Tourists are easy prey. #19

Welcome everybody to the Security Guy and the CIA Spy Show podcast, where we are keeping you on top of what is new and ahead of what is next at all times on all things security, tech, and digital literacy. Knowing that when good people like you want to make sure that their money, their family, and their business is safe and secure from attackers, hackers, and thieves, or you just want to make sure your tech is running smoothly— my name is Robert Siciliano, I am the Security Guy, and along with my co-host Peter Wormka, who is a real and retired United States CIA spy, we will give give you every single tool, tip, tactic, and skill that you need to fight the bad guy and keep your physical and digital life secure, worry less, and even make you happier. This podcast will help you breathe easier with less stress and a greater sense of well-being. So let's get at it, and welcome to the Security Guy and CIA Spy Podcast. I am Robert Siciliano, and this is Peter Warmka.

How are you, Robert?

How you doing, Peter? Uh, happy Easter-ish.

Yeah, yeah, it's getting close.

Yeah, yeah. Uh, what are you doing for Easter?

Oh, I got— I finally got home. I've been on the road for over a month, and now I'm looking forward to some quality time at home with my family.

Yeah, so you were gone for a month. Business is good?

Yeah, it was a combination of business and personal. The personal was the first part of my travel. I went with my wife and my daughter— to one of my daughters— to Morocco because this was a trip that was already planned and paid for, uh, prior to, uh, COVID, and it was canceled by, by the tour company one week before we were set to, uh, take off, which is probably a good thing, otherwise we would have been in quarantine over there for some time.

Probably, right? Right. Yeah, yeah. What are you doing for Easter?

No, here we're gonna have a— we're gonna make— cook up a good meal. And I have, uh, family members here. My daughter just moved back from California a few months ago, and she had her second— our second grandchild. So, uh, we'll have— we'll have most of our family here. My son unfortunately won't be able to make it from Washington. But yeah, what about you?

So actually, I'm gonna be alone for the first time ever on Easter. And do not feel bad for me, it's okay, it's by choice. So, um, uh, well, my mother-in-law is 91. Okay, bless her heart.

Congratulations, that's great to have a mother that's, that's in it.

My mother-in-law, so my wife's mom. Yes, my wife, uh, my wife has longevity in her family, which is good for her. Uh, not so much in my family, but my wife's family, good for my daughters, right? And, uh, my, uh, wife and kids and sister-in-law are heading to my mother-in-law's house for the day, and I'm actually choosing to stay home because I'm running the Boston Marathon on the Monday, Patriots Day.

Oh wow, that's great.

Yeah, so it's my, uh, 11th marathon. I run for, uh, Dana-Farber Cancer Research. We've raised over $110,000 in the past 11 years. This is my 11th marathon. And so I'm choosing to stay home because I got to stay off my feet and I have a specific diet I need to consume that basically is designed to keep me going from, uh, mile 1 to mile 26, so I really can't deviate. So I'm on my butt watching movies, eating all day, and I'll be perfectly content.

No, that's fantastic though. Uh, that's great you're doing the marathon again, and that's very, very noble cause.

Yeah, yeah, it's all good. It's, it's, it's great. My, my, my 16-year-old says that, um, Patriots Day, which is— I believe it's just a Massachusetts holiday, Patriots Day is, uh, her favorite holiday of the year. Oh great, it's always Marathon Monday. And, um, yeah, so it's all good. I, I did the, um, uh, marathon in October of 2021, uh, which is the only— which is the first time ever it was in October. They moved it, you know, all because of COVID and everything. So I'm going, what, uh, 6 months, uh, since my last one. I am relatively prepared for it. You know, I'm a minimalist trainer, and, um, I've been doing like 3 hours a couple times a week on the bike, uh, and, uh, lots of, uh, floor work and not a whole lot of running. My, my mechanics aren't really good, uh, this time of the year for that. I, I don't actually do a lot of running up to the marathon.

Yeah, yeah, you got it, you got— I mean, you got it down pat though for all these years, uh, I, my hat's off to you. My hat's off to you. I think I need to follow in your footsteps, at least in a form of the exercise and minimizing the calorie intake. I can learn a lot from you.

