Tag Archives: identity

How to Keep Your Passport Safe – Tips for Travel

Your passport is your key to proving citizenship and is the document that the US and other countries use to recognize you and to let you enter the country, therefore you must safeguard this critical document. Always take measures to keep your passport safe Anyone traveling abroad, especially for the first time, should take a few minutes to read up on important passport security tips. Keeping your passport safe at all times, around the clock while you’re out of the country will get you home, no problem. Equally important is being aware of passport scams that you may encounter. Your passport is your key to traveling the world, as well as getting back home. It’s also a hot commodity on the black market so being aware of the latest scams to steal your passport is highly important too.

A passport is an internationally recognized travel document that verifies your identity and citizenship. Only the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Embassies and Consulates have the authority to issue or verify U.S. passports.

You Need A Passport to Re-Enter the United States

Most foreign countries require a valid passport to enter and leave. Some countries may allow you to enter with only a birth certificate, or with a birth certificate and a driver’s license, but all persons, including U.S. citizens, traveling by air, must present a valid passport to reenter the United States.

A stolen passport can cause a lot of problems for you when it’s time to come home. Not only will you not be allowed to travel, but you could also lose your non-refundable airline ticket and face additional unexpected travel expenses while you try to get it replaced. Finally, you may even return home to find only to find your identity has been effectively stolen, and a mounting debt problem to manage.

Before You Do Anything Make Sure You Know When Your Passport Expires

Do not leave it until the last minute to check when your passport expires. Many countries require a passport to be valid for at least six months beyond the date of entry into the country. Therefore, if you are planning to travel and your passport is due to expire in less than a year, you should renew your passport before departure. You should also make sure you have at least one clear visa page in your passport for immigration stamps. Here’s a tip set a calendar reminder approximately 11-12 months prior to your passport expiration date. That way you’ll have enough time to renew your passport without having to pay to expedite fees.

If You Apply for a New Passport Also Apply for a Passport Card

The Passport Card is a substitute for traveling with your passport to Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, and the Caribbean by land or sea. It is not valid for international air travel to and from these countries. A passport card is not valid to any other country than those just mentioned in the world. A passport card is the size of a credit card and fits nicely in your wallet. If you want to keep it on your person while in countries other than Mexico and Canada as an official identification card, you can while keeping your passport secured in a hotel room safe. Like passport books (for adults) a passport card is valid for 10 years. If you already have a US passport, and you now want a passport card as well you may be able to apply for a new passport card via the form DS-82.

What to Do Before You Leave

Back-Up Your Passport Before You Leave Home

Scanning all the pages of your passport (especially the personal details page) can help speed up the replacement process your original passport is lost or stolen. Once you scan your passport, place it into your Dropbox or Google Docs account so you will have worldwide access if needed. The objective is to quickly and easily prove your identity so you can obtain a new passport at the local embassy. Additionally, be sure to include any long-term visas in case you wish to re-apply or replace one. Another option is to take photos of your passport pages and keep them on your phone. This option is a bit riskier if your phone is lost or stolen and is not password, or fingerprinted protected.

Does Someone at Home Have a Copy of Your Passport in an Emergency?

Although having a scanned copy emailed to yourself or in your Dropbox account should be sufficient, leave a scanned copy of your passport with a trusted person (parents, friend, lawyer) who can be counted on to respond and act quickly to your call for help.

Place Emergency Contact Information Inside Your Passport

Put emergency contact information inside your passport in case someone has to access it in an emergency you are sick and unable to speak. You can enter the information on page 4 of the passport.

Tuck a Paper Photocopy of Your Passport into Your Travel Partner’s Luggage

This is for those times when internet access isn’t so reliable when your passport disappears. Alternatively, you can keep a photocopy in your room safe, and of course keep a copy on your phone.

Keep your passport safe RFID Blocking Leather Passport Case

RFID Blocking Leather Passport Case Protects and Hides Your Nationality

Cover Your Passport

Sometimes you may travel to a country where you may not want to let everyone know you are an American so keeping it covered may be a good idea. Not only does a cover keep your passport in good shape, but a blank passport cover from another country can be used to keep things low-key and to keep people guessing. The best passport covers have RFID shielding too, learn more here.

Carry Your Passport on Your Person Only if Needed

You should only carry your passport with you when you need it – otherwise, it should stay locked up. If you’re going to take your passport with you, always keep it in a location that is hard to get to. If you carry it in your purse or travel bag, keep it zipped up in an internal pocket within your bag. Don’t carry it loosely in your bag where a pickpocket’s hand can gain quick access to it. Never keep your passport in your back pocket. That pocket is called the “sucker pocket” for a reason. The very best way to keep your passport safe is to carry it on your person in an anti-theft pouch or money belt that is hidden under your clothes.

Belt with expanding zippered pocket to securely hold passport and more

Belt with expanding zippered pocket to securely hold passport, hide under a shirt

Security Neck Pouch hold passport and more, were it under a shirt

Here is a selection of anti-theft money belts and wallets.
Here is a selection of anti-theft travel purses with special anti-theft zippers.
Here is a selection of travel bags and security day packs with anti-theft features.

