by Sid Kirchheimer (via AARP Magazine)
1. Alert your credit card providers. Before you leave, let them know when, where and how long you'll be traveling. This helps fraud departments stop bogus charges if your plastic is used where you are not — and reduces the risk that your cards will be frozen due to "unusual activity" when you use them far from home.
2. Stop your mail. Or have a neighbor collect it. A full mailbox — especially with bank statements and credit card bills — can be a treasure trove for hackers and identity thieves (and suggests easy pickings for a home burglar). Pick up forms to hold or forward mail at any post office. Also, stop the newspaper, and don't broadcast your travel plans on social networking websites.
3. Weed out your wallet. Pickpockets love tourist destinations, so take only essential identifiers, like your driver's license, and just two credit cards — one to carry, another to be locked in a hotel room safe in case your wallet is pilfered. Don't carry your Social Security card in your wallet — ever. Men, keep your wallet in a buttoned breast pocket or buttoned pants pocket. Women, wear a handbag, with wide straps and locked clasps, diagonally across the chest — and don't hang it over the door when you use a public bathroom.
4. Leave your checkbook home. You shouldn't need it if you have credit cards. Leave your bills and private papers home, too.
5. Consider a temporary credit freeze. A freeze denies access to your credit history, so ID thieves can't open accounts in your name while you're away, but it doesn't stop you from using your credit card. Setting up a freeze through the three big credit-reporting bureaus — Equifax, Experian and Trans-Union — is a tedious job and may cost you money; it's best considered only for extra protection during prolonged travel.
6. Carry a spare. In addition to your real wallet, carry a throwaway with a few dollars and maybe some old hotel key cards. If you're accosted, hand over the spare wallet while keeping the real McCoy. The thief may see money and plastic, and be off and running - and so can you.
7. Use safer ATMs. Debit cards are best left at home, but if you need cash withdrawals, ATMs in bank lobbies are less vulnerable to devices that robbers use to capture your card information. Fake ATM's can be found everywhere and allows your card data to be compromised. Bank lobbies generally have camera surveillance.
8. Be careful with hotel computers. Don't access financial data on hotel or other public computers or on public Wi-Fi networks. You never know what identity-stealing software is at work.
9. Tourist scams. Scammers have been around forever, but are getting more sophisticated. You need to be on your guard at all times, but not so much that you can't enjoy your vacation. You just need to use common sense. ie, A late-night phone call to your room from a "clerk" saying your credit card number is needed again may be a ruse by an ID thief. Ignore the request and call the front desk yourself. Or a group of rambunctious teens that jostle you as you enter a subway train - before you know it your wallet is missing. Too late! Visit Rick Steves' website for the latest in tourist scams around the world.