Yeah, well, hey, uh, I have actually lost 10 pounds since the beginning of the year. Wow. And we— and I did that by, number one, choosing to not have meat in the house. So we have not cooked chicken or beef or pork in the house since the end of December. And I don't consider myself a vegetarian at all, but that one thing, along with, you know, reducing certain amount of alcohol intake, reducing a certain amount of sugar intake, reducing a certain amount of carbohydrate intake, still eating, you know, brown rice, white rice. And I've lost 10 pounds really just from eating much cleaner. And it's been great. And that's, uh, that I'll be at 182 for my marathon weight, and I'll actually put on about 6 or 7 pounds between this coming Friday night and Marathon Monday with all the food and, and, and hydration. And then I'll probably lose 5 pounds during the marathon, and then it'll all be, you know, back to normal the next day.

That's great. Well, good luck to you.

Yeah, thanks, man. Hey, so, uh, today Um, I thought we'd talk about, uh, travel security. What do you think?

Oh, I think it's a great topic because as I told you, I've been on the road and all the planes are full, the airports are full. A lot of people are traveling and also planning to travel, so I think it's a very timely topic to travel. And travel security is— it's got to be at the, you know, top of everybody's minds, or it should be, you know, because there's a lot of, uh, a lot A lot of things that can happen to you when you're on, when you're traveling, when you're on the road.

Yeah, so, uh, what, pickpockets and muggings and, uh, uh, you know, assault, uh, you know, it depending on, you know, the, the crime climate of the state or the country that you travel to, whether it's domestic or internationally. Uh, I think, you know, all of us have some type of a travel mishap or travel, you know, safety and security issue that we can all speak to. You know, what, what, what, what have you confronted in all your years on the road?

Well, the thing is, I, with my travel, oh, I mean, been to over 56, 57 countries, and most of that travel initially I did on my own with my family. I mean, we made our own travel arrangements, our flights, with the, you know, renting a car, driving, our own hotel. And, and I got nothing against going on organized tours. In fact, we've been doing a few of those more recently to areas that are a little bit more difficult, especially if you don't have the language. I mean, I have 4 different languages, so if you have the language, it makes it a little bit easier. But I don't have Chinese, so traveling to China or Vietnam or these places, I would rather entrust a tour company. But the problem is, when people travel by a tour company, they're so used to having everything done for them that sometimes they don't think. They don't think about, you know, what could happen, and if something happens, how to react. Because we need the mindset, right? Yeah.

Uh, I, um, yeah, I've been, you know, uh, I've been to, uh, Dubai and, and Europe and, um, uh, the UK and, you know, Scotland and, you know, of course Canada and Mexico and most of the islands. Uh, not, uh, 57 countries like you, but, um, and I've, I've seen my share of stuff, right? I remember, um, Years ago, we were in Mexico. My daughter was probably 2 at the time, and we had just gotten over a Category 2 hurricane, and we rented a car because we were in the hotel or the resort for like 3 or 4 days. And, um, my wife's like, we need to get out of this room now. And so, you know, our only option at the time was to rent a car. And I'm like, I am not renting a car in Mexico. She's like, we are renting a car. So we rented a car, and, uh, against my better judgment, and, uh, we get in the car. And mind you, like We just gotten over a Category 2 hurricane and there's debris all over the road. I mean, there's palm trees and rocks and coconuts and you name it. Like it was, you know, housing, it was wood siding, it was everywhere, right? So, uh, we rent the car, we're in the car for 5 minutes and I'm going slow because I don't know where I am. And my wife's in the back seat with my daughter in a hot— in a, in a chair and, uh, you know, safety seat. And I got pulled over. Immediately, like, 5 minutes into my ride, right?

I can imagine how this went because I've been pulled over many times in Mexico. I used to live there.

All right, so maybe you can, uh, you know, I, I guess, uh, corroborate what I'm about to say. So I said to my wife, like, what'd I do wrong? She's like, just, just do what they say. I'm like, yeah, of course, you know. So the first thing I did was I, um, took $100 out of my pocket. I had a $100 bill and I put that in the palm of my hand because I didn't know what I was going to come up against. And there were definitely cops, you know, because it was like, they were definitely cops. So there's a full, uh, full-blown, you know, lights and, and stickers and decals and uniforms and the whole thing. So I got out of the car, I had the money in my hand, in, you know, the palm of my hand. I didn't show it or anything at this point. And the guy says in broken English, you know, get up against the car. You know, so he frisked me, and all I had on was shorts and a tank top.