If you don’t want to invest in special travel security products and are using a bag make sure it’s a crossbody shoulder bag or a waist pack and keep the bag in front of you with all zippers and snaps closed up at all times.

If You Leave Your Passport, Lock it Up

If you leave your passport behind, and you’re relatively confident in the safe in your room, you can use that, but be sure that others can’t get into the safe while you’re gone. Many of the hotel and cruise ship safes are just not that secure. Use a hotel room safe lock for extra security, learn more here about the Milockie.

Milockie Hotel Safe Lock is a Tamper Evident Device for Your Room Safe

If your room doesn’t have a safe, leave it with the hotel front desk or hostel and have them lock it in their safe behind the front desk. Alternatively, if your room doesn’t have an in-room safe, consider packing a locking travel safe. you can use in your room or another location even at home. If you don’t want to buy a portable travel safe, lock your passport inside hard-sided luggage that you can lock to an immovable object in your room.

One Adult, One Passport

Some people make the mistake of keeping all the passports together and held by one person. That action simply means losing more passports at once rather than keeping them all safe. Each person who’s old enough carries their own passport. Spread out the kids’ passports among the adults to minimize the impact of a single theft.

Never Put Your Passport in Your Luggage While in Transit

Luggage gets stolen or pilfered by dishonest airline workers, hotel employees, and others who may have access to your luggage when it’s out of your sight. So we’re back to carry your passport on your person when in transit. Here’s an example of a passport security mistake. You place your passport in your carry-on luggage and board a shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel. Along the route, the bus stops at a destination before yours, someone gets off the bus and mistakenly (or by purpose) takes your bag. Since your luggage was in the rear of the shuttle van or bus, you did not see the mistake (or theft) and off goes your passport. Always keep your passport safe by keeping it on your person, or in a secured bag on your person.

Be Wary of Those Who Want to Hold Your Passport

This practice isn’t very common today, but in some places, foreign hotels will ask for your passport and keep it. In some cases, they’re required to report the information to local authorities. If you’re uneasy with this practice – and you should be – ask the establishment to accept a copy of your passport instead of holding the document itself.

RFID blocking money belt keeps passport, cash, cards hidden. Wear around your wiast and under a shirt or lower and tucked into your pants.

Fake Police Officer Passport Scam

Fake police officer scams have been around for a while – and if you don’t pay attention, you could easily fall for the scam. The thieves work on your inability to recognize what a real police uniform looks like – and in reality, could you tell the difference between a fake and real police officer’s uniform if you were overseas? These thieves will do whatever it takes to make you believe they are the police. They will engage in a conversation and ask you for your passport – as if a real police officer may. This is a scam to steal your passport. Fortunately, this scam is not a prevalent one.

Name on Passport and Airline Tickets Should Match

This is of particular concern for women who recently married and are traveling with tickets under their married name, yet have an older passport in their maiden name. The solution is to travel with tickets passport, and driver’s license all with the same name. Since 911 security is more rigid.

Check For Your Passport Regularly – In Private

Check regularly that you’re still carrying your passport where you think you are, but do this only in private. If you make it obvious, a thief who’s watching will know just where to look for it. Check in the privacy of your room before you leave for the day and use opportunities like visiting bathroom stalls to verify your passport is still secure.

Articles For You

Tips for Avoiding Identity Theft While Traveling

When on vacation you are soaking in the scenery and new experiences and your guard may be completely down, even just temporarily. Criminals typically take advantage of tourist’s relaxed guard and tend to specifically target them. Stay ahead of thieves by taking a few precautions and don’t fall victim to identity theft when on vacation.

Identity thieves specifically target certain types of personal information including; name, credit and debit account numbers, Social Security number, date of birth, and driver’s license number, addresses, passport numbers etc. Fortunately, there are several things you can do during your travels to safeguard your personal information and ensure you aren’t amongst the next group of victims. Here is a list of a few tips to consider.

Before You Leave on Your Trip

Tell Your Bank and Credit Card Issuer Where and When You are Traveling

Before you leave on your trip, call and inform your bank and credit card companies you are going to be traveling. If possible, give them dates and destinations. Most institutions are happy to monitor your accounts, as they do not want to be liable for any stolen sums.

Use Pin Based ATM Cards Only

Use a pin-based ATM card only, rather than a check or debit card. Check and debit cards can be used without a pin to make purchases. This way if your card is compromised, it is worthless to the criminal and they won’t have direct access to all of your funds in your checking account. Protect your account even further by placing your cards in an RFID blocking card case.

Make Sure You Pack a Credit, not Debit Card

If you aren’t using cash while traveling, use a credit card instead of your debit card. If someone gets your debit card number you’ll likely lose all the money in your account, and the process of reversing the fraudulent charges can take a lot longer. If someone steals your credit card you’ll have an easier time recouping your losses, especially if you have an identity theft protection plan from your card holder.

