Identify Theft from Checked Luggage!?
 

In my luggage on my last trip to Italy in May, I put a copy of my passport and my driver's license for ID if my luggage was lost.

I had two bags and put copies in each one, when I unpacked at home I noticed that in one bag the copies were missing.

I just got notice from LAX that someone is using the copies for ID and had signed a note for parking fees at the airport and may be using the copies to make a fake license or ID's for themselves. They had all of my information on the parking promissory note and used another address of mine which was on my luggage and different from my driver's license. This is the only time the two addresses were shown together so I made out a police report and the police suggested that the person thought it was a new address and put that on their fake ID's.

I have contacted the credit bureaus and the DMV but they have informed me that they can't do anything until there is more proof that the person is opening accounts, etc.

Just telling you for caution when you are putting your ID photocopies in your luggage, it had to be an inside person because the luggage was not out of my sight before I checked in and I pulled it off the luggage belt myself on arrival.

seaurchin, I am sorry this happened, please keep us updated on your plight.

I have wondered about this myself when I put copies of my passport in my luggage. I just may not do it anymore.

I can't really see what a person can do with copies of your passport, they certainly can't travel or use it as proof to access your bank accounts. They'd need your credit card details to spend on them. It's pretty useless really!

Next time just put a name/address in them or better still nothing! Nowadays all luggage has barcode stickers places on them (not the big tag, but the little ones) so they can be traced more easily. I never bother putting any I.D. apart from my external luggage label on my cases. If they get lost, yes it will be an huge inconvenience, but at the end of the day I'm insured, and I'll be able to stock up with next season's collections courtesy of my insurer.

Many states use Social Security numbers as driver's license ID numbers. A terrible idea.

The passport has your picture, so they can't use that!

What a bummer, SeaUrchin! I hope that you don't have any further problems.

I typically put info inside my baggage in case it's lost, but I only put my name, frequent flier number, telephone number, and home airport code.

Í don't think SeaUrchin put those copies in the bag in case the bag was lost, I think they were just intended to be backups in case actual passport was lost (it is a good idea to have access to a copy of your passport).

I put my passport copy, with some other info I like to take, folded up into a small baggie and stuff it into the bottom of my carryon. There is also one put away at home. Someone else suggested scanning it and emailing it to yourself.

As to putting identification on or in the luggage, we use our mailbox service not our actual residence, and my work number. We've been carryon only for several trips now, so less of a concern.

SeaUrchin - I am mortified that this has happend to you. In California there is a huge problem with people selling false passports. They could easily use all your data, make a new passport and put any photo on it. Can you report your passport as stolen, have it destroyed and get a new one? I would certainly write a letter to all of your credit cards and bank accounts alerting them of this identity theft. I know that you must feel so violated. As you know I recently had stuff stolen from my luggage as well. I always include a sheet of paper inside my luggage with all destination address info. I have never packed my essential photocopies because I am paranoid. All that stuff stays with me in my carryon. I hope we don't see you soon on one of those Citibank commercials. Best of luck and please keep us informed. Again, I am truely sorry that this happend to you.

I want to top this for others and say that I too am sorry for your plight. Please do keep us informed. One can never be too careful.

- Sharon

wow, what an eye-opener, all the books say put a copy of your passport in lugguge.
SeaUrchin, hopefully the copy missing was a mistake and not a theft.

To traelnut--re:the suggestion someone gave you of scanning and emailing the passport info to yourself--my understanding is that no email is secure and that you are never supposed to email credit card or SS#s or other sensitive info. That is why the sites for making hotel reservations, for example, show the little padlock icon to indicate that numbers and other info are encrypted.

Since this material was stolen from your luggage, you should notify LAX and the relevant airline that you are filing a police report. If this was stolen from your checked luggage, it means someone associated with the airline or airport is involved in identity fraud. In addition to the police report I wonder if you should file report (ir at least send a letter to the federal agencies that are doing security for airports.

Include a copy of the police report and the notice from LAX.

