Spanish man hacked booking site to enjoy free hotel stays

A Spanish man was arrested after he was caught hacking a hotel booking website to book free, multi-day stays at expensive hotels where room reservations cost up to £850 per night.

The Spanish National Police told media agencies that the 20-year-old man manipulated the hotel booking site to alter the validation process of the electronic payment platform to make it appear that the bill had been paid in full.

"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," the police said. 

The hacker reportedly pulled off the trick multiple times, paying just one cent to book hotel stays worth over twenty thousand euros. When the police arrested him, he was staying at a luxury hotel in Madrid where he had booked a four-night reservation costing 4,000 euros.

The hacker initially succeeded in running the scam but attracted attention after the payment platform transferred the actual amount paid to the company that ran the hotel booking site. 

Hotel booking scams are a widespread phenomenon with fraudsters targeting hotels or their customers to earn quick money or facilities. In October, a British national lost more than €1,800 after a fraudster pretended to be a super host of a property on Booking.com and made him pay for his stay before cancelling soon afterwards.