A young hacker was caught in Madrid after defrauding a hotel, paying only one cent for a 4,000 euro reservation.

The Spanish National Police announced the arrest of a young hacker who managed to defraud a luxury hotel in Madrid, paying only one cent for a 4,000 euro reservation. The criminal selected the payment option through an international platform, modifying the transaction validation process to obtain payment authorization.

He was caught red-handed in the hotel, where he caused an economic damage of over 20,000 euros, consuming products from the minibar without paying for them. The investigation began after a complaint was filed by a booking agency, which discovered that, although the transaction appeared to be correctly registered, the actual payment was only one cent. This is the first time the police have detected such a modus operandi.