Also it is NOT TRUE that the credit agencies can't do anything until financial fraud is perpetrated.
You should write letters to the three credit bureaus, DMV and State Department, and explain that your passport information, address and other possible personal information was stolen from your luggage and removed. Include the police report number and the notice from LAX.

In the letter to the credit bureau, Demand that they place a Fraud Alert prominently, and in large type, on your credit report, and that they state that NO CREDIT is to be issued in your name with out the credit grantor calling you by phone (include the number). Also demand that they not sell or provide your credit report to ANY other parties without you prior permission by telephone or in writing.

Send all this correspondence by certified mail, with a signed return receipt requested.

Thank you for the good wishes and the good advice, it is a pretty sobering thing to have happen. It is the old cliche' you always think it is going to happen to another person, not yourself.

I have called the credit bureaus and can't get a human being on the phone so I did the automated alert system, but I will try again to get another number where I can get an address and write to them like you suggested.

It will take some more days for the police report to be "typed up" they say, then I will have more ammunition to notify people, etc. I have called the banks and the credit card companies too.

I might have to get a new driver's license number and I will see about my passport. What a pain!

But I have learned my lesson with putting ID in my luggage and it is unnerving to think that it was airport or airline personnel. I will notify them too, thanks for that tip.

To quote Roseanne Roseanna Danna "it is always something....."

Not really, I won't let this get me down! (Will we Calamari!!)

How awful SeaUrchin!

Unfortunately, I'm not surprised that something like that has happened. Ever since we are no longer allowed to lock our suitcases, I've said that some dishonest airport and airline employees must be serving themselves. I've been told that there are cameras to watch the employees but I can't believe that there are cameras everywhere the personnel has access to the luggage.

When I came back from Hawaii in March, I had the lovely note in my luggage advising me that they had looked through my luggage. It's a little creepy, but thank goodness everything was still there.

I hope everything works for you and thank you for posting about this. It's a small thing that I think most of us wouldn't think about, but unfortunately, dishonest people do think about those types of things!

I'm sorry this has happened to you and thanks for letting us know. I've put copies of our passports in our luggage too and I guess we were just lucky nothing like this happened.
As for airline workers many have been responsible for theft in the past and now that luggage needs to remain unlocked it's even more tempting.

Travel concerns are changing. Maybe nothing should be in the checked luggage that you can't afford to lose or throwaway. Personal information now needs to be on person, perhaps in a travel vest. Relying on reporting to agencies may be a waste of time. I imagine that many of their functions have been 'off-shored' or 'out-sourced'.
Cautious travellers need to be 'zero risk'.

I agree with GSteed!
All my "valuables" including copies of my PP,etc. are in my pocket or in my locked back pack which I carry on all flights.
M
PS The only thing I would regret losing from checked luggage is my Soligen (German)razor, lol!

ugh, how awful!

you may also want to complain to the TSA, they have authority to open and search your bags. did you get a little note stating that they had?

what dirtbags. so much for airline security when you aren't even secure against the airline.

Hi SeaUrchin,

Thanks for the warning.

This link gives the phone numbers for reporting identity theft
http://101-identitytheft.com/fraudalert.htm

They are different from the regular contact numbers.

Sorry about your misfortune, SeaUrchin. We used the new TSA approved locks on our luggage in May for our trip to the UK from Houston. They worked great. I had a note in my suitcase saying that it had been opened by TSA but nothing was missing. BTW, I packed all of my clothes, underwear, etc., in Ziploc baggies so they never actually "touched" anything.

I always take a copy of our passports but I fold them quite small and tuck them inside our toiletries bag or inside of a shoe so they're not out in the open.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. How distressing for you!

What I now do when travelling (as well as keeping a copy of my passport, etc. in a separate place from the originals), is to scan my passport, insurance document, tickets, reservations,etc. and email them to myself at a webmail address so that if need be, I can download the copies and print them out wherever I am. Yahoo also lets you store documents in an online "briefcase". Obviously not so useful if you're heading on a camel trek across the desert, but it's handy enough for city travel.

