FBI Warns Travelers About Juice-Jacking Hacking Scheme at Airports, Hotels

by Donald Wood on April 12, 2023 (Travel Pulse)

Hackers are targeting phones at airports and hotels. (Photo Credit: tsingha25 / iStock / Getty Images Plus)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a warning to travelers about “juice jacking,” a deceptive practice used to steal information from phones while they charge at public stations at airports and in hotels.

According to ABC Chicago, an FBI spokesperson said people should avoid using free charging stations in “airports, hotels or shopping centers” due to concerns that hackers would use the public USB ports to “introduce malware and monitoring software onto devices.”
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Scammers figured out that some smartphones use the same port for charging and data transfer, allowing them to move data between devices and steal information or install malware. Juice jacking has been a tool used by hackers for years, but the FBI is the first federal agency to address the issue.

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