Credit Fraud and Identity Theft During your Vacation

You are all packed, the tickets are purchased, the room is reserved and you have arranged for a rental car.  You lock up your house, tell your neighbors you'll be gone, and you take off for a wonderful vacation to an exotic location.  You have been organized and prepared thoroughly for your trip.  Right?  Maybe not.  There are still some risks that you may not have planned for.  How are you going to protect your credit while you are gone?

You may be on vacation, but the people who plot to steal your identity and use your credit are definitely hard at work.  While you are making all the other arrangements for your trip, there are a few additional steps that are recommended by the AARP Bulletin.  Don't feel bad if you haven't thought of doing these things.  I haven't done most of them, either; but I am going to change my ways from now one!

Preparing for Travel Before You Leave Home

Tell your credit card companies that you will be gone.  All of the credit card companies have fraud departments.  If you alert the companies, they will be realize something is wrong if you are in Hawaii, and your card is being aggressively used in Pittsburgh!

Stop your mail and newspapers.  You do not want it to be obvious that you are gone, and you do not want people to go through your mailbox looking for credit card offers and enticing financial statements they can use to steal from you.

Don't announce your trip on Facebook until you are back home.  You can share your travel pictures with your friends, once you have returned home.  Do not do it in advance.  If there are people who need to know you will be gone, email them or contact them privately.  Do not broadcast your travels to everyone. (I will have to restrain myself, and stop posting those vacation photos until I get home.)

Travel Safety at Your Destination

Use only safe ATMs at your destination.  The best ATMs to use are those in a bank lobby.  They usually have security cameras, and are less likely to have skimmers and similar devices attached to them. (I have even used an ATM is a busy Las Vegas casino.  I am absolutely not going to do that in the future!)

Do not use hotel computers to access bank and financial data.  Someone could have installed identity theft software on a public computer, and you would have no way to know.  This is also true when you use the free Wi-Fi at your hotel.  You are on vacation.  Enjoy it! (Yep, you guessed it.  I have checked my bank accounts on hotel computers.  Definitely a no-no.)

Be suspicious of phone calls from the desk clerk.  If you are called on the phone in your room and asked to give the front desk your credit card information again, don't do it.  Instead, go down to the front desk and confirm that it really was them calling.  Then, give them the information in person.

Don't take your checkbook on vacation.  It is unlikely that you will be writing checks and, if your checkbook is stolen, it could be misused and create a huge headache for you. (Why do I carry it with me all the time?  No one even takes out of state checks anymore!)

Beware of pickpockets and muggers.  Take only a minimum amount of identification and credit cards with you.  Do not carry your Social Security card.  Men should keep wallets in an inside jacket pocket or similar safe location and women should carry purses with straps that cross their chest.  In addition, have a phony wallet that you can hand over to a mugger.  It should contain a few dollars and some old hotel room keys.  (I love the idea of a phony wallet.  How clever!)

Travel safe, and don't put either your identity or your credit at risk.

You may also want to read:

Online Dating Scams
The Scam that Promises to Fix Your Credit
Cybercrimes That Use Poisoned Computer Search Results

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