Strolling down a sunlit street in Cancun or any other Mexican beach resort town, you hear, “Excuse me”. You stop and turn to see a smiling face. “Where are you from?”
“I’m from …”, you respond politely.
“How’s your vacation?”, the smiling face continues.
“Can I offer you a free pass…a night’s stay…a free lunch or dinner…a day at this new resort hotel?”, the smiling face offers. “It’s to promote a new hotel ( resort, facility, or service) that isn’t well-known to foreign tourists yet.
You receive a genuine-looking piece of paper and perhaps a brochure and map, “Sounds good”, you think, and accept.
“Take this and go this afternoon…tomorrow or whatever and everything will be taken care of with no obligation”, the hook advances.
And then the clincher words strike home, like a harpoon in the side of a great white whale, “Be sure to bring your credit card!” “Oh, it’s not essential”, the smiling face continues, “Maybe you’ll just have to flash it, to show you’re not Mexican”, “…or a serious tourist”, or whatever.
What they want is your credit card number, by any means necessary - your signature too, if possible, on anything; a ticket stub, free car rental agreement or thank you note; anything. It’ll be used to charge dozens, scores, even hundreds of items – next week, next month, next year, etc., etc., etc. Getting the charges off your card will be a next to impossible nightmare and cost you hundreds in legal fees.
You won’t be able to get back at “them” or recover the merchandise, products, even real estate charged off to your account. Millions are made by “them” and irretrievably lost by unsuspecting tourists each year.
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