How Airport Thieves Pick Their Next Victim (Avoid This Mistake!)

In today's video we'll be walking through the 10 most dangerous spots at the airport for theft starting with number 10 and counting all the way down to the most dangerous spot at number one on our list and I have a feeling you might be quite surprised. Coming in at number 10 for the most dangerous spot at the airport for theft would be the rental car shuttle stop. Thieves love this spot because your attention is completely split while you're loading bags, checking your rental info and figuring out where you're going next. That kind of distraction is exactly what opportunistic thieves are watching for and it doesn't end once you reach the car either because rental vehicles are easy to identify by their stickers and barcodes and thieves know that those trunks are likely full of luggage. Keep your most important bag on your lap for the entire shuttle ride and then never leave your luggage in a parked rental car. Number nine on our list is the curbside check-in area. There are two risks here. The first is simply that you are distracted while you're paying the driver or grabbing a receipt and an unattended bag can disappear in seconds. The second risk tends to target senior travelers, families with young kids or anyone with limited mobility. Scammers posing as baggage handlers approach near the curb with offers to carry your luggage to the and once those bags are in their hands they either demand a large cash tip or they walk off with the suitcase entirely. Real skycaps, which are the people that help you with your luggage at the airport, wear official airline uniforms with ID badges and they work directly at the curbside counter. They're not roaming the drop-off lane. Number eight on our list for areas of the airport that carry the highest theft risk would be the airport bathroom. All of them. The most common version is a purse hung on the back of a stall door. A thief in the next stall over or just outside of your stall can reach over the top and then grab the bag in under five seconds. Some airports, including San Francisco, actually removed all stall hooks because this was happening so frequently. Another version of this is when a bag is left on the floor in the stall where it can easily be snatched by someone reaching under the door from a neighboring stall. Always pull your roller bag inside of the stall with you and then place your bag or your purse on top of it with the strap looped around the handle of your carry-on suitcase. If you do decide to put your purse or your backpack on the floor inside of one of the airport bathroom stalls, which I do not recommend, put your leg through the straps so it could not be easily pulled away from underneath the stall. Number seven is the long-term airport parking lot and the numbers on this are genuinely shocking. Hundreds of vehicles are stolen every year and off-site economy lots are even higher risk than official airport garages since a car sitting there for a week isn't going to be reported missing right away. Always park in a covered, well-lit, gated lot when possible. Remove all valuables from your vehicle before you leave and make sure any built-in tracking is turned on before you fly. But honestly, the best option is to leave your car at home and then find another way to get to the airport instead. Number six is the public charging stations scattered throughout the terminal. Charging stations are often tucked into awkward corners or behind pillars where you simply can't see your device from where you're sitting and you usually don't want to be standing right at the charging station. I once had my phone charging at one of these charging stations and then I was walking around while talking on the phone with Bluetooth headphones. I completely forgot that my phone was there and started walking away. Honestly, I would have made it halfway through the terminal if my Bluetooth headphones did not connect from my phone and then clue me in that I had left it behind. There's also a digital threat called juice jacking where criminals tamper with USB ports to install malware or steal data from any phone that plugs into it. Both the FBI and TSA have issued public warnings about this. Thankfully, you can stay safe from juice jacking by just bringing your own wall plug and then using a regular outlet instead of a USB port. Number five is the one that actually surprises me the most which would be the airport trash cans particularly those at the gates when you get off the plane as well as in the baggage Most travelers toss boarding passes, luggage tags and bag claim stubs without thinking twice but those slips of paper contain your name, your booking information, your routing info and sometimes even part of your frequent flyer number which are all encoded right into the barcode. Scammers fish these out of airport trash cans, they'll scan the barcode and they'll use the information that comes up to file fraudulent lost luggage claims or access your miles account. Always rip up your boarding pass and luggage tags before throwing them away and never ever post a photo of your boarding pass on social media because that barcode is fully scannable from the picture. Number four on our list is not so much an area of the airport but it's more I don't know how to explain it I'm just going to tell you it's your checked luggage after you've checked it in and all of the areas that that bag is going to travel to without you. Once your bag leaves the counter it passes through TSA inspectors and baggage handlers and both groups have documented cases of employee theft. The items most commonly targeted are jewelry, electronics, cash and prescription medication so anything truly valuable should never ever go in a checked bag. Also consider dropping an air tag inside of your checked suitcase so you can track it at every stage of the trip and consider a TSA approved lock as an extra layer of