Hotel staff tricked by drunken act

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A con man pretending to be an intoxicated guest tricked the staff at a New Zealand hotel into giving him a room key that he used to rob an entire family.

Evelyn Black said her family had been eating dinner one night in Auckland when an unidentified man falsely identified himself as a member of their family and was given the key to their room, The New Zealand Herald reported Sunday.

"He came to the desk clearly intoxicated -- although we think now that may have been part of his con game -- he said, 'I'm Black. Can I have my room key?" Black said.

Black said that without asking for identification, hotel staff gave the man a key to the family's room, and the mistake resulted in the family losing all its valuables, including a computer and even their passports.

The Canadian family was able to get new travel documents and return home, but Black told the Herald she was upset with the hotel staff's performance.

"It just seems like there was so many lapses," she said.