Post: #1

How do you protect your identity while travelling ?

The rising trend is that millions of idenity thefts happen because of our kindness:

we naively let so often complete strangers to make xerox copies

after our passports and IDs at receptions of hotels while travelling,

with traumatic lifelong results:

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/12/31/s...tatistics/

Identity theft victims suffered more than $24.7 billion in direct and indirect losses last year -- that's more than the combined $14 billion in losses consumers experienced from other types of theft (burglary, motor vehicle theft and other property theft) in the same period.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics highlighted these and other staggering statistics in its 2012 Victims of Identity Theft report

About 16.6 million U.S. residents were victims of at least one incident of identity theft last year.

Post: #2

That's not "kindness"...the wording here is extremely misleading and suggests an easy fix where one may not exist.

I don't think anyone is thinking to themselves, "Oh, this guy wants to copy my passport? I think I'll be polite and let him do it..." Rather, it's that if you say no, you don't have a place to stay.

In many of the places I travel, it's nearly impossible to find a place (legit or not) to stay that doesn't want to make a copy of your passport (some governments require it).

I will say that if you ask around enough, you can sometimes find someone who will overlook it with a good excuse. The problem is these places are often shitholes (this coming from a guy whose standards are lower than most), and trekking around with your bags in a new foreign city doesn't always seem like a good option when you're travel-worn and jet-lagged, so most people won't bother.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #3

When you live overseas it really pays to put a lock on your credit. I can't open a new account or credit unless I do a multi-verification. A lot of financial institutions even require notarization.

Post: #4

That's why it is useful to have several fake passports and corresponding offshore accounts with credit cards. Those things can be done with an expense ratio of a couple grand - maybe 10k. Plus you feel like spy with all the stuff.

Post: #5

Yeah there have been a lot of antiterrorism laws passed which makes this mandatory. Even just to use an internet cafe, you need to show a passport in some countries.

Post: #6

yes..because we all have ten grand to drop on a fake passport..

who are you kidding

Post: #7

..

Post: #8

For debit accounts, you can set a max amount spent/withdrawn in a day. Mine is a $500 max.

For credit cards, you can set a limit also. Sometimes an organic limit is set, aka your credit line. So you could use one credit card with a low credit limit for use when checking in to hotels/hostels, and carry your main credit card with more credit for emergencies. Don't use it until back in the decadent West.

Post: #9

Paul Theroux wrote about it in The Last Train To Zona Verde, I think that he was traveling in Namibia when they stole his identity and made like $70,000 worth of purchases.

He got it all back but it was depressing and soured his trip.

Post: #10

You wont need ten grand for a fake passport. 4000$ will give you a passport that will pass normal police controls. And for a few hundred bucks you can just make a fictive passport or ID of a small country. This will be enough for all hotels etc. But I would not feel good carrying a fake passport...

Even easier and less risk: Just change the names and numbers of your passport copy. This takes a few minutes with photoshop or a few bucks for an indian freelancer. A copy will be enough for most hotels.

Post: #11

(09-04-2014 12:30 AM)libertad1312 Wrote:  _ _ _
Even easier and less risk: Just change the names and numbers of your passport copy. This takes a few minutes with photoshop or a few bucks for an indian freelancer. A copy will be enough for most hotels.

I like this solution. It is reasonably stealthy, presents a solid affirmative front, preserves privacy, and prevents ID theft.

I certainly can work with it - but will presenting "A [passport] copy...be enough for most hotels?"
Any people want to share their experiences?

For example, I can change some numbers and reduce my PP name to initials and last name only.

This should work for lodging, but for travel? (And it is a risky plan for international travel that could lead to more delays and questions.) Could one only present a copy of PP for internal EU travel?

Post: #12

(09-04-2014 03:43 AM)Orson Wrote:  

(09-04-2014 12:30 AM)libertad1312 Wrote:  _ _ _
Even easier and less risk: Just change the names and numbers of your passport copy. This takes a few minutes with photoshop or a few bucks for an indian freelancer. A copy will be enough for most hotels.

I like this solution. It is reasonably stealthy, presents a solid affirmative front, preserves privacy, and prevents ID theft.

I certainly can work with it - but will presenting "A [passport] copy...be enough for most hotels?"
Any people want to share their experiences?

I like this idea too, and I think it's plausible. You may have to check a few hotels, but it won't be anywhere near as many as you need to check for one that allows you to check in without anything.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #13

(09-03-2014 04:49 PM)Sourcecode Wrote:  yes..because we all have ten grand to drop on a fake passport..

who are you kidding

Post: #14

(09-03-2014 04:49 PM)Sourcecode Wrote:  yes..because we all have ten grand to drop on a fake passport..

who are you kidding

What, you don't? #getonmybankinglevel

Post: #15

How is your passport alone getting you ID thefted?

A passport with a copy of your credit card, sure, but your passport alone has little info on it.

Post: #16

(09-04-2014 10:54 AM)BallsDeep Wrote:  How is your passport alone getting you ID thefted?

A passport with a copy of your credit card, sure, but your passport alone has little info on it.

Full name, birth date, and possible home address (if you filled it in) is a pretty big chunk of personal data.

In some countries all you need is a passport copy to open up an account. Let's say a bank manager is corrupt in sketchy SEA country. They can potentially open an account with your name and use it for all sorts of shady transactions ie. money laundering. Or the can use it to try and do pulls from your legitimate accounts elsewhere.

Post: #17

(09-04-2014 12:53 PM)El Chinito loco Wrote:  Full name, birth date, and possible home address (if you filled it in) is a pretty big chunk of personal data.