deterrence. Although the part about using a TSA lock on your luggage is a little bit controversial. A lock signals that you've got something worth protecting and TSA agents have master keys to get into your suitcase anyway. Let us know down in the video comments if you lock your luggage either with the built-in lock or by adding an external lock to it. I do personally end up locking my luggage just using the built-in lock when I am checking in a suitcase. The built-in lock is a little bit more discreet than adding an external lock and I do think that the benefits of deterring an opportunistic thief make it worth having. And while you are down there in the comment section consider hitting subscribe as it's a free way to help other travelers find these videos and it's also a free way to support Ollie and I in making these videos so we definitely appreciate it. Even if Ollie doesn't always show his appreciation. Number three is the airport food court. These spaces are designed to keep you occupied and distracted which turns you into the exact easy target that thieves are scanning the terminal for. You see Ollie, the key is to not be an easy target. You need to be alert, you need to keep an eye on your stuff and no napping at the gate. Ollie has failed the easy target test. One classic move is a thief sliding your bag away from you with their foot while it sits under the table. Others will wait and they'll watch for grab and go moments like when you place your phone on the table and then step away for just a moment to grab a napkin or when your bag is hanging on the back of your chair. Avoid these theft situations by always keeping your bag on your lap or clipped to your chair with a small carabiner. Keep your valuables off the table and never step away from your belongings without taking them with you not even for a moment. Now if you want to skip the food court risk altogether plus it's going to allow you to skip the prices that airports are charging at the food courts which is pretty much theft in itself. The safer option is to head to an airport lounge. The most affordable way that I have ever found to get lounge access would be by using the Salee Ultra plan by today's video sponsor Salee. Salee Ultra is a single phone data plan that bundles in just about every premium travel benefit that I look for as a frequent traveler. For one flat monthly price you'll get data across more than 120 destinations worldwide, a full NordVPN subscription and airport perks like lounge access and fast track security screening. The best part is that plans start at less than $26 a month. Seriously! Salee has partnered with me on this video to give you 15% off the Salee Ultra plan when you use the code MEGAN at checkout. You can scan the QR code on the screen or click the link down in the video description to get set up. And don't let the fact that it's a monthly subscription scare you off since you can literally sign up for it for the month that you are traveling and then cancel it after with no penalty. Number two is the baggage claim carousel. At most U.S. domestic terminals anyone can walk in off the street and access the baggage claim area. There's no security between the general public and the luggage that's going around on the belt. That is just crazy to think about. What makes the baggage claim area so attractive to thieves is the built-in excuse. If a thief were to get caught grabbing your bag, they could simply say that it looked like theirs and they thought it was theirs. They can run it off as being a mistake. That's why it's always a good idea to use bright or obscure looking luggage. And if you do have something like a black bag that many other travelers have as well, then you can consider doing things like adding a colored ribbon to it or adding stickers onto it. And then a side note for this point, if you want to help avoid any theft at the baggage claim area, try not to wander off to the bathroom while you're waiting for your luggage because the longer that it ends up sitting out on the belt, the more opportunity that a thief has to take it. And the number one highest theft risk area at the airport is the TSA security checkpoint. Ironic, isn't it? Despite the uniformed officers and the cameras everywhere, this is the single most common spot for phone and electronics theft in the entire airport. The TSA recently issued a public warning about this because thefts at the checkpoint had risen so sharply. And the data suggests that as many as four out of every 10 phones that's been reported lost at a large airport in the U.S. was actually stolen. The most successful checkpoint thieves tend to be the ones that are working in pairs. And this is the tactic that you will want to be on the lookout for. One person holds up the line by forgetting to remove a laptop or setting off the metal detector repeatedly and intentionally, while their partner casually pockets items from the bins of travelers that are stuck behind. And sometimes the thieves are the very TSA officers supposed to be the ones protecting you, like the two that were caught working together at Miami International Airport, stealing straight from passenger bins. Try to never put valuables like your wallet or your phone exposed into a bin by itself. Instead, you can do things like tuck it into pockets of your backpack and then put your backpack in a bin, or what I personally prefer is tucking it into pockets of my jacket and then taking my jacket off and placing it into the bin. Avoiding theft is one piece of the puzzle, but there are a whole set of other airport mistakes tied to brand new rules that you'll want to know about before your next flight. And I break all of them down in this video on the screen here, as well as linked for you down in the description to watch next. Don't forget to hit subscribe to join Ollie and me back here for more travel tips and hacks each week, and we will see you in that next video soon. Bye!