Too expensive tea in Ritz featuring scammers

Several visitors of the Ritz restaurant in London became victims of scammers, who squeezed their bank card details. The incidents happened after the clients made order at a restaurant via a phone or online.

One of the victims – a woman, who booked the afternoon tea at the Ritz for her celebration – received a call from scammers, asking to dictate her payment card details. The attackers also called other people, introduced themselves as hotel employees, exactly repeated the order and asked to confirm the payment data. When the victim provided the required information, the scammers tried to place orders from the Argos product catalogue.

It is not yet known how the attackers found out the orders of Ritz customers. It is neither clear how they managed to call customers from the real Ritz phone number. One of the versions says it happened because of a spoofing attack. Still it is notable, that a few people trusted the callers and willingly disclosed their private sensitive data. Only one of the victims asked the scammers some additional questions about the hotel services. Then she called the Ritz reception back to confirm the information.

How to protect yourself?

Scammers like those in Ritz restaurant are used to manipulate emotions, including lack of attention, curiosity, and fear. To make their target do what they need, they often pretend someone they trust. They can additionally make their victims feel the situation is urgent to increase their success probability.

Here is a few things you can do to survive in a situation like this:

• Never disclose your bank card details to anyone who calls or writes you
• Take a pause and call back to the service provider to check the request and clarify the situation
• Learn the basics of cyber security awareness, both to protect corporate IT environments and to use them during the day-to-day activities

Image by gate74