"Marriott Responds to Ongoing Telephone Scam in Canada"

An FYI from the Marriott, Intl. news page:

Marriott Responds to Ongoing Telephone Scam in Canada

"January 20, 2015 - Marriott has been made aware of a series of fraudulent telephone calls being made in Canada where the caller requests personal information, including credit card information, in order for the person answering the call to receive a complimentary stay at a Marriott hotel. ..."

Better safe than sorry.

We have received two of these calls in the last week and our daughter has also received two, one on her home phone and one on her cell phone. The strangest thing is that our number is area code 403 and starts with 281 while her home number is area code 403 and starts with 225 and her cell phone starts with 828. When the call came it showed up on our call display as coming from a 403 281 number and hers showed up as 403 225 and 403 828. Of course we both hung up right away.

Lynn

I received the same call and only answered it because it was a 403-242-number. They put me on hold and I hung up.

Joan

Dont read so much into these phone number observations,as they mean nothing. Except that it helps clue you into, that the callerid number is false. They simply use a fake callerid number that starts with your area code and same next three digits, figuring you are more likely to answer. I myself use a VoIP.ms service which actually allows me to set any callerid number I want. Freaks out my friends when I call them with their own number showing. And I found people will always answer if they see their own number, mostly out of curiousity.

The scammers are also doing it using Air Canada and Westjet names...on my cell phone costing money! Very annoying. The tip off was the Westjet calls that start out thanking me for being such a good customer and I've never gone anywhere with them.