The Vanishing Trick! Coping With Travel Crimes

It can strike anywhere, anytime and without warning. Crime stalks travellers from airports to hotels to public transport and can become his worst nightmare come true, especially when he is in a foreign country. feBusiness Traveller finds out what travellers can do to make their journey safe and secure.

No matter how often one travels to a destination, it will invariably have a strangeness in its character, unlike home. It is always a kind of place where you have to be extremely cautious rather than be your natural self, a place where every movement could have a sinister intention, a place which could add an uncomfortable essence of insecurity as the extra-baggage.

Post 9/11, airports around the world have beefed up security to what may appear to some as bordering on paranoia to tackle any kind of terrorist attack. While a terrorist attack is an omnipresent threat in the current scenario, the clear and present danger travellers are plagued with is crime in its myriad forms, the most common being baggage getting stolen, pockets being picked, getting cheated, mugged etc.

A study was conducted recently to determine the average crime rate at international airports around the world. It made use of an ordinary looking man standing in the airport terminal and reading a newspaper. He had an empty briefcase next to him, which he would ignore. Observers then recorded how long it took for the briefcase to be snatched. In Brussels the case was stolen within 4 minutes and 20 seconds. In Washington DC it was stolen within 3 minutes and 16 seconds. At Heathrow the briefcase was snatched in less than 2 minutes. In New York, the case was stolen within 1 minute and 5 seconds. In LA it took only 43 seconds before the case was snatched. The experiment was going to be held at Johannesburg International Airport in South Africa, but the people conducting the study were hijacked on the way there.

Obviously, the pun here is on Johannesburg, but the joke is also a reckoner about petty crimes in airports all over the globe. And, business travellers, being the fraternity, which is most often on the move, are the specific victims of most airport and hotel crimes.

Shoeb Kader, joint managing director, Indian Adventures Wildlife Resorts had an unfortunate start to a family holiday in May this year when his pouch was stolen. "We were at the Hong Kong airport checking in for our connecting flight to Singapore. While we removed all our luggage and checked it in, I left behind my pouch on the trolley. I had pushed the trolley to one side at a slight distance where my wife and kids were waiting and was discussing with the lady behind the counter to give us four seats together. It took not more than 10 minutes and when I turned to look for the trolley, I found the pouch missing. It contained 2,000 dollars in form of cash and travellers checks, my credit cards, Rs 3,000, my old passport with US visa, the tickets for travel within Malaysia, which we were to visit for 10 days after Singapore and my mobile phone. I complained to the authorities but they could not manage to retrieve the pouch. The episode had soured the mood for the holiday which I was taking after long time," he recollects.

Consider the case of another frequent traveller who had placed his laptop on the luggage scanner conveyor belt before waiting behind two people to go through the metal detector. The first goes through without a hitch, but the second person triggers the detector and goes through the tedious process of removing his jewellery and emptying everything from coins to chewing gum from his pockets. By the time he got through the machine, the first person had disappeared, and so was had his laptop.

Mala Rastogi's was returning from New York to Mumbai. She had deposited her valuables in the check-in baggage on the suggestion of an airport official. When she touched down at Mumbai airport, all the goods had been pilfered and replaced with foreign chocolates.

Suresh Gupta was at the check-in counter of an airport when a well-dressed fellow passenger accosted him and struck up a conversation. In the aeroplane, Mehta found that his palm-top and gold cigarette case was missing. Later, the airport's CCTV showed that the fellow passenger had robbed him.

Consider the case of Vijay Raghawan, who had just arrived from the US to India after a gap of 10 years. While quite aware of the numerous petty crimes at the airport, he was quite pleased when he got out of the airport without a 'situation'. He settled for a grandfatherly taxi driver and after having put his luggage in the storage area, he hit the city roads. Having started a conversation on the state of affairs in the country with the taxi man, Raghawan got involved in it hardly doubting anything. By the time, he realised where he was it was too late. He was in an area unknown to him. The taxi halted and he was accosted by three young men. Before he had time to react one of them hit him on the head and when he came around, he found himself on a dark deserted lane minus his luggage and far from home.

Not even the rich and the famous are spared. A couple of years ago, the very-beautiful Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz walked away from the security cameras at Los Angeles airport minus passport and US$ 7,000 in her purse. CCTV replays showed the security guard operating the X-ray machine quietly helping himself to Diaz's purse.

