Hotel Credit Card Hacking

Why Are Hotel Guests HOTEL More Likely to beVictims of Credit Card Fraud? 15.8% Other 38% 13% (Credit Card Hacking by Industry Restaurants Hotels & Bars 14.2% Retail 19% One study estimates that 38% of all credit card hacking involves hotels, well ahead of the financial services Finance industry which comes in at a distant second with 19% of the illegal activity. Travelers in the United States spend an average of: $1.9 billion a day $80 million an hour, $1.3 million a minute This places hospitality in the top ten industries in the U.S. for generating $22,300 a second revenue, taxes and jobs. Meanwhile, this industry was also one of the hardest hit during the recent global economic meltdown. Security upgrades to computer systems have fallen behind at some properties or even across entire chains making them a prime target for hacking and credit card fraud. In recent months hackers have demonstrated a preference for luxury hotel chains with affluent guests whose cards feature high In one incident, the hacking spanned three months and involved credit limits and a lot of 700 guests with losses averaging $2000- $3000 per credit card account. activity. The Fast and Recent Credit A Easy Way to $12 Protect Yourself Home Sunday Snickers Fun Size. Saturday Bubbleyum Trident Bubblegum. $0.69 .... $0.98 Take time to review credit card purchases. Checking online regularly throughout the month will alert you to the numerous small "test" purchases that criminals make to see if the cardholder is Friday $54.57 $37.58 Monday unaware of fraudulent activity on their account. If the account remains active, larger purchases are attempted until fraud is detected and the card is deactivated. What's the Future? In a two year period between 2008 and 2010 mobile bookings increased tenfold from 20 million to 200 million. × 10 In 2011 it is projected that 8% of mobile users will book accommodations directly from their smartphones that can transmit credit card information. Short range wireless signals will soon enable smart- phones to be programmed as room keys with short range wireless signals. As this phenomenon continues, hotels and their guests will likely be the target of ever more sophisticated cyber thieves specializing in wireless hacking. On the flip side... hotel guests have stolen more than just towels... Room amenities hotel guests are most likely to steal: 18% 14% 2% Toiletries| Towel Trays 61% Ash oiner What does it cost the industry? Bath- robes $100,000,000 annually Hotels can lose up to 20% of their linens in any given month. To combat the loss, some hotels have resorted to using radio frequency tags on linens that signal their removal from the property, or, with a credit card on file, by discreetly adding the missing items to the guests' bills after they've checked out. Credit Card companies urge all merchants to implement and maintain state-of-the-art security. They also recommend that cardholders diligently monitor their accounts and promptly report any fraud in order to protect their rights under cardholder agreements. CreditDonkey Sources: Security News Daily - February 2011 New York Times - July 5, 2010 HotelMarketing.com June 10, 2011 AHLA.com - 2010 lodging industry profile American Hotel & Lodging ASSociation http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jul/04/travel/tr-insider4 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1378113/Hofel-towel-theft-US-hotels-clamp-thieves.html