We now have multiple reports emanating from guests at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort and Disney’s Contemporary Resort over the last several days regarding a phone scam.
In all of the cases we have heard firsthand accounts, guests at these resorts are called back (in their hotel rooms typically) from someone claiming to be the front desk, usually after making some sort of request, like towel service or a late check-out. They’re then asked to confirm their address and credit card information. Shortly after, fraudulent charges take place on these guests’ credit cards.
The callers behind the scam have access to not just the direct phone lines to these guest rooms, but guests’ names, room numbers, and any recent requests.
Charges have been in the hundreds, up to $400 in some cases, per a guest at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. After requesting a late check-out, he received a second call asking to confirm his credit card information and address in order to confirm the request. The credit card, which he had only used for his resort stay, was later fraudulently charged $80 at a local Domino’s in Kissimmee, as well as $320 at a local Xfinity store. After reporting the incident, the guest was asked to come back to the resort to speak to the Duty Manager, a member of Disney Security, and an officer from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. A report for Fraud and Petit Theft was filed on Wednesday, July 8th.
Today, reports have come in from guests staying at Disney’s Contemporary Resort experiencing a similar scam. Like the incident at the Polynesian, another guest received a call back after requesting towels. The false front desk agent claimed they needed to confirm the guests’ address and credit card number, and the guest was subsequently fraudulently charged.
Disney is aware of the issue, as many guests are taking up the fraudulent charges initially with Guest Services before being redirected to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for further investigation. Walt Disney World Resort is not offering guests any recovery, given that the charges are not issued by the resort and they do not show up on the resort bill.
Are you a guest staying on property that has been affected by these phone scams? Let us know in the comments below, or feel free to email us with any further information that may help other guests stay alert and aware.
Friendly reminder to hang up, and call back at the number you know to be the correct number for anyone asking for private details like card number or personal info.
Could be a computer hack, but it sounds like this scam may be facilitated by an employee on the inside because of how fast it is, and also that the fraudulent charges occurred locally. I wonder why they didn’t also target Grand Floridian if they’re targeting resort hotels, but it could be that the NBA is there so there is additional security.
We stayed at Pop Century the 10-12 and our “message waiting” light on our room phone was blinking the entire time. I was not able to retrieve a message and when I called the operator they told me I did not have any messages. I wonder now if scammers were calling in hoping to get a pick up of the phone.
I cannot believe that Disney is not offering any recovery for the scam calls to guests. This must be a problem with someone within the Disney system that has access to the rooms and credit card information. There was a recent female arrested for ripping off Disney. Performing background checks need to be revisited. This is inexcusable for this to happen to the guests. Disney is responsible for safety and security for its guests. They need to make restitution. It is definitely a very unsafe time at Disney in more ways than one.
My God this is alarming! How lax is Disney security that guest phone lines are, more or less, “tapped”? This must be related to the guest services lines which I think are all centrally answered by the WDW telephone operators.
Considering it takes 20 minutes just to authenticate through the stupid system to make a resort reservation you’d think the on-site systems would be even more secure.
A vacationer probably has to cancel their credit card and that credit is essentially unavailable to them through the crest of their trip. This is a very scary proposition for those that don’t have unlimited open credit across other cards.
WOW! This is scary. Disney is playing games with “trying to keep people safe” with ridiculous face mask policies, but they failed to keep their own phone and reservation systems safe from hackers and scammers. Perhaps they should focus more attention on REAL safety measures. Fools.
There was a similar scam when we stayed at WDW in 2015. We ordered room service and got a call on the room phone. In that instance they already had the CC number and wanted to “confirm” the billing address. In the middle of the conversation a CM came to the door to notify us it was a scam and to stay on the line, they were trying to trace the call. Crazy the same thing is happening 5 years later.
Save Splash Mountain!
This happened to me in a hotel in Philadelphia. They called my room and said they needed to verify my address and credit card information. I asked who it was and they said the hotel manager. I refused to give him any information and said I will be downstairs talking to someone. The hotel staff didn’t know what I was talking about. But said they have heard of this happening in their hotel for months. I suggest if anyone wants any information from me, I will see them in person with credentials.
Inside help, obviously.
Guests should NEVER have to confirm any info while already checked into their room. If there is an issue with their credit card or info that needs to be taken care of, the front desk clerk should ask them to COME to the front desk. That way they are speaking face to face to an employee/cast member. (There really shouldn’t be a need to confirm anything once you’re checked into your room.)
Hmmmm, Sounds like an employee or ex- employee that knows the system!
Investigate the staff
Currently studying to be a computer programmer and I’m looking at network security stuff right now. Good news about this is that it does not seem (to me – no degree/experience, just a little knowledge from a class dedicated to networking in general) like the hackers got any actual financial info. It seems like they got access to a database that logs requests, and are using that to call rooms and swindle guests. If they had gotten financial info, they wouldn’t need to call rooms and get address + CC info. Disney needs to put out a statement letting resort guests know not to confirm this stuff over the phone (if they haven’t already) and look into locking down even seemingly innocuous information like requests for towels. Also, people really need to start questioning why someone from the front desk is asking them to confirm their CC info just to get some freaking towels.
Dispute all fraudulent charges to the credit card company. The charges should be reversed since it is also backed up with a report to law enforcement.
This also happened to us while staying at a Marriott Grand Vacation property in Orlando. We were stupid enough to give our information out because they called our room at 10:30 pm and said there was a problem with the card we left on file when we checked into the hotel and they needed the number again. They knew our name and they sounded so professional. I even said let me hang up and I’ll call you back at the front desk and she insisted that she needs the credit card number right away because she was doing the books for the night and the system was automatically batching out all the credit card information for the night. As soon as I hung up I realized how shady the interaction seemed and I called the front desk who confirmed it wasn’t them. Thankfully, we were able to cancel our credit card before any fraudulent charges went through. We were lucky to have another card we could use.