the Boomerang Are UCU Students Above Stealing Each Other’s Lunch Money?

Sofia Banzhoff

Remember victim 555? The student whose lunch money Roeland van Beek once used by falsifying their Dining Hall debit card, and eating a “free lunch”? If you need to refresh your memory, check out Columni in the October 2012 Boomerang. Maybe you now watch your balance more closely than your Facebook newsfeed, or did you only check your own card, relieved to see it was not number 555? Whatever your reaction, you might be among those who wonder: How did this happen in the first place?

When Sodexo became the UU-wide caterer, it was asked to work with a card system for the students living on campus. During the card distribution phase, second-year Rens Bakker realized that the cards could easily be duplicated. To prove his point, he faked his own card and used it successfully. He alerted College Hall of the possibility of hacking the system, and UCU’s Managing Director Bettina Nelemans communicated this to Sodexo the same day.

To prevent abuse of the cards, the caterer then started to check the cards daily for unusual activity, e.g. the same account being used twice for one meal. However, Sodexo did not –and does not – have any plans to change the system, Nelemans said. “Whatever you do, there will always be people smart enough to break into the system,” was the response she got from Sodexo.

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