These are all real life cases, though some of the names have been changed at the request of the victims. The bottomline is clear: travel is fraught with crime and safety while travelling should be top-of-the-mind for any traveller. This fact has never been more relevant for the India traveller who has started to travel across the globe, like never before, which makes him more suspectible to becoming a victim of petty crime.

Most petty crimes involving travellers are preventable. But it takes planning before the trip and then following precautions during the trip. International trips require a few more precautions because travellers are unfamiliar with language, surroundings and customs.

It is easy to get lost, or at least distracted, as you're trying to find your way. Unfortunately, this behaviour attracts the attention of pickpockets and other criminals.

Precaution, as we know, is…

The planning to make your trip crime-free must include two factors - how to stay safe on the trip and what to do if one still falls prey to criminals. One basic tenet for the traveller is to minimise risks by carrying only a small amount of cash.

The safety planning must start before the departure. To be on the safe side, leave copies of passport, travel documents and travellers cheques' serial numbers at home with someone you trust and take only as much jewellery as you may need. The rule is that take only those things which are essential for the trip. Like, a driver's license with photo for identification; a card which has medical information about you in case you get mugged on a street; travellers' cheques in several denominations. Also, consider obtaining a modest amount of foreign currency before you leave your home country. Criminals often watch for and target international travellers purchasing large amounts of foreign currency at airport banks and currency exchange windows.

At The Airport

Business travellers, however seasoned are susceptible to petty crimes. Bag lifters often operate in group of two to three. It is the business traveller who needs to be alert and responsible while on travel. He should avoid casual conversation with strangers, as sometimes these thieves disguise themselves as passengers and flick things with ease.

Precautions to be taken at the airport include:

• Never leave luggage unattended,
• Be wary of impostors - they may even be disguised as porters
• Be careful about trusting strangers who try to befriend you.
• Don't share a taxi with anyone you don't know.

At Your Hotel

Some of the dangers business travellers face in hotels are being befriended by strangers who then rob or con them; bag lifting and being robbed at the time of check in or check out when their attention is diverted elsewhere.

Precautions to be taken at the hotel include:

• Don't be afraid to ask for another room if you feel you may have been put in one that is unsafe. If you become a victim of burglary, immediately report the incident to the hotel and the local police. Don't forget to get a receipt when you deposit your belongings.
• Keep all valuables and documents like money, jewellery, passport and airline tickets in the hotel's main safe deposit box. Store only items of moderate value in a room safe.
• Avoid displaying the sign requesting room cleaning service; it identifies the room as unoccupied.
• Don't let strangers overhear your sightseeing plans or other schedules. Don't reveal your room number or travel plans in a crowded area where you could be overheard.
• While choosing the hotel room, the safest location is one facing inward toward other rooms or towards the lobby, near a fire exit, away from stairwells, elevators, ice machines, vending machines, basements, or garbage refuse rooms. If you will be away from the room for some time, close the curtains completely. Hang the 'do not disturb' sign on the outside door when you exit. Leave the light on if you expect to be back after dark.
• When shown to your room, ask the staff accompanying you how to use the safety features, locks and exits. Check door and window locks, in-room safe locks, doors connecting to adjacent guest rooms and sliding glass door locks to make sure they work. Door security locks must be sturdy and key systems must be reliable. If safety features or locks don't work, report to the front desk at once. If it looks like someone may have been in the room, leave immediately and ask to be moved to another room.
• If you lose your key or it gets stolen, report immediately and move to a different room.

On the streets

In the streets of a foreign country, the wise thing to do is not to give an open invitation to robbers. For this:

• Never wear expensive-looking jewellery
• Carry only the cash and traveller's cheques you need while away from your hotel
• Carry wallets in front pockets or keep pockets securely fastened, with a pin or Velcro if necessary
• Wear handbags with the opening next to your body
• Avoid ATMs which are not well-lit and secure and quickly put cash out of sight
• Be aware of 'distraction theft by criminals working in twos and threes.

When you fall victim

Lastly, one hopes not, but if ever you do get robbed, then there must be adequate planning about it. The first rule is, if the robber is armed, do not try to resist him because what you are carrying isn't worth your life. If you have been robbed in a hotel, get the hotel manager's help in contacting the police and then make sure you get a copy of the police report for verification with insurance company. If credit card or traveller's cheques have been pilfered, contact the company immediately for replacement. Keep copies of passports and airline tickets handy, to obtain replacements if required. But, above all, this the underlying principle of security when travelling to a foreign area - don't look or act like a 'ready' victim and thieves are likely to move on to someone else.