Hundreds of tourists thought they paid for hotel rooms in Rome, but the hotels didn’t exist

After a booking was made, scammers called the victims and asked for their credit card information to pay a deposit on the reservation, officials said. The scammers told victims this deposit would be refunded later. — Photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash

Scammers in Italy tricked hundreds of tourists into booking nonexistent hotels, then stole their credit card information to pay for their own luxury lifestyle, authorities said.

The scammers created online profiles for hotels and tourist facilities in Rome that did not exist, then posted these profiles on various hotel reservation sites, according to a Tuesday, Dec 13, news release from Italy’s State Police Headquarters in Rome.