20-Year-Old Hacks Luxury Hotel Bookings for One Cent Each

Spanish man arrested for hacking hotel site, booking luxury rooms for 1 cent each, totaling over €20,000 in charges.

Feb 20, 2026

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Spanish police arrested a 20-year-old man who allegedly hacked a hotel booking website to reserve luxury rooms for just one cent instead of up to €1,000 per night. The suspect was caught at a Madrid hotel where he'd racked up over €20,000 in charges across multiple stays.

Police say he manipulated the payment validation system through a cyber attack, making it authorize transactions for €0.01 while appearing legitimate. The scam was discovered when the actual penny payments were transferred to hotels. Investigators tracked him down in just four days after a booking site reported suspicious activity. He was staying in a €4,000-per-night Madrid suite when arrested.

Source: BBC

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