typically it’s young children that get a real kick out of museums like this one, I have to admit that I had a blast here. Maybe it’s my inner twelve year old, but I couldn’t resist the magic of these ancient bones. Did you know that the Velociraptors depicted in the Jurassic Park movies are completely wrong? Apparently the real Raptors are half that size, and all known species of them were covered in feathers. Although, after seeing what they actually looked liked like...

 

I can understand why Speilberg made them look a bit more intimidating. While I'm on the subject, If you're into Dinosaurs, make sure you check out the Dinosaurs Alive exhibit at the Calgary Zoo.

The Centro Motel is Calgary’s first Boutique Motel. Located in the Montgomery neighbourhood, just south of Calgary’s Motel Village, The Centro offers stylish, trendy rooms at competitive prices. For more information on booking, rooms and rates, check out the home page, or Contact Us.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 'A window into the past' (theglobeandmail.com)
• "Huge dinosaur bonebed uncovered in Alberta, Canada" and related posts (sciencebuzz.org)
• Tyrrell's ambitions gave us glimpse into Lives Of Dinosaurs (calgaryherald.com)
• Tyrannosaurs Hunted and Scavenged, Fossils Suggest (livescience.com)



Top 3 Things To Do In Montgomery

Canada Olympic Park Zipline:

            This can be quite a thrill, even for the more adventurous guests of Calgary’s first boutique motel. The zipline costs $55/person, and if you feel like you need to take a bit of a learner course you can pay $35 to spend some time on the zipline trainer plaza. In case you’re wondering what kind of speed you can achieve doing this, well it’s in the vicinity of 140 kilometres an hour. And in case you want to see it...

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Bow River Multi-Use Trails:

            As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, the City of Calgary has somewhere in the vicinity of 650 kms of trails wending their way through its green areas. A good portion of these trails are concentrated along the shores of the Bow River as it lazily flows through the middle of the city. Some of the trails are truly beautiful, and they require a minimal amount of equipment and training to enjoy them. If you do want to rent some bikes, there is a sports rental shop just a block down from the Centro Motel.

Canoe or Raft down the Bow River:

            Speaking of the sports rental shop, you can also rent rafts there. Taking a few hours to drift down the river is a great way to get to see the prettier side of Calgary and, as long as the weather is nice, it’s a great, easy way to spend an afternoon. The only catch is you need some way to get yourself and your rental raft back up to the Centro, but a pre-emptive cab drop-off, or a friend with a vehicle can easily overcome those challenges. Here’s a link to a previous article where you can get a detailed guide to rafting the river.

The 2010 Lilac Festival

Turns out, pretty flowers are an awesome excuse to throw a party. The Lilac Festival is an annual street festival held along the thirteen blocks of 4^th street in the Mission and Beltline neighbourhoods. The festival has been held on the last Sunday in May since 1989, has a regular attendance of over a 100 000 revelers, and features street dancing, crafts, food, and entertainment stalls.

               Strangely enough, there isn`t any real reason for the existence of the Festival. It`s actually a celebration of every plant in the Syringa family. However, at this point it`s more than big enough to keep going on its own momentum. Last year, 2009, there were approximately 120 000 attendees who were able to enjoy over 600 craft, food and entertainment vendors along the 13 blocks of the festival. On top of that, the Lilac festival was recently voted as the #1 free festival in Calgary. Just in case that isn’t enough to tempt you, here’s a bit of a photoblog entry from the last couple of years.