Possible car hire fraud or innocent mistake?

[Sheila Kenny]

Hi all, Someone called 'Klaas M' has made a hire car reservation from the train station at SdC for 30/10/2022 using my email address. As I'm currently in Australia I contacted the company and was able to cancel the reservation. I'm hoping this is an innocent mistake on their part (mistyped email address?) but I'm also concerned at the possibility of identity theft. No credit card was used. Advice or thoughts on this please.

 

[dougfitz]

It's difficult to tell, but I think you need to be cautious about this. Email address mistakes are easy to make, and in retrospect can have quite funny outcomes.

I would be contacting my credit card providers and ensuring that they are aware you are still in Australia, and presumably not planning to travel soon. They can electronically 'ring fence' your card if you don't use it with an overseas vendor (eBay, Amazon, etc). I have also allowed specific overseas transactions on one of my cards.

Of course, you should be even more concerned if you are an Optus customer at present, and following the advice you should be getting on protecting yourself from identity theft.

 

[henrythedog]

Hi all, Someone called 'Klaas M' has made a hire car reservation from the train station at SdC for 30/10/2022 using my email address. As I'm currently in Australia I contacted the company and was able to cancel the reservation. I'm hoping this is an innocent mistake on their part (mistyped email address?) but I'm also concerned at the possibility of identity theft. No credit card was used. Advice or thoughts on this please.

If I were you, I’d change my email password as well as the other advice above.

Are there other details of the purported booker on the confirmation email? Don’t share them on here; but they may reassure or not with respect to an accidental error or something more concerning.

When collecting a rental car the hirer will have to produce a drivers licence in the same name as the booking

 

[trecile]

Hi all, Someone called 'Klaas M' has made a hire car reservation from the train station at SdC for 30/10/2022 using my email address. As I'm currently in Australia I contacted the company and was able to cancel the reservation. I'm hoping this is an innocent mistake on their part (mistyped email address?) but I'm also concerned at the possibility of identity theft. No credit card was used. Advice or thoughts on this please.

Email address mistakes can and do happen, but the possibility of the mistake being the email address of a pilgrim who has been in Santiago de Compostela in the past seems very, very remote. I would definitely change your password.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I think it is an accident. Why would a crook give an email address that could notify someone in advance that they are a target? (other than completely criminal IQ 60 stupidity).

I think I would notify the rental company to notify Klass M via home address or phone number that the reservation has been cancelled, in case an honest mistake by company staff was made and not accept a credit card number ending in your card's four last numbers. I would also notify my credit card company by email and postal mail also so I could not be held liable for charges. Once I did that I would not ask for a new card number as making changes to recurring charges is a real pain (a credit card company had to change mine when they found an employee using my number before I saw anything strange).

And, yeah, a new strong password is a good idea.

 

[trecile]

@Sheila Kenny - had you rented a car from this company in the past or been in contact with them by email at all?

 

[Tassie Kaz]

@Sheila Kenny - had you rented a car from this company in the past or been in contact with them by email at all?

That was my first thought too.
When you start to type an email address in the 'To' box, a myriad of options comes up based on previous contact (however fleeting) or even if you'd been CC'd in by someone else who had contacted the company.
Perhaps your email address is similar to Klaas M; the operator may have seen it & simply assumed it was the one.
Definitely disconcerting considering the place name though! We all have to be so careful...& sadly, suspicious of everything these days.
I hope it doesn't take a more sinister turn...or that a completely innocent Klaas M has had their legitimate reservation cancelled!
Please let us know the outcome @Sheila Kenny

 

[wisepilgrim]

I have not seen the email first hand, but can imagine that it is a phishing scheme trying to get you to click a link.

It may not actually be from the rental car company at all, just a very convincing lookalike.

Standard email rules apply; never click links from unverifiable sources.

 

[LesR]

I have not seen the email first hand, but can imagine that it is a phishing scheme trying to get you to click a link.

It may not actually be from the rental car company at all, just a very convincing lookalike.

Standard email rules apply; never click links from unverifiable sources.

This is worth checking out, if only for peace of mind.

If you are of a mind to do so, hit the REPLY button on the email and see what return email address comes up - should be easy to compare this with the email address of the rental company that they have on their website... Please be aware that email addresses can be spoofed, and it may be clear that the is another email address behind the return email address on the incoming email.

if the return email address comes up as a gmail address, or with some obscure domain identifier , you probably can safely conclude that it is a phishing email sent to try to convince you to hand over personal information.

A mistake in the entry of an email address is possible, but without knowing you email address (and I do not want to know it), is it likely that a simple typing mistake would generate your email address..

The advice of @Sheila Kenny is also plausible, if you have previously rented a car from this company...

 

[Tassie Kaz]

It may not actually be from the rental car company at all, just a very convincing lookalike.

The OP states she contacted the car hire company & there was a rental reservation which she cancelled;

As I'm currently in Australia I contacted the company and was able to cancel the reservation

That in itself seems an unusual action from the company involved; they've allowed a third party (@Sheila Kenny) to cancel a reservation when her name doesn't match the one who made the booking in the first place.
Personally, my approach would have been to contact the car hire co (in a separate email, not by 'reply') & advise they have the wrong email address. The onus is then on them to ascertain correct customer details.
As I stated in my first reply to this topic, Klaas M could be completely legitimate & will now have their plans thrown into disarray when the car hire they're expecting to be waiting, won't be....