Stop Your Mail

You may think it’s a great idea to simply have a neighbor pick up your mail while you’re out of town but if a thief is casing your neighborhood he’ll eventually figure out you aren’t home and beat your neighbors to the mailbox anyway. Go to the post office or on-line and stop your mail while you’re away. Your mail, which could include Social Security statements, pay stubs, and tons of other personal information, will be safe until you return. An alternative is to install a security mailbox where letters are dropped inside the steel box via a slot and the bulky junk mail is placed on a non-secure shelf. We have one and it is great for short trips.

Leave it at Home

Will you really need your checkbook and extra credit cards? Sanitize your wallet and remove anything and everything you will not be using on your trip.

Limit Bag Tag Information

Do you really need to put your full name and address on the luggage tags with steel loops you attach to your bags? Probably not. If someone gets a hold of your bag he’ll have your name and address AND he’ll know you’re not home. Put your name and phone number and leave it at that. An honest person will call you if he finds your bag. A thief won’t care either way but at least he won’t know where you live.

Bills, Bills, and More Bills

Pay your bills prior to departure for vacation. Do not take bills along with you; hotels are dangerous places to leave bills because the account information printed on them is readily available to anyone. This is a serious threat to your identity. Another tip that everyone should be doing with bills is to make sure old ones are shredded, rather than being tossed into the garbage – Always make sure you minimize your exposure to account information that you throw in the trash. Know that another breed of ID thieves sift through trash in search of these materials.

Do You Really Need to Be Connected While on Vacation?

Do you really need your laptop on a pleasure trip? If not, leave it at home. The world won’t end if you don’t check your email while lounging on the beach in Hawaii. If your laptop is the computer you use primarily it likely has a lot of personal information, including financial and passwords, and if it is lost or stolen you could easily become the victim of identity theft.

Forget Facebook

Never, under any circumstances, post a status on Facebook to let your friends know you’re on vacation. You wouldn’t put a sign on your front door announcing you’re away and, as such, you shouldn’t announce it to the Internet world. Someone who breaks into your house will have access to tons of identifying information. The same applies to MySpace, Twitter, and any other social networking service you use.

Keeping your Identity Secure While Traveling

Keep Track of Boarding Passes

Once you’re on a plane you might think your boarding pass is no longer important and, as such, inadvertently lose track of it. Put your used boarding pass right back in your purse, wallet, or carry-on. It has a lot of identifying information on it and if it falls into the wrong hands it will announce your absence from home.

Leave it in Your Hotel Room

When you are out an about, do you really need to carry certain documents with you or can they be left in your hotel room safe. Carry the money and credit card you need for the day. Leave your passport, extra traveler’s checks, and additional credit cards in your room safe to lower your risk of ID theft – carry only what you think you’ll need. If you do become a victim you’ll lose less and your attacker will have access to less information than if you were carrying all of your identifying information.

Is Your Laptop Up to Date?

If you take your computer with you, update your anti-spyware and anti-virus programs before you leave, as you will be connecting to possibly unsecured Internet connections, a haven for ID thieves. If you are using your computer on vacation, do not access your personal accounts from your hotel room or Internet café; publicly available Internet connections are a common source of identity theft. This is because they are generally unprotected signals with a high volume of usage.

Avoid ATM Machines

If you need money you are better off visiting a local bank than you are using an ATM machine in your destination country. Thieves constantly monitor ATM machines in an attempt to skim PIN numbers or blatantly take your cash after you’ve made a withdrawal. Check your surroundings, make sure the ATM doesn’t have any strange attachments above or below the card slot, make sure no one is nearby with a cell phone camera, and make sure you cover up the keypad as you type your code.

Use RFID Blocking Gear to Protect Your Identity

Most credit card companies now issue credit cards which contain Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology that lets you simply wave your credit card, passport or license in front of a nearby scanner instead of having to slide the magnetic stripe through it. It’s a fairly simple concept. The electronic scanner sends a signal which is received by an antenna embedded into the card, which is connected to the card’s RF chip, thus activating it. The information transmitted is personal identity and financial information.

This technology allows an RF-enabled card to be “hi-jacked” by tech-savvy identity thieves who use hand-held scanner devices. By standing close to you in a crowd the device can read and capture your data.

To protect your RFID enabled credit cards and passport cards, you should travel with RFID blocking wallet or RFID blocking sleeves to protect your identity Click here, to see RFID blocking wallets and document organizers.

Never Let Your Card Out of Sight

Another great way to avoid identity theft is to never let your credit card go out of your line of eyesight. If the waiter, or gas station attendant, or concierge (or anyone else), has to leave your line of vision the odds of him running your card twice and only giving you one receipt are significantly increased. They might even simply make a photocopy or take a cell phone picture of your card for later use. It can and does happen.

Your vacation should be a dream come true – not a nightmare. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that your identity will not be stolen while traveling. Even the most diligent and conscious people become victimized by ID theft. Know that most thieves are lazy, and will take what is easy to access over what they must work harder for- use that to your advantage by staying ahead of the game.

Stay Informed Before You Go with Our Information-Rich Newsletter