Fake Duke jailed for hotel scam

Alexander Wood has been jailed for a hotelscam that saw him run up thousands of pounds in bills - before doing a runner. He conned five hotels into giving him £10,330 of services, using a number of different aliases. The most colourful was his claim that he was the Duke of Marlborough

According to the Daily Mail, the 34-year-old from Southend-On-Sea, was actually caught the first time he tried the scam - using the name of the Duke of Marlborough. Staff at The Great Northern Hotel in Kings Cross grew suspicious after he ran up a £2,2878 bill. They asked him to prove his identity, and eventually called him to the lobby the settle his bill. Instead of paying, he simply walked out. He later tried to bribe a security guard and was arrested in May.

He was released on bail, and assumed the identity of a British Airways VP to continue the scam at several luxury hotels in London: he ran up bills of £8,000.
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The Guardian reported that he told the court: "'I do not believe that anyone for a second thought I was the Duke of Marlborough. I was just trying to get away with our paying the bill." He claimed he had been on the run and afraid for his life when he carried out the scams, but the judge refused to accept the argument. He said the motive was "simple greed" and jailed Wood for three and a half years.

Hotel scams

Hotels are easy prey for conmen, as staying in a hotel relies on trust and honesty from both the hotel and the guest. And it's not just the hotels that are at risk - guests can be targeted too.

One common scam involves calling guests in their rooms in the middle of the night. The caller pretends to be from the front desk, and claims they failed to take credit card details for a security deposit. The guest is asked to read their card number over the phone, and the scammer on the end of the line then has all the details they need to go on a shopping spree at the guest's expense.

Another involves scammers delivering fake takeaway menus to rooms. When people call to order, they are asked if they want to pay by card. They read their details over the phone - straight to the scammers.

And a third involves scammers setting up free wifi spots in hotel lobbies. Once guests use the connection, any data they send will go to the scammer's computer, where they can harvest any useful data.