As the holiday season approaches, more of us will be taking trips to see family and friends. Most of those trips will be domestic, visiting the cities and towns that we grew up in. But no matter where your travels take you, from Akron to Zanzibar, you should always be aware of your surroundings. Always pay attention to who’s touching your bags and when. Don’t let them out of your sight, and make sure they’re secured. It’s easy to get complacent when you travel often or when you’re tired from a long day of travel. Taking things out of your bag may take a few seconds, and that’s what we are usually on alert for. But it’s quite easy to put something in.
There have been reports recently from the Philippines of a new scam: Someone sneaks a bullet or two into your bag before you get to the security checkpoint. The bullets are found, you are detained and threatened with a nice long stay in a Filipino jail. Alternatively, the authorities will look the other way in exchange for a small fee. I’m guessing that the ‘fee’ is probably in the high hundreds of dollars range if not more. The average law enforcement officer in Manila makes less than $200 USD per month. They can make half a year’s salary in a few hours just by screwing with one tourist.
Just because your bag is zipped and locked, that doesn’t mean that something as small as a bullet, a knife or something similar can’t be slipped in. There are a few videos online demonstrating how to do it without leaving a trace, but that’s assuming they don’t simply use a small razor to cut a 1/4″ slit in your bag. They’re extorting you and threatening your life and safety, I doubt they’ll care about something as minor as vandalism.
Travel with carry-on bags whenever possible, and keep them within arm’s reach at all times. Keep them on your lap when you’re in the cab, etc. When I’m in line and my bag is on my back, I often shift from foot to foot. It looks like I’m antsy or that I have to pee, but I figure it’ll make it a little harder for someone to mess with a moving target. (That’s my theory, at least) When you get to the security gate, make sure you see your bag enter the conveyor belt before you step through the detector. If you know your bag has been out of your control for any length of time, you can always take a minute to go through your stuff to make sure nothing’s screwy. Yeah, it’ll take 15 minutes, and 99 times out of 100, you’ll be fine. But wouldn’t you rather take a few minutes to check your stuff, rather than getting stuck in a 3rd world prison? I mean, they don’t even get basic cable in there.
Worst case scenario, you could always pack some cling-wrap and wrap your bag yourself.
