He went from suite to suite, stayed in the best hotels, rested on luxury sheets and even tasted products from the minibar. The «small» detail is that these experiences – which They could cost up to 1,000 euros per night – the hacker could get them for just a cent.
There were no promotions, nor was it a system error. Behind these operations was the young man who manipulated the online payment method to stay in luxury hotels for the lowest amount. The number of scams carried out is still unknown.
This Wednesday, the Spanish National Police announced that the «VIP guest» He was arrested in a luxurious hotel in Madrid who would have provoked an economic loss of more than 20,000 euros. Days ago, Carlos (as the twenty-year-old is called) had also been in Dubai.
Those in charge of the case assure that This is the first time they have detected this modus operandi.. The investigation began on February 2 following a complaint filed by a travel agency.
The flight and hotel company had detected numerous requests, especially for destinations in the Canary Islands and Madrid and for different dates. However, The hacker modified the price at the time of making the reservation. Police sources revealed that they are sure that he had been doing it for a long time.
How the strategy with which he scammed worked
The «cybercriminal» selected «the subscription option through a recognized international electronic payment platform,» the police said in a statement.
Through a strategically designed cyber attackthe young man altered the transaction validation process, causing the system to authorize the operation after entering only one cent.
For the reservation platform, the operation was listed as correctly processed for the total amount of the stay. «The irregularity was not detected immediatelybut days later, when the payment platform transferred the actual amount paid to the affected company: one cent per reservation,» revealed the National Police.
By then, the guest was already enjoying his stay in different hotels in Spain and even emptied the minibar in the rooms without paying a single euro.
He camouflaged himself as a businessman but forgot to hide a key detail
The hacker boasted of having an online company in which I produced and distributed music to large platforms. Furthermore, it is not the first time that he used this strategy to steal.
With a prior arrest in Canary Islands, his place of residence, He had stayed in an exclusive hotel in Tenerife. He had also purchased computer components from a local store with the same modus operandi.
One detail that the hacker forgot to hide was to reveal his real identity. This is how the police compared it in different reservations.
His history is just beginning to come to light and the police promise a long list of criminal records. It is the security cameras, the hotel registry and the payment platforms that will be able to verify your actions, reconstruct your route and certify you as the VIP guest.
