Spanish police arrest hacker who booked luxury hotels for one cent

Madrid – The Spanish police said on Feb 18 that they had arrested a 20-year-old man who allegedly hacked a hotel booking website to reserve luxury rooms for as little as one cent, in the first known cybercrime of its kind.

The suspect is believed to have manipulated the site’s payment system, altering the validation process of an electronic payment platform so that bookings appeared fully paid.

But only a minimal amount – one cent – was actually charged for rooms costing up to €1,000 (S$1,500) a night.

“This cyberattack was specifically designed to alter the payment validation system, and this is the first time we have detected a crime using this method,” Spain’s National Police said.

The police said the man, a Spanish national, also consumed minibar items during his stays and occasionally left bills unpaid.

At the time of his arrest, he was staying at a luxury Madrid hotel with a four-night reservation totalling €4,000.

The man had stayed at the hotel multiple times, causing the hotel to lose more than €20,000.

The investigation began after an online booking website reported suspicious activity earlier in February.

Transactions initially appeared to be completed correctly, but the irregularity was discovered only days later, when the payment platform transferred the actual amount paid to the affected company. AFP