‘Juice jacking’ plus music gift cards

Kelby Dominic worked hard all year, so she always looked forward to her vacation. Her excitement escalated the closer she was to departure. After checking in at the airport she noticed that her smartphone needed charging. She ponied up to a “free” charging station that provided USB ports for charging personal devices and charged her phone before boarding the plane. When she arrived at her hotel she checked her bank account and saw that the balance was wiped out. She quickly notified her bank, which informed her that her account number and probably other personally identifiable information (PII) had been compromised. But how?

When Kelby got home, she reported it to the police. A police officer, who began to track her behavior before she arrived at the vacation hotel, asked her if she’d charged her smartphone at the airport. She said that she had. The officer told Kelby that she was probably a victim of “juice jacking.”

A charge that will cost you