Arizona political leaders want feds to look into hotel booking scam
May 6, 2015, 9:46 AM | Updated: 9:47 am
PHOENIX — A scam has Arizona’s congressional delegation worried its constituents may be duped into spending vacation money on fake hotel websites.
Apparently several fake hotel websites pose as official booking services for resorts and trick travelers into spending money.
“(Travelers) book the room, they pay the money with their credit card and low and behold they show up at the hotel with their printed out reservation and they don’t have a reservation and they’ve lost all that money,” U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona said.
Sinema was one of several members of Arizona’s congressional delegation who recently signed a letter to the Department of Justice asking for an investigation.
The congresswoman said the fraudulent activity can hurt local consumers and Arizona’s economy.
“We’ve learned that there are about 2.5 million false and misleading hotel bookings every year across the country but Arizona is a special target because we are such a destination for tourism around the country,” she said.
