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Travel Tip
Though this maybe of some interest to those of you going abroad & staying in Hotels !!!!
Subject: FW: Security warning.
READ IT IMPORTANT HOTEL "KEYS"
There is always something to learn, worth reading. I DIDN'T KNOW THIS.
Very few people are aware. Send it to everyone on your mail box.
You know how when you check out of a hotel that uses the credit-card-type room key, the clerk often will ask if you have your key(s) to turn in, or there is a box or slot on the Reception counter in which to put them?
IT'S good for the hotel because they save money by re-using those cards.
But it's not good for you, as revealed below.
From the California Bureau of Investigation:
"Southern California law enforcement professionals assigned to detect new threats to personal security issues recently discovered what type of information is embedded in the credit card type hotel room keys used throughout the industry.
Although room keys differ from hotel to hotel, a key obtained from a well known hotel chain that was being used for a regional Identity Theft Presentation was found to contain the following the information:
A. Customers (your) name
B. Customers partial home address
C. Hotel room NUMBER.
D. Check in date and check out date
E. Customer's (your) credit card number and expiration date!
When you turn them 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 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 the information on these cards until an employee re-issues the card to the next hotel guest.
At that time, the new guest's information is electronically "overwritten" on the card
and the previous guest's information is erased in the overwriting process.
But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT!!!!
The bottom line is:
Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them
NEVER! Leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket, and NEVER turn them in to the front desk when you check out of a room.
They will not charge you for the card (it's illegal) and you'll be sure you are not leaving a lot of valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device card reader.
For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket.
Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip!
Information courtesy of: Pasadena Police Department
SEND TO ANYONE YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP.
There's always a Payback.... You just don't see it comin !!!!
Subject: FW: Security warning.
READ IT IMPORTANT HOTEL "KEYS"
There is always something to learn, worth reading. I DIDN'T KNOW THIS.
Very few people are aware. Send it to everyone on your mail box.
You know how when you check out of a hotel that uses the credit-card-type room key, the clerk often will ask if you have your key(s) to turn in, or there is a box or slot on the Reception counter in which to put them?
IT'S good for the hotel because they save money by re-using those cards.
But it's not good for you, as revealed below.
From the California Bureau of Investigation:
"Southern California law enforcement professionals assigned to detect new threats to personal security issues recently discovered what type of information is embedded in the credit card type hotel room keys used throughout the industry.
Although room keys differ from hotel to hotel, a key obtained from a well known hotel chain that was being used for a regional Identity Theft Presentation was found to contain the following the information:
A. Customers (your) name
B. Customers partial home address
C. Hotel room NUMBER.
D. Check in date and check out date
E. Customer's (your) credit card number and expiration date!
When you turn them 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 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 the information on these cards until an employee re-issues the card to the next hotel guest.
At that time, the new guest's information is electronically "overwritten" on the card
and the previous guest's information is erased in the overwriting process.
But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT!!!!
The bottom line is:
Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them
NEVER! Leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket, and NEVER turn them in to the front desk when you check out of a room.
They will not charge you for the card (it's illegal) and you'll be sure you are not leaving a lot of valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device card reader.
For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket.
Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip!
Information courtesy of: Pasadena Police Department
SEND TO ANYONE YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP.
There's always a Payback.... You just don't see it comin !!!!