Scam?

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Alibi Ike

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Trying now to figure out if this is/was a scam. Got an email through b&b.com for a reservation. Emailed back and guest wants to pay via check, where can the check be mailed? I have no info about the guest and ask if he can just make the reservation online and then pay by check on arrival. If the check doesn't get here before the guest does, then what? I have nothing. At least with the online info I have cc backup. Still have not gotten the online reservation. Partner thinks maybe we were being scammed. We get check, cash it, they cancel and ask us to refund the money, which really has never been deposited and we lose out.
Plausible? Without any guest info at all, I'm leaning that way. They do not have a reservation, I am not holding the rooms, anyone can book them. And our address is in every email they have received from us, is on b&b.com, our website, everywhere. No need to ask me for it.
 
Sounds like a possible scam. But also sounds possibly legit. If the check arrives, the room if it is still available is theirs. If they want a refund on the check....hold off on the refund until you are certain the check has fully cleared.
 
Sounds like a possible scam. But also sounds possibly legit. If the check arrives, the room if it is still available is theirs. If they want a refund on the check....hold off on the refund until you are certain the check has fully cleared..
swirt said:
If they want a refund on the check....hold off on the refund until you are certain the check has fully cleared.
And make sure the bank can really guarantee that the check has cleared. I've heard it can take weeks for that to happen, although maybe that's only with non-US banks.
 
Sounds bad to me. We have actually twice recieved checks from customers' "employers", totally bogus, stolen check blanks (for a vacation rental property, not for B&B so far!). Real tip is any check that arrives DHL or UPS and not US Post Office (= federal fraud).
And, for us at least, rarely are the B&B dot com contacts real, most customers from there go to our own web site and use email or telephone.
 
Leaning toward scam as nothing more has been heard since I asked for a cc number.
 
NEVER take a check for a deposit...even if the deposit clears if they no show you're left empty handed. My 80 year old grandparents have a credit card, they needed to get one to make their camping reservations at the state parks here. EVERYONE has a cc, if they don't want to give you the number they don't get to stay.
 
NEVER take a check for a deposit...even if the deposit clears if they no show you're left empty handed. My 80 year old grandparents have a credit card, they needed to get one to make their camping reservations at the state parks here. EVERYONE has a cc, if they don't want to give you the number they don't get to stay..
We take checks but only for the full amount, no refund and at least 3 weeks in advance of arrival. We do a lot of company bookings and from charities so they prefer to pay with a check but for example for Unicef they are comming in Feb and paid in October so plenty of time to make sure the check is good. For a small deposit no chance.
 
NEVER take a check for a deposit...even if the deposit clears if they no show you're left empty handed. My 80 year old grandparents have a credit card, they needed to get one to make their camping reservations at the state parks here. EVERYONE has a cc, if they don't want to give you the number they don't get to stay..
I agree...everyone has a credit card, and if they don't, they just have to go out and purchase a Visa, Mastercard or AmEx gift card. We take checks for the balance once they get here, but I always have their cc just in case.
 
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