How to Avoid Possible Hotel Key Card Rip Offs

My Uncle forwarded the following information to me in an email today. I thought it was important information for all of my blog readers who travel and stay in hotels to know about. Please forward this blog post to all of your traveling family and friends.

HOTEL KEY CARDS

Ever wonder what is on your magnetic key card?

Answer:
a. Customer's name
b. Customer's partial home address
c. Hotel room number
d. Check-in date and out dates
e. Customer's 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 reissues 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 into 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!

If you have a small magnet, pass it across the magnetic strip several times. Then try it in the door, it will not work. It erases everything on the card.

Information courtesy of: Pasadena Police Department

PLEASE FORWARD to friends and family.

Comments

[Sheila]

I had never heard of this before. How scary!

[HawaiiVacationGifts]

I agree!! That is why I wanted to warn everyone.

[Robin Jones]

This is a hoax! Read more at Snope's Urban Legends site:
http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/hotelkey.asp

[HawaiiVacationGifts]

Thank you for the link Robin. I tried to email you but your email and site link do not work. Normally I would have deleted your comment, but I felt it would be good for our readers to have more information and make up their own minds.