It might sound over-cautious, but ever since I had my bag snatched with everything in it, I'd rather be safe than sorry!

Sometime between the time I put my locked luggage the night before outside my stateroom door and when I received my luggage at Newark Liberty Airport, someone had manipulated the zipper to rifle thru our luggage.

We didn't notice anything until the morning after we got home when my wife asked, "What happened to my panty hose?"

Locks were made for honest people. ((b))

Sorry to hear about your experience, but nowadays it's not a good idea to put anything of such importance in your checked bags, especially not copies of passports, drivers license, credit cards, etc. All can be used for any variety of illegal and unsavory purposes.

While I do leave copies of these items at home, the copy I carry with me, goes on my body (folded in pants pocket); the originals in my carryon (backpack) that never leaves my sight/possession. And once at my destination all important docs, including airline tickets, extra credit cards, currency, etc. go into the hotel safe. I only carry copies with me when out during the day.

As far as the new approved TSA locks, these are still a problem as many agents actually don't have the keys and these wind up being broken off as would a traditional lock. There are so many claims pending for theft with the TSA and airlines, and so few have been settled, that even the airlines are getting peeved that the government isn't working faster to settle these. The airlines specifically as a customer service issue; they want them settled, but the TSA is taking it's time in doing so. It eventually comes down to a crap shoot whether with an approved lock or not what will happen to your bags or be taken from them. We're being held hostage by a system that simply doesn't work.

As to marking on your bags, checked or carryon, never put your home address. Use your business address (business card) and I place copy of my itinerary either inside the checked bag or on an outside tag that reads in six-languages, "this packet can be opened if bag is misplaced, rerouted, lost" so they can find me at my next or next to next destination.

Keep what's important close to you at all times or in a safe once at your destination.

SeaUrchin, I'm sorry to hear what happened with your ID. I hope it doesn't get worse.

On my last two trips (South Africa & Italy), I bought the tie straps to "lock" my luggage. I also got a huge piece of computer paper and taped 4 or 5 more tie straps to it and wrote a big note that if they had to open my bags to please resecure them with the tie straps. The "note" was placed on top of everything in the suitcase and could not be missed.

Only one bag had my tie strap removed and another used in its place. But there was no note that anyone had checked my luggage. Does the TSA check bags and not leave a note? There wasn't anything missing.

I have had the standard form letter from TSA put into one of my suitcases, but found nothing missing.

SeaUrchin, I am so alarmed and sorry to hear of what happened to you! I hope there is a quick and thorough resolution to this for you, and I think it was very good of you to share this experience with us.

BC

Again, a new era in travel. Do not carry or have with you anything you don't want stolen. Use the minimalist approach to travel. Leave the goodies at home. Stuff your luggage with 'one-more-time' contents. Many of the current concerns are simply a result of population increases. Too many people! Penalties are minor. Mail gifts and such when purchased. Example..Buy and use 2/3$ wrist watch. Leave the expensive one at home. Buy necessities in Europe. Or better yet..spend the money on restaurants or exquisite wine for the hotel room!

Thanks again for the concern and the advice which I have used.

The plot thickens:

I spoke to the authorities at LAX and it seems that the suspects had already made an actual fake plastic driver's license which they used to exit the parking lot.

Calamari, yes it is a problem in So Cal with so many places to attain illegal license and ID's for the illegals here.
I was told that you can go to downtown Los Angeles and have one made up in a few minutes if you know where to go.

So the beat goes on.....

A similar thing happened to me in Paris. I put credit card number, exp date and number to call in case of theft on a paper and put inside my carryon. Never thought about it when I checked into the hotel The info was taken and $500 worth of electronics and perfume charged without the card leaving my moneybelt. I never used the card in Paris, it was a backup card.
Obviously someone at the hotel went into my bag and got out the info. It was careless of me to leave the information in an unlocked bag but the credit card company reimbursed me without a hassel. I now keep all that info written very small on a single business card and the card stashed in a very secret, difficult to spot place.

I forgot to say how sorry I am to hear of this problem for you. I wish you the best in getting it straight.

Thanks for the warning.

SeaUrchin, I hope all turns out well for you.

I, too, carry copies of passport and driver's license. They are black and white copies (not color). I have written the word "COPY" in large letters across the face of each before laminating them. I then punch holes in each and thread them on a key chain. Hopefully this would raise red flags if someone else tried to use the ID.

Also, we use business cards as ID on the outside of our luggage. This way no one has our home address - either to lift identity or to rob the house while we're gone.

>I put credit card number, exp date and number to call in case of theft on a paper and put inside my carryon.<

I suggest that you change the number using a code system, eg, add or subtract a certain number of digits.

It won't stop a patient thief, but it will frustrate the run of the mill ones.

Sea Urchin

I was told you also should notify the Social Security Adminstration.

Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271

I had left my purse behind a nice upscale retaurant and they claimed they never found it. And I notified all the credit agencies(a phone call seems to be enough - I tested it and tried to set up a credit card the next day - it was not issued till the company called me at home and verified).

Good luck

SeaUrchin~ I'm so sorry but thank you very much for this warning. Often when people post about a theft while traveling it's a no-brainer that they made a big dumb mistake. But your situation is exactly what I've always done in the past (passport copy in suitcase - and no fellow posters that's not in case my luggage is lost, duh). Anyway I will rethink where I carry what for my trip in August and realize my checked luggage may not be a secure place. Merci.

SeaUrchin, what a drag that this has happened! I hope it all works out ok. Thank you for posting this, as it seems that many of us have risked a similar problem.

I can't claim I ever thought it through, but for many years, instinctively, I have not put anything more than my name and a telephone number on my luggage tags or inside my suitcase. We always have a cat/house-sitter, so I figured if the luggage went astray the phone number would work as a contact point. If you are traveling to many places, I think the itinerary is a good idea, with hotel info for each place.

It is strange but I usually just put my office phone number on the luggage tag and this time I put an address of a house I am not living in, thinking if someone wanted to rob it it wouldn't matter very much.

Then I thought I would be a sensible traveler this time and make extra copies of my passport, etc. So the dumb thing I did was to put them in my checked luggage, folded up in a plastic bag. I won't do that again.

Another funny thing was on the trip my friend and I kept getting stomach aches and couldn't figure out why. When we got home we realized that it had been from eating raw almonds that I had taken from Trader JOes and while we were gone they had been recalled because they were contaminated!

You just never know what will happen on a trip, do you? Thanks for the kind words, it helps.

Sorry to hear of all your troubles, seaurchin. 2 days ago I was watching some sort of government panel on CNN and they were discussing an initiative that will begin soon to create "encoded" passports that contain lots of digitalized information about the user, making it hard to use a stolen passport. They said it's happening in several countries this year and next, brought about by the high rate of identity theft.
What a drag and an invasion for you.
And then the poisoned nuts!!! Seems like maybe you could use another trip to italy.....soon!

SeaUrchin
Sorry to hear of your misfortune.
Another safeguard is to not sign your credit card so a thief won't be able to forge your signature.
I write on my card 'see photo ID'where the card calls for "authorized signature Not valid unless signed"
In addition ,thanks to an earlier fodotite suggestion, I just list my initials and not my name on my bank checks. Ditto no phone number or address. All a thief would have to do would be to phone you and ask your name. I had my wallet taken from my buttoned shirt pocket in Naples back in in ought 2 (2002) by a slick pickpocket All my goodies were in my money belt thank goodness.
Do you think am becoming paranoid?

Don

Another word of caution in a world of fear and inconveniences: some cities publish a "reverse" phone book that lists the numbers with the names next to them. Not a long jump to the regular phone book for the address of an empty house. I always use work address and phone.

You can Google a phone number and get the name, address, and the directions to the house. You can also request to have your phone number removed from this "service" as I did for myself and other family members.

Oh great! And I was planning to take salted mixed nuts from trader joes as a hostess gift for my friend in Switzerland. You just never know what you'll learn on fodors in a morning. <grin>