Hotels.com Customer Info Stolen
Some 243,000 Hotels.com customers have had their credit card information stolen from a laptop in a locked car of an Ernst & Young auditor, according to the Associated Press.
Ernst & Young audits the finances of the Hotels.com division of Expedia, Inc. Interestingly, it also claims to specialize in “security auditing,” in spite of apparently a number of similar incidents working with other companies, when its employees did not keep their laptops with them.
The laptop was password protected. Most customer transactions are from 2004, but a few are from 2002 and 2003.
If you are in this group and have not been contacted by Ernst & Young, call Hotels.com at 1-800-246-8357 for more information. Ernst & Young will provide free enrollment in a credit monitoring service.
At this time, there’s no evidence that any of the stolen laptop information has been used, according to the Associated Press report.
I like Hotels.com, and use it. As part of a public company, it must be audited. It's a shame that has had negative consequences in this case.