How to steal valuables from metro airport holiday travelers

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(Detroit, MI)- Whether you’re going to a trade show or closing a deal with a client, the last thing you want to happen is to have your personal belongings snatched out from under your nose.

“Think like a thief”, says Jim Warren, of Detroit-based www.costlytravelmistakes.com. “Think ahead of time about the kinds of things that are of special interest to thieves.”

Here are a few tricks savvy criminals use to snatch belongings from metro airport travelers.

1.Mustard-stain bandits. You’re walking through an airport when suddenly a man eating a hot dog bumps you and spills mustard or ketchup on your clothes.

He immediately apologizes and begins to try to wipe away the mess. Meantime, you’re flustered, and you put your briefcase or purse or laptop computer on the floor to help in cleaning off the mustard.

With your attention diverted, another man picks up your briefcase and walks away.

2.Curbside check-in area. Almost all skycaps are 100 percent legitimate, but an honest skycap still is a businessman. When you check your bag with him, where does he put it? On a cart, usually with lots of other luggage. And it stays there for 5-10 minutes, because he doesn’t want to miss a tip.

The skycap doesn’t steal your bag.

A crook wearing an Armani suit — a stolen Armani suit — comes along and takes it while the skycap is servicing another customer. Safeguards: Keep your luggage in sight at all times. Make sure you watch your bag go into the terminal.

3.Bathroom bandits. A woman goes into the stall and puts her purse on the hook placed high on the back of the door. Then she turns her back on the door and takes 5 to 12 seconds — we’ve timed it — to take that paper reserved for a toilet seat cover off the wall, poke holes into it and put it on the seat.

While she’s doing this, the crook in an adjacent stall is reaching over, taking the purse off the hook and removing her wallet. Safeguards: A woman should hang her purse around her neck or put it on the floor securely between her feet. Make it as difficult as possible for a criminal to gain access to your pockets.

4.Shuttle-bus surprise. The bus or van follows a regular route around the airport. Let’s say you board at Terminal 1. And the driver puts your luggage at the rear of the vehicle, out of your sight. At Terminal 2, a lady boards. She gets off at the next stop. The driver asks her which bags are hers, and she points to your luggage. Have you ever heard a shuttle-bus driver ask, ‘Are you sure that’s your bag?’

Before you know what’s happened, she walks off with your bag, and you never see her again. Safeguard: Keep luggage with you whenever possible.

Watch carefully at every stop as the driver distributes luggage.

5.Conveyer Belt Scam. Two con-men or women (let’s be fair) scan the airport for victims carrying laptop computers or other expensive hand-held equipment. They see you. You’re approaching security, where you have to send your carry-on through the x-ray conveyer belt.

The two scam artists nonchalantly walk ahead of you, making sure they end up right in front of you at security. You notice nothing unusual. The first guy walks through without a problem. The second guy walks up to the gate, waits a few seconds, just enough time for you to put your laptop on the conveyer belt, then he walks through.

You guessed it. All the bells and whistles go off, delaying him while your laptop is riding on the conveyer belt to the other side.

The second con-person takes his time, empties out his pockets then walks through, all is well. By the time you go through, though, the first person already has made a clean getaway with your laptop or personal luggage.