GreekChat.com Forums - Important Travel Information!!

Ladies, I saw this on the Delta Sigma Theta board, and it's been confirmed by the police department involved:

**IMPORTANT: Hotel Room Keys**
I just received this in a forward. I checked urban legends sites and did not find it. If anyone knows of disputing information to the contrary, please share.

Subject: FYI - Hotel Travel

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 the "Double Tree" chain that was being used for a regional Identity Theft Presentation was found to contain the following the information:

Customers (your) name
Customers partial home address
Hotel room number
Check in date and check out date
Customers (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 these cards until an employee issues the card to the next hotel guest. It is usually kept in a drawer 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. They will not charge you for the card.

Information courtesy of:

Sergeant K. Jorge,
Detective Sergeant,
Pasadena Police Department

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Thank you very much to the Sorors of Delta Sigma Theta!!