Hotel Room ID Theft
This email has come to me on several occasions.
But is it real?
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From the Colorado Bureau of Investigation:
“Southern California law enforcement professionals assigned to detect new threats to personal security issues, recently discovered what type of information is embedded in the credit card type hotel room keys used throughout the industry.
Although room keys differ from hotel to hotel, a key obtained from the “Double Tree” chain that was being used for a regional Identity Theft Presentation was found to contain the following the information:
a.. Customers (your) name
b.. Customers partial home address
c.. Hotel room number
d.. Check in date and check out date
e.. Customer’s (your) credit card number and expiration date!
When you turn them in to the front desk your personal information is there for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner. An employee can take a hand full of cards home and using a scanning device, access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your expense.Simply put, hotels do not erase the information on these cards until an employee re-issues the card to the next hotel guest. At that time, the new guest’s information is electronically “overwritten” on the card and the previous guest’s information is erased in the overwriting process. But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT!!!!
Information courtesy of: Sergeant K. Jorge,
Detective Sergeant————–
Short answer?
No, it’s a hoax. The story comes from a quote from 2003 by Sergent Jorge who said:
“In years past, existing software would prompt the user (employee) for information input. If the employee was unaware of hotel policy dictating that such information NOT be entered, it could have ended up on the card in error.”
However, the types of cards that hotels use just don’t have the storage capability to store your credit card number, address or name. They have a single track that includes nothing but a code linked to the room number. That code is wiped automatically when you check out.
2 Comments to
Hahaha I work in a hotel and you are dead on Nicholas clearly a hoax the cards are set to automatically expire at the arranged check our time and only hold the room number an door code.
Could be someone taking mr sticklys credit card skimming and writig to hitel keys a bit to far.
There are better ways it hitel staff and unnassoviated ID fraudsters to get your personal info, scam you, or scam the employer. Most guests in hotels might I add are weak con artists themselves.
Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article