Hotels & Lodging Hotel Room Card Key Security Issues (7/04) March 25, 2007 Todd Elliot IMPORTANT HOTEL ROOM CARD KEY INFORMATION Southern California law enforcement professionals assigned to detect new threats to personal security issues recently discovered that private customer information is often embedded in the credit card type hotel room keys used through-out the industry. Although room keys differ from hotel to hotel, a key obtained from the "Double Tree" chain was being used for a regional Identity Theft ring. The room key was found to contain the following the information: a.. Customers (your) name b.. Customers (your) partial home address c.. Hotel room number d.. Check in date and check out date e.. Customers (your) credit card number and expiration date! When you turn your room 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 or their friends 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 these cards until an employee issues the card to the next hotel guest. It is usually kept in a drawer or even on top of the counter at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT!!!! The bottom line is, keep the cards or destroy them! NEVER leave them behind and NEVER turn them in to the front desk when you check out of a room. At a minimum, scratch off the data strip. They will not charge you for the card. This Information is courtesy of: Sergeant K. Jorge, Detective Sergeant, Pasadena Police Department memo. Privacy Act applies – If this memo contains personal information it must be protected IAW DoD 5400.1-R as For Official Use Only (FOUO) ADDITIONAL CAUTION: For your protection, avoid sending identifying information, such as account, Social Security, or card numbers to others. Further, do not send time-sensitive, action-oriented messages, such as transaction orders, fund transfer instructions, etc, Electronic mail sent through the internet is not secure and could be intercepted by a third party.
