Give credit card details?

Am booking a hotel in Rio, Brazil, for the Carnival period in 2007
The hotel I want to book, I have picked through a travel agent that I contacted from the official Carnival site. They are called IPACOM TRAVEL.

They have sent me a form via E mail to fill in with all the relevant credit card details and also a signature. This form is to be faxed to the travel agent. They also want a clear copy of the front and the back of my credit card faxed to them.

Has anyone ever been asked for this level of information before??
I am nervous that this is unsafe, am I being paranoid??
Any suggestions?

Maybe you shouldn't be going to the Carnival in Rio at all..?

No, seriously, I don't think it's that unusual for a hotel to require CC details — or even a copy of the card, front and back (I've had to do that for certain online stores in the US to let me place an order). And I suppose a fax is probably (?) more secure than an email or online booking, once they acknowledge receipt and confirm the booking t&cs in writing.

Unless you've reason to think the hotel (or the travel agent) is in some way 'bogey', I wouldn't be too worried.

I have never had to give a photocopy of the card before when booking a hotel, so am being super paranoid...Have never booked a hotel in Brazil before either....
Thanks though for the comment.

Why not check out the hotel through the other various hotel web sites that don't require this info such as
[broken link removed]
[broken link removed]
www.octopustravel.co.uk
http://www.venere.com (www.venere.com)

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