Spanish police arrested a hacker who allegedly manipulated a hotel booking website, allowing him to pay one cent for luxury hotel stays. He also raided the mini-bars and didn't settle some of those tabs, police say.

"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 [1]told media outlets .

The man, a 20-year-old Spanish national, was arrested while staying at a Madrid hotel with a four-night reservation that carried a €4,000 ($4,716) price tag – unless you hacked the payment system, as this fraudster did.

[2]

According to the cops, he stayed at this hotel several times, costing the business more than €20,000 ($23,608) in losses.

[3]

[4]

Police [5]began investigating the suspect earlier this month after an unnamed online booking website reported suspicious activity. The transactions appeared normal, indicating the man paid the full amount – at first.

[6]Moon hotel startup hopes you get lunar lunacy, drop $1M deposit for 2032 stay

[7]Kaspersky: RevengeHotels checks back in with AI-coded malware

[8]Polish cops nab 47-year-old man in Phobos ransomware raid

[9]Payroll pirates are conning help desks to steal workers' identities and redirect paychecks

Days later, however, when the site transferred the actual amount paid to the hotel, the payment-validation scam surfaced, indicating that the crook paid just one cent for rooms costing €1,000 ($1,179) per night.

Adding insult to injury, police said that the man also consumed mini-bar bottles and sometimes left those bills unpaid, too.

While he may be facing a free stay at a mini-bar free, unluxurious facility for his alleged crimes, we have an idea for his next big vacay, post-prison: an inflatable moon hotel.

[10]

The [11]definitely-going-to-happen hotel , slated to open in 2032, requires a deposit of either $250,000 or $1 million. No word on whether GRU Space, the hotel's operators, have received any one cent deposits – yet. ®

Get our [12]Tech Resources



[1] https://www.insidenova.com/news/national/spanish-police-arrest-hacker-who-booked-luxury-hotels-for-one-cent/article_9dacbe7b-a545-54d2-b8ac-51eec390e047.html

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aZZEihlWRpXa-EiSsOnICAAAAE0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aZZEihlWRpXa-EiSsOnICAAAAE0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aZZEihlWRpXa-EiSsOnICAAAAE0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[5] https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260218-spanish-police-arrest-hacker-who-booked-luxury-hotels-for-one-cent

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/13/moon_hotel_startup_reservation/

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/23/kaspersky_revengehotels_checks_back_in/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/17/poland_phobos_ransomware_arrest/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/11/payroll_pirates_business_social_engineering/

[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aZZEihlWRpXa-EiSsOnICAAAAE0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/13/moon_hotel_startup_reservation/

[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/