AOL: Ever heard the story of the guy whose identity was stolen after his personal information was swiped from his electronic room key? Or the one about thieves drugging passengers with sleeping gas on trains in Eastern Europe? What about money hidden in hotel bibles? These are just a few of the myths that make the rounds on the travelers’ circuit that make good stories — but, for the most part, simply aren’t true.
1. Hotel Key Cards Contain Personal Information
With so many hotels using key cards for room access these days, a widely circulated rumor persists that there’s a chance of guests having personal information — even their identities — stolen off these cards. Not true, according to the rumor-busting website Snopes, which traced the legend to a 2003 email sent out by Detective Sergeant Kathryn Jorge of the Pasadena Police Department. The e-mail followed a presentation she saw about fraud techniques indicating there was a possibility of such a tactic being used. In the end, the police department was forced to issue a retraction to quell the rumors that exploded throughout cyberspace, saying that “the one incident referred to (in the detective’s email warning) appears to be several years old, and with today’s newer technology, it would appear that no hotels engage in the practice of storing personal information on key cards.”… (more)