Really? He frisked you?

He frisked me right away. You know, my wife and daughter, 2-year-old, in the back seat. And he says, you're under arrest. I'm like, why? He says, because you were speeding and reckless driving. And I'm like, really? I'm like, what's the speed limit? I forget, like, you know, whatever the kilometers were. And I was like, you know, I'm I'm so sorry. He's like, reckless driving. I was just avoiding, you know, the stuff in the road. Like, I just got in the car 5 minutes ago. And he says, well, you're gonna have to— we're gonna have to take you down to the station and you have to pay a fine. It's $150. And, uh, I was like, well, what if I was to pay it right here and right now? And I showed him the $100 I had in my palm. And he said, get on the sidewalk. I got on the sidewalk and he went over and talked to, um, I guess it was his boss because his boss was in the passenger seat, or I don't know, uh, the boss seemed older, uh, and, uh, I saw some heads nodding, and he came back and he said, all right, yeah, you could pay it now. And I gave him $100. I got in the car, and my wife's like, what just happened? I told her. I turned around, I went back to the car rental company. I'm like, that's it, we're done.

Yeah, if you don't— yeah, that's, that's— you're setting yourself up for that kind of thing because you can get stopped for any little thing. And once you get stopped My only advice to you would have been, well, you know, you already rented the car, but I would, I would have probably gone with $50 versus $100. But that's okay, you got to know what the market is.

I wasn't about to bargain, and, uh, I was perfectly fine with $100 because it would have cost me more for the fine, and I didn't want to end up having a, you know, have to call my father, wire money to bail me out of Mexican jail. I just, this wasn't happening. So I mean, I, but I, so I did the right thing other than I might have spent too much.

Yeah, but it's a learning experience. It really is. I mean, I've been through those a number of times and I, I think, uh, what most people would face traveling overseas if they're not prepared are being victims to scams. Every country has a different scam and they will target— I mean, tourists are such an easy prey They can spot a tourist in a heartbeat by how they're dressed, you know, by what they're carrying, by, you know, listening to what they say. So the real danger is, I mean, it's not so much if you're like go up to somebody and ask them for information, right? Because you might want to contact a local source of information if you're traveling, maybe at the hotel desk, the concierge, or maybe a merchant that's in the store if you're asking for directions or recommendations. But when somebody off the street comes up to you and they speak perfect English, that's— to me, that is a big tip right there. Because when they speak perfect English, uh, they're going to set up, strike up a conversation with you. And you as a foreigner, oh man, so nice to be able to find a local that speaks English, right? And you get into this conversation and they'll say, American? Yeah. Oh, and they'll talk about some places in America that maybe that they've heard been to, appreciate you, and they get you to like trust them, right? To take— they'll take you to some places where you want to buy something, maybe gemstones, whatever, you know, that country's going to be famous for, right? Um, and you— and they're going to give you this great deal. They know people and, you know, they get discounts and they take you there and they end up overcharging you big time, or they sell you fraudulent, you know, fake, fake fake items that are not real, and you're thinking you're gonna—

yeah, well, they say your timeshare, you end up spending 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 grand on something that you're never going to use, one or the other.

Which is another thing, uh, this happens in a number of countries, but this was in, in, uh, in Hungary, and I traveled there several years ago. Before I went, I read about this in the travel guide. I said that there's, there's this common, uh, really famous pedestrian walkway all right? I can't remember the name of it, but it still exists. And the big scam there is that you're walking and all of a sudden, um, an attractive male or attractive female— particularly your guy is going to be attractive female— that's going to stop you and get you into a conversation. And then they're gonna, you know, say, hey, why don't you know, we want to grab a coffee or a drink right here. You think it's innocent enough, right? What the hell, I got some time to kill. And you go and you go to this restaurant or cafe you order drinks for you and the individual without consulting the menu, and then when they come back with the tab, it's like, instead of something maybe being $10, it's like $250 or $300. And you're— the problem is you didn't ask for the prices. And so that happened to me, okay? I was walking there and this really beautiful girl was like, hey, hey! And I said, like, what? It's like, who, me? 'Who's behind me?' Right? 'No, didn't I see you and your friend at the club last night?' And I knew that right away. I said, 'Okay, here we go.' We got into a conversation because I want to see if this is going to lead toward that proposition, right? And sure enