Storing critical info by e mail to yourself
 

Funny I've never heard this mentioned.

Let's say you have a list of various items that might be needed during your trip in the event of a problem--credit card number, lost credit card phone number, passport number, flight ticket info--whatever. And you want to keep this information secure.

A friend just e mails all this to herself, thus making it retrievable if needed.

I don't know if an email with your credit card numbers in it is wise.

I do one better. Since I have an affinity for memorizing useless information, I just memorize my credit card numbers.

Not that the store clerk would take your word for it, or even an email printout, thus it's useless.

As for e-ticket, credit card phone number, hotel reservations, I think most of us have them accessible online via email should the need arise.

Check out this thread http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34801484

:D

I agree that I never email credit card or other "secure" info to myself to obtain abroad. Email is actually not secure.

I do email itineraries, flight info, apartment reservations, etc. to myself in the event I need it. With regards to credit card and other secure info, I leave it at home where a trusty family member or friend can make all the phone calls from here, if need be.

Maybe the reason that I've never heard it mentioned is because it's a dumb idea!

Funny but on this last trip I did email myself my card numbers and the emergency credit card number to call BUT I sent it with the numbers backwards!

and I didn't label them so to anyone reading it it looked like random numbers.

I have my credit card list on-line with my e-mail account. I just use the last 4 digits and the emergency number (domestic and from a foreign country) to call to cancel it. I don't really need the whole credit card number to call and cancel it. Neither do I need the expiration date nor the funny 3 digit code on the back.

Ron, not a dumb idea at all. You just have to know how to work it to protect yourself. As in SeaUrchin's post.

And, it's a good idea to email yourself various other info. you might need.

Aside from leaving my CC info at home for a friend or family member, I also take a copy of the same along with me, but I never check it and be sure to keep it safely hidden in my rented apartment on arrival. It just seems easier to have someone from home make calls, if need be, rather than my trying to call from abroad in the event of theft.

Yeah. "Random" 16-digit numbers with a 3, 4, 5, or 6 as the last digit. I'm baffled.

<b>BY THE WAY</b>

The reason card issuers want you to guard your card numbers is for <u>their</u> protection, not yours. The Cardholder Agreement protects you.

My European cell phone has a place where I can store all that stuff on it. Maybe that's not a very secure place, either, in case the phone gets stolen, but that's where I keep it all (and on the laptop if I take that with me, and duplicate copies of everything - but I'm usually travelling at least half on business and have to have all that stuff available at a moment's notice).

There is no great danger to someone getting your credit card number. First of all, a merchant would have to be very stupid to accept a transaction with only a number, with or without an expiration date.

In the case of a remote (phone, internet) charge, the merchant should get the cardholder's exact name (as it appears on the card), billing address, and CVV and submit as part of the authorization process. Any merchant who fails to take these steps is asking for a chargeback and loss of revenue for the sale. Therefore the vast majority are quite rigorous about it.

<b>But card issuers are scared [rhymes with] witless of the <i>rogue merchant</i> scenario. A criminal sets up a merchant account and runs a bunch of phony charges against stolen card numbers. That night at settlement, the funds are tranferred into the merchant's account, at which point s/he goes south. Next billing cycle, when the charges are disputed by every cardholder, the chargeback notifications that are sent to the merchant are marked Return To Sender - Addressee Unknown. The issuer can't back-charge the merchant, and they can't stick the cardholders with them. <i>So <u>stop worrying about it</u>, ferchrissake.</i></b>

It's best never to send confidential information by e-mail without encryption, even to oneself. The security of e-mail is somewhat less than that of a postcard.

Why should I send critical e-mails to myself if I have relatives who are much better at criticizing me? :-o

I've read in several places where people say they scan important documents (passport, etc.) and email it to themselves in case they need emergency access to that info. Is there a way to &quot;encrypt&quot; it to keep it safe?

Yes, you can use encryption products like PGP to keep them safe, and some e-mail programs also provide built-in encryption features. Using encryption is more awkward than just sending e-mail in the clear, but for highly confidential information it is worth the effort.

Thanks Anthony. I read that some people use hotmail for this. Do you know if that has encryption features?

Hotmail encrypts the communication between you and the Hotmail server, but it does not encrypt the e-mail itself. So the link between you and their server is secure, but once you send e-mail outwards from Hotmail, it is unencrypted (and thus vulnerable). Similarly, incoming e-mail from your correspondents arrives at the Hotmail server unencrypted.

You could encrypt messages before uploading them to Hotmail, and that would keep them secure. It's quite awkward, though, and like all forms of encryption, it requires that your correspondent at the other end follow the same procedure for decryption, with similar software.

Anthony, thanks for explaining how it works.

Not credit card numbers but I do keep To-Do lists in email. When you think about it, the browser and your email application are probably the two most commonly used applications for many people, the ones which they spend the most time with.

Only problem is, I prefer POP or IMAP accounts. Even with Google Mail, I use POP to download to my computer and rarely log on to the site. Obviously if you're away from your computer, web mail works better.

For my last trip, I decided not to pack my camera manual which is fairly thick (it's repeated in several other languages).

So I downloaded a PDF version (10 MB) and sent it to my Yahoo mail where it resides. If I needed to consult it, I could have downloaded it while on the road.

I have a scan of my passport, drivers licence and yes, also credit card in my email. It's just a jpg, and it doesn't say &quot;creditcard.jpg&quot; or anything, so I think it's pretty safe that way.