In some countries all you need is a passport copy to open up an account. Let's say a bank manager is corrupt in sketchy SEA country. They can potentially open an account with your name and use it for all sorts of shady transactions ie. money laundering. Or the can use it to do pulls from your legitimate accounts elsewhere.

With a simple passport copy there can be opened hundreds of
different online payment accounts, bank accounts, credit cards and so on,
on your name, using your identity.

These is what almost all the 10 - 120 millions (estimations are different, depending on the official agency)
cases of identity theft that happen in the world all have in common: a copy of your id left somewhere in a hotel in another country

Of course there is simple, efficient solution, that me and all my friends are
doing it:

Ask: according to which law you must make a copy of my id/passport?

Almost always the answer was one of the following:

- ah, we only need your id/passport number,
your name, and country. We just want to make the process faster
and not make you wait until we write by hand these details

- ah, these are just internal rules, my boss asked me so

Absolutely NEVER a hotel did not refuse my stay, because I did not let them do a xerox copy after my passport/id

Post: #18

(09-04-2014 12:53 PM)El Chinito loco Wrote:  

(09-04-2014 10:54 AM)BallsDeep Wrote:  How is your passport alone getting you ID thefted?

A passport with a copy of your credit card, sure, but your passport alone has little info on it.

Full name, birth date, and possible home address (if you filled it in) is a pretty big chunk of personal data.

_ _ _

Mine lists my full name, DOB, and state of birth - not city or county of birth - and no current or recent address.

On the edge of my passport is a series of digits and a few letters within it.

I assume this is a passport control number, germane to the State Department. Does any one know more about it? Like THIS one:




Apparently, I have a passport with a computer chip in it, (which I guess began issuing in 2010) - SEE rectangle icon on the cover, ABOVE.

Post: #19

I'm calling B.S., at least to a degree.

Did you read the article?

The victim doesn't usually bear the brunt of those losses. Fourteen percent of identity theft victims reported out-of-pocket financial losses of at least $1, and nearly half of those costs amounted to less than $100. Of that 14 percent who lost money, 18 percent reported expenses of between $100 and $249, and for 16 percent of victims, identity theft cost $1,000 or more.

I don't want to lose 100-249 dollars, much less 1000. But there are several very easy steps to take to protect yourself. Sign up with experian, transunion, and equifax, as well as a credit monitoring service, such as the free credit karma. If someone applies for credit in your name, you'll be immediately notified, and you can contact the credit bureau and alert them that the application is fake. I'd venture to say that very few of the people who suffered identity theft in the previous paragraph had undertaken this very simple step, yet the vast majority of them didn't lose very much money. And those were the unlucky (and in some cases, most likely, the stupid) ones.

On the other hand, making a fake passport and getting caught with it will get you hard jail time in many countries. Try explaining that you did it to protect your credit rating. Good luck with that one. Regardless of what it costs, its not a solution.

Finally, almost every major credit card now limits losses for unauthorized activity. So if someone gets an ID in your name and duplicates an existing card you have (so that you wouldn't be alerted), you'd probably be liable, if at all, for 50 USD. Again, no one wants to get ripped off, but lets calm down here a bit. Even AOL (the publisher of the article) seems not that worried about it, and they're writing generally for a very conservative audience (sounds like a Fox news headline)...scarier than you'd expect - hey - don't go overseas, you might get an STD or someone might try to steal your identity.

Post: #20

(09-05-2014 06:14 PM)Orson Wrote:  Mine lists my full name, DOB, and state of birth - not city or county of birth - and no current or recent address.

I was talking about the optional fill in emergency/personal data on page 4. Some people make the mistake of filling that out. So when they lose their passport they also just gave up their contact address with home state.

Post: #21

(09-05-2014 08:14 PM)El Chinito loco Wrote:  I was talking about the optional fill in emergency/personal data on page 4. Some people make the mistake of filling that out. So when they lose their passport they also just gave up their contact address with home state.

Also those who just become submissive and let their passport be xerox-copied at receptions when they travel,
they will live in fear of being anytime victim of identity thefts,
for the rest of their lives

Other statistics from DOJ show a yearly + 15% increase in the number of cases of identity theft, each year

Post: #22

(09-03-2014 02:40 PM)Zelcorpion Wrote:  That's why it is useful to have several fake passports and corresponding offshore accounts with credit cards. Those things can be done with an expense ratio of a couple grand - maybe 10k. Plus you feel like spy with all the stuff.

Interdasting. How do I do that? Forged passport sounds pretty cool.

Post: #23

If I was worried I would just ask for the photocopy back at checkout. Or ask to watch them delete the scan from the computer.

Why would a fraudster use the copies from a current guest at the hotel? It's asking for trouble. Plus if that piece of paper is only in their filing cabinet for a few days or weeks the chances of the certain employee who is stealing them, at whatever frequency he does it, getting your particular info is low.

It's not foolproof but I think getting your copy back would reduce your chances of being a victim by 90+ percent ...

Post: #24

(09-09-2014 09:02 AM)christpuncher Wrote:  It's not foolproof but I think getting your copy back would reduce your chances of being a victim...

The truth is that in 99.9% of cases, they never really need
to make a xerox copy or a scan of your passport at all.

No law requires for a receptionist to make any copy after your id,
in the majority of countries in the world,
as it was explained above in detail.

Actually laws say that they should not do such invasions of your privacy.

It is just an abuse that they do,
because then they can do millions of things
with a copy after our id: open bank accounts at thousands of online banks, paypal, different payment processors, etc, get credits and stuff
on your name, transfer money from your bank account to the
online bank account created with your id copy,
withdraw all your money from your bank account, etc etc

Plus, if you left for few days a xerox copy or a scan of your passport
or id,they have all the time in the world to make another copy after that copy...
it is just too simple...