Spanish Police Arrest Hacker Who Booked Luxury Hotels For One Cent
TL;DR
Spanish police arrested a 20-year-old hacker who manipulated a hotel booking site's payment system to reserve luxury rooms for just one cent, marking the first known cybercrime of this type.
Source: Barron's
Spanish police said Feb. 18 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 euros ($1,200) 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. Full Story