INDUSTRY WARNING – scammers now targeting golf clubs
In recent months some concerning reports of brazen con artists attempting to scam various businesses seems to have become more prevalent in the hospitality industry around Australia, and golf clubs are not being spared.
Most recently a major metro club in Sydney was approach via email by a fraudulent person wanting to book a function for his 80th birthday, claiming to be old and hospitalised.
After weeks of organising with dates, menus and seating arrangements, when asked to pay a deposit for room hire, the client then asked the club to pay $3,000 for entertainment on his behalf.
This sent some red flags to management and with further review the club eventually found the scheme dubious and now wants to alert others in the industry of similar encounters.
“Initially you tend to allow a little for a person’s age and unfamiliarity with emails and EFT etc., especially as we had been dealing with this person for a few weeks,” the club GM said.
“I checked on Google and apparently it is a scam where a person pretending to be old and deaf wants you to pay someone on his behalf after he has paid you by credit card,”
“I have never received a warning about this and the scammers have obviously progressed to the hospitality industry as targets. The scam is well thought out and they are happy to take their time preparing you for the hit.”
Another scam reported to Golf Industry Central:
We have also received a recent potential scam. This was for a 2 week teaching and training program for some German Golfing Students coming to Australia.
Similar to the story in the recent Golf Industry Central email blast the scammer has thought the story out reasonably well.
- He was working for a drilling company offshore in England.
- He was paying on behalf of the students as a favour like a sponsor
- There was a lot of communication backwards and forwards that actually was well considered on the scammers behalf
- Organisation of the event shifted when he asked if we could pay the Tour Company on their behalf after charging their credit card.
- When we requested the signed booking form plus a copy of the credit card and a copy of the passport, communications have since stopped.
We have had a number of these over the years but this one was definitely more believable than ever before.
General info:
Consumer Protection in Westerm Australia has received reports of a number of swindle efforts targeting vehicle repair businesses among others and the WA ScamNet advice all businesses to:
- Never pay money via wire transfer to help a customer access the goods or services you are selling.
- Be cautious when dealing with overseas or interstate orders – independently verify who you are dealing with before sending money or goods. If doubtful do not proceed with the order.
- Be sceptical if normal banking processes are not available.
- When accepting a credit card payment, check with the card issuer for authorisation to avoid accepting stolen credit card details.
For more information visit WA ScamNet
EDITOR NOTE: Any one else out there have similar scam tried out on your club? Please email us and well collect and let the rest of the industry know what to watch out for.
