Telephone Scam at Johnson Space Center

[Tom&Shelly]

Hi everyone. Shelly and I experienced a scam at the Spaceflight Museum in Houston last week. Turned out well, but here is a warning for everyone.

We arrived right before a scheduled tour and parking required scanning the little square in the lot, and paying via telephone. Shelly was scrambling to do that while we were moving to the building. She scanned in the square, then tried first my credit card, and then her debit card to make the payment. Then she realized she had clicked on some BS ad that came up. A few hours later my credit card company called and asked about a suspicious charge. $34 to some company in Ft Lauderdale (or possibly someone off-shore). Taken off, but they are sending me a new card, so I can't use that one the the rest of the trip. Having been warned, Shelly called our bank and disputed the same charge to her debit card. So that card got turned off. Luckily, we have another means of payment.

We reported it to the museum staff and the represenative said they have had problems with third person aps and it should be okay if we used the native code in the telephone. Shelly deleted her ap and will now use the built in code in her telephone. I tried my phone (never scanned one of those squares with it before) and evidently I don't have any software in my phone for scanning the squares. Suits me fine! If someone wants my business, they can make it easier to contact them!

Tom

PS--It's not so much that I'm not tech savy. I'm paranoid! (And this time, I'm right!)

[TimC]

I'm with you Tom. I don't scan those squares either. I do believe the easier they make it to pay for things the easier it is to scam someone.