You’re on your dream vacation, sipping a cooler on the beach, soaking up the rays. Meanwhile back home, your postal carrier has left your credit card and bank statements in your mail box. Bad news: your identity is about to be stolen.
We’ve all heard horror stories about ID theft. The Federal Trade Commission reports nine million Americans are victims of it each year. Travel brings with it particular opportunities for thieves to steal your identity.
Here are ten tips to prevent identity theft when you travel:
1. Don’t leave everything at home. In my column last week, I said if you don’t need it, leave it at home. That doesn’t just apply to your belongings. You don’t need four credit cards on your trip, or your Social Security card, or bills, or many items people routinely carry in their wallets. If lost or stolen while traveling, these cards and documents could compromise your identity. Take only what you need and leave the rest in a secure place at home.
2. Use a room or hotel safe when you travel. Never leave your wallet, passport, or any document with personal information lying about in your room, fitness center, pool or beach. Unfortunately, you can’t depend that employees who have access to your room are trustworthy. Hotel, shipboard and beach burglaries are not unknown.
3. Hold the mail. Either ask the post office, or have a trusted person bring in it in daily. Mailboxes are frequent targets of identity thieves. Bank and credit card statements are rich fodder for those thieves.
4. Avoid using checks. Checking account fraud is one of the toughest from which to recover. When traveling, use cash, traveler’s checks or credit cards.
5. Keep track of your receipts. Keep them with your travel documents, such as your passport, in a safe at the hotel, and in a zippered bag in your carry-on luggage, while in transit. Don’t leave receipts and personal information in your checked-in luggage. Don’t discard receipts, notes to yourself, or other documents in your hotel room trash receptacle. You’re not at home! If you don’t take them with you, use the hotel’s or ship’s shredder.
6. Never leave your car rental contract, which acts as your owner’s card, or any other travel document in the car. They contain personal information that thieves can use.
7. Put your laptop, PDA and cell phone in a safe when not in use. When my laptop won’t fit in the safe, I store it in my computer/photography bag, inside a PacSafe; an adjustable high-tensile stainless steel locking device that can be locked to a fixed room fixture, such as a bed frame. Here are some laptop security methods I use to safeguard my identity:
- I password protect my entire hard drive, with a password stored in the computer’s bios.
- I use a software firewall on my laptop when traveling.
- I use GoToMyPC.com to retrieve mail, type documents and surf the web via my home computer. That way, no passwords and personal information are ever typed or stored in my laptop.
- What little personal data resides in my laptop is encrypted with PGP, then deleted before returning home.
- I use Lojack Premium for theft recovery and data protection in case my laptop is stolen.
8. Use credit cards, not debit cards, to pay bills. While many believe debit cards are safer because they need a PIN, many debit cards may be used with a signature and no PIN, plus ATM scams are very common, especially in popular tourist areas. I travel with a debit card, but solely to obtain cash from ATMs, and my debit card is attached to a bank account with limited funds in case of theft. I use my debit card only inside banks, if possible. Alert your credit card issuer when traveling abroad. Tell them the dates and countries of your travel.
9. Beware if Internet cafes and other publicly available computers. Personally, I won’t use them at all, even to look at email, but if you must, computers in hotel business centers, and cruise ships are generally safer than walk-in Internet Cafes. Scams abound there, and many of their computers are infected with keystroke loggers which keep track of user names and passwords for identity thieves. Under no circumstance access your bank or credit card accounts, or pay bills using public computers.
10. Beware of pickpockets, and slash/steal thieves. While traveling, you’re frequently in crowds, sometimes shoulder-to-shoulder with others. That’s perfect for pickpockets. Keep your credit cards and identification in a secure place, not in a backpack. Keep your cash separate from your wallet. Carry your ID information in a front pocket, or better yet, in a secure money belt or inside pocket. To guard against slash/steal thieves use a purse such as the Citysafe 200, which has stainless steel cables hidden inside the strap to prevent slashers from cutting it off. Drape it over your neck, and under your arm.
Next week, I’ll discuss what to do if you’re a travel theft victim.
