Call him a hacker or call him a connoisseur of cheap stays - either way, this 20-year-old Spaniard knew how to book a luxurious room for the price of a cup of coffee.
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Spanish police said Wednesday 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 (R20 000) 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.
Police said the man, a Spanish national, also consumed minibar items during his stays and occasionally left bills unpaid.
At the time of his arrest, he was staying at a luxury Madrid hotel with a four-night reservation amounting to about R80 000.
The man had stayed at the hotel multiple times, causing losses of about R80 000, a police spokeswoman said.
The investigation began after an online booking website reported suspicious activity earlier this month.
Transactions initially appeared to be completed correctly, but the irregularity was only discovered days later, when the payment platform transferred the actual amount paid to the affected company.
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