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 Newest Provincial Park

A new provincial park is a rare thing. Vast tracts of aren't really just lying around waiting to be re-purposed, especially not if they've been privately owned for a long time. Typically when land of this calibre and proximity to the city becomes avaialable it's rapidly ripped apart and turned into Condo and housing developments in a spectacle reminiscent of a cow being devoured by a school of piranhas. However, that's not what happened last week at all.

In 2006, the Alberta Government purchased over 1,300 acres of land from the Harvie Family, and has spent the last six years developing it into a Provincial park. It already has 25 km of trails, many of which are paved for cycling. The access to this land is located about 35 kilometres from downtown Calgary, basically right next to the town of Cochrane. The land itself is actually pretty spread out, and is shaped kind of like... You know what? Here, take a look for yourself.

 

The terrain is quite varied for such small sampling of the province, and The park preserves and protects some significant natural and cultural features, including examples of endangered ecosystems and rare species, First Nations and early ranching settlements.

Now, keep in mind that, for now at least, this is a day-use only park. There is no overnight camping, no camp fires, and the park is only open during daylight hours. Another thing to keep in mind is the access to water. There is no potable water in this park. Well, none that's been declared potable, at least. So, bring plenty of water bottles, and a filtration system.

For more info you can check out the park's website at http://www.grpf.ca/.

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.

Spring Activities in Montgomery

Due to the incessant rain that has been pelting down on our little Boutique Motel for the last few days I have decided that spring is here. Overall, it's good news. Even though Spring is by far the most horrible time of year here in Calgary, it does mean that Summer is right around the corner. Although it can get pretty soggy here in the Springtime, there's still plenty to do here in Montgomery.

Frisbee

There's plenty of parks here in Montgomery, and now that the ground has some moisture in it the grass is turning green faster than a College Student's tongue on St. Patrick's Day. It's still a little too chilly out for sun-bathing, but it's still nice to get out and enjoy some fresh air. An easy way to get outside and relax while still staying active enough to keep warm is enjoy yourself some Frisbee. Or, of course you can play catch the old-fashioned with a baseball.

Window Shopping

Some people may groan a little bit at this one. I mean, what's so great about window shopping? Well, just like everything else there are good places to do it and bad places to do it. Montgomery is an interesting place to take a stroll through because of all the little boutique shops, cafe's, and hobby shops that dwell down side streets and in tiny little cul-de-sacs. In one cul-de-sac alone I've found a knitting store, an excellent cafe (The Lazy Loaf and Kettle), and a vintage country clothing store. You might still think that's kinda dull, but my sweet plaid shirt and this delicious sandwich I'm eating disagree with you.

Cage Batting Range

This might be kind of a 'guy' thing. But, once you go to a Batting Range once, it's hard not to want go again. The Cage is a few blocks from The Centro Motel, and it's a great place to take a few swings, hang out in the park, play catch, and do some people watching. I've even seen a handful of folks fishing from the river banks here, but that's more of a summer thing, the fish don't really come around until July-ish.