Travellers at risk of losing their identity

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the world, with many victims holidaymakers who are particularly easy targets for identity thieves.

When you travel overseas you are carrying with you not only credit cards and a passport ? all of which are highly valuable to such criminals ? but also a mountain of personal information from which they can steal your identity.

Did you know, for example, just how much a thief can find out about you from the stub on your boarding pass, which you probably throw away after each flight? It contains not only your name and where, when and with which airline you flew, but also your frequent flyer number if you have one.

Using this information alone, a hacker could log on to the airline's website and find out your nationality, your passport number and expiry date and your date of birth.

Armed with that information they could go to other public websites to discover who you live with, how much your property is worth, where you work and lots of other personal information which they could use to pass themselves off as you.

Having recreated your identity, they could falsely obtain a passport, driver's licence, credit cards and loans, all in your name.

To safeguard your identity, make sure you only show your passport to authorized personnel, when paying by credit card make sure the vendor doesn't take it out of sight, and destroy any paperwork that might contain personal details, such as till receipts and boarding cards.

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