Moteliers taking a credit card number to guarantee a reservation is a necessary business process, but it does carry responsibility.
A South Auckland motel was lucky that they weren't named-and-shamed in an emotional charged story of a critically ill pensioner that had his credit card account emptied apparently due to a motel not securing his credit card information.
Allegedly the pensioner's credit card number that he disclosed to a motel in good faith to secure a reservation was discovered by low-life thieves that broke into the motel.
"A terminally ill former Waikato man is questioning credit card security after his plans for a final trip home were almost scuttled by fraudsters.
Peter Holmes, a 67-year-old pensioner now living in Grafton, Sydney, had sold his prized camper trailer to gather up the funds for his last trip back home to the Waikato to see his son after being told he did not have long to live because of severe heart disease.
Mr Holmes, born in Cambridge and brought up on a farm near Matamata, said he had given his credit card details to a car rental company and two Auckland motels as part of bookings for his stay in the country from early May.
But despite selling a camper trailer to boost his credit balance to $3000 on his card, it appears thieves got there first, spending the lot, plus adding another $700 in debt.
Mr Holmes was unaware until he was denied a tank of gas at his local Sydney service station. "It was quite a shock for [a] poor old pensioner like me, it's the last thing you expect.
"I've got quite a severe heart disease and I'm running out of time and I thought before I get too advanced I'd better get to New Zealand and spend a bit of time with my son, Matthew, and I've got two older sisters there, too."
Up until yesterday, he was unsure if he'd still be able to make the trip, but Commonwealth (Australia) bank had since confirmed Mr Holmes would get his money back.
Constable Marian Evans of Whangarei police confirmed staff were investigating the case and two people had been arrested, when caught driving a stolen car after they allegedly stole a television from an Auckland motel, and were found with Mr Holmes' credit card details.
Perplexing the family was news that the majority of transactions were made at motels, apart from a new cellphone from 2 Degrees, a rental car company, and a Hamilton car wreckers.
The brazen thieves had also made several phone calls from their motel rooms to landlines – including Rainbows' End – and several cellphones.
It appears the fraud was too complex for it to be a simple case of bed-hopping as there had been several bookings made in a variety of motels around Auckland and Whangarei over an eight-day period.
Mr Holmes' Cambridge-based son, Matthew, was horrified and angered by the theft.
He also worried it would cause even more stress on his dad's frail heart.
"The doctors have told him it will be his last trip and they don't expect him to last out the rest of the year. He's had six or seven heart attacks going on 15 years now. He's got a pacemaker."Source: Click HERE
