4 ms·

A lot of upper midscale hotels in the USA are owned by Indians from India whose last name is Patel. Pretty much every single hotel gets a call from Mr. Patel a

A lot of upper midscale hotels in the USA are owned by Indians from India whose last name is Patel. Pretty much every single hotel gets a call from Mr. Patel at night asking to wire money due to an emergency. A lot of hotel employees fell for it and wire money. These employees even drill open the safe. Some even wire money from their personal account. This scam is mostly social engineering without any AI/Deepfake. It's going to be a fun time ahead for everyone.

swyx 3y ago
the patel motel cartel! https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/04/magazine/a-patel-motel-cartel.html https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/04/magazine/a-patel-motel-ca...
- BlueTemplar 3y ago
  Heh, reminds me a bit of how a South Korean cult is behind Sushi becoming popular...
  - lisper 3y ago
    Reference?
    - lupusreal 3y ago
      https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/05/magazine/sushi-us.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/05/magazine/sush... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_World_Foods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_World_Foods
  - golergka 3y ago
    I thought the Norwegian fishing industry was behind it?
    - kyawzazaw 3y ago
      that's just salmon specifically
  - jaytxng 3y ago
    I just read the NYTimes article about this. Insane timing... https://archive.is/63umC https://archive.is/63umC
- analog31 3y ago
  Odd coincidence: 25 years ago a friend of mine, who was a machinist, told me that his ultimate career goal was to own a motel. His name: Patel. He explained the whole thing to me.
skybrian 3y ago
I'm confused about what you're saying. This is a hypothetical scenario?
- __loam 3y ago
  No he's saying this happened to actual employees.
  - skybrian 3y ago
    Is there a source for this? It seems kinda weird to post a story like that without evidence.
    - smhenderson 3y ago
      I too like it when people link to things to back up a statement. But the way he described the phenomenon made it seem pretty common, and indeed, a quick search for "patel cfo scam hotels" turns up a number of relevant results... Seems like it's a pretty well known, frequently occurring event in the hotel industry.
    - joenot443 3y ago
      I think it's kinda weird to expect a source any time someone online shares an anecdote. It was sunny in New York yesterday, do you need a source for that? At any rate, a 5s Google of "patel hotel indian scam call site:www.reddit.com" reveals dozens of threads of people sharing essentially the same anecdote. Is that enough for you sir, or do you need something peer reviewed?
    - tim333 3y ago
      Googling 'patel scam' leads to https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk/comments/ot7rm4/the_mister_patel_scam/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk/comments/ot7r... Not quite identical but close.
    - newhotelowner 3y ago
      Join some of the hotel employees groups. You will hear about all the scams. Time to time franchise will also send out notifications. Other common scam is IT support.
delfinom 3y ago
Lol. My engineering manager fell for the CEO gift card scam. Except the kicker is the CEO has asked him to actually do the same thing before for real hahaha
- chrsig 3y ago
  So you're saying he fell for it twice...What did you say his contact info was again? :D

swyx 3y ago

the patel motel cartel! https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/04/magazine/a-patel-motel-cartel.html https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/04/magazine/a-patel-motel-ca...

BlueTemplar 3y ago
Heh, reminds me a bit of how a South Korean cult is behind Sushi becoming popular...
- lisper 3y ago
  Reference?
  - lupusreal 3y ago
    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/05/magazine/sushi-us.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/05/magazine/sush... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_World_Foods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_World_Foods
- golergka 3y ago
  I thought the Norwegian fishing industry was behind it?
  - kyawzazaw 3y ago
    that's just salmon specifically
- jaytxng 3y ago
  I just read the NYTimes article about this. Insane timing... https://archive.is/63umC https://archive.is/63umC
analog31 3y ago
Odd coincidence: 25 years ago a friend of mine, who was a machinist, told me that his ultimate career goal was to own a motel. His name: Patel. He explained the whole thing to me.

skybrian 3y ago

I'm confused about what you're saying. This is a hypothetical scenario?

__loam 3y ago
No he's saying this happened to actual employees.
- skybrian 3y ago
  Is there a source for this? It seems kinda weird to post a story like that without evidence.
  - smhenderson 3y ago
    I too like it when people link to things to back up a statement. But the way he described the phenomenon made it seem pretty common, and indeed, a quick search for "patel cfo scam hotels" turns up a number of relevant results... Seems like it's a pretty well known, frequently occurring event in the hotel industry.
  - joenot443 3y ago
    I think it's kinda weird to expect a source any time someone online shares an anecdote. It was sunny in New York yesterday, do you need a source for that? At any rate, a 5s Google of "patel hotel indian scam call site:www.reddit.com" reveals dozens of threads of people sharing essentially the same anecdote. Is that enough for you sir, or do you need something peer reviewed?
  - tim333 3y ago
    Googling 'patel scam' leads to https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk/comments/ot7rm4/the_mister_patel_scam/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk/comments/ot7r... Not quite identical but close.
  - newhotelowner 3y ago
    Join some of the hotel employees groups. You will hear about all the scams. Time to time franchise will also send out notifications. Other common scam is IT support.

delfinom 3y ago

Lol. My engineering manager fell for the CEO gift card scam. Except the kicker is the CEO has asked him to actually do the same thing before for real hahaha

chrsig 3y ago
So you're saying he fell for it twice...What did you say his contact info was again? :D