It looked as if real estate mogul Donald Trump was having a rough week after NBC, Univision, and Macy’s decided to dump him. But things can always get worse.
The company managing Trump’s 5-star hotels, the Trump Hotel Collection, confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that an investigation is underway into a reported breach of its customer credit card data.
“Like virtually every other company these days, we have been alerted to potential suspicious credit card activity and are in the midst of a thorough investigation to determine whether it involves any of our properties,” said Eric Trump, Donald Trump’s son, and the executive vice president of development and acquisitions for the luxury hotel chain.
“We are committed to safeguarding all guests’ personal information and will continue to do so vigilantly,” the younger Trump added.
A pattern of fraudulent debit and credit card charges linked to previous Trump hotel guests has been detected by several banks, according to security researcher Brian Krebs, who first reported the alleged breach Wednesday morning. Trump properties across the U.S. are “dealing with a credit card breach that appears to extend back to at least February 2015,” wrote Krebs.
Unnamed financial industry sources reportedly told Krebs that they have “little doubt” Trump’s properties have fallen victim to a cyberattack.
The Daily Dot reached out to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Wednesday afternoon, but did not immediately receive a response.
Trump has been embroiled in controversy since declaring his bid for the GOP nomination. During the announcement he accused Mexico of “sending” rapists across the U.S. border.
On Wednesday, “disappointed and distressed” by the remarks, Macy’s announced it would discontinue Trump’s clothing line. The retailer’s decision followed that of NBC and Univision, who will no longer air the Miss USA—not to be confused with Miss America—and Miss Universe pageants, both owned by Trump. NBC has also decided to no longer air Trump’s reality show, The Apprentice.
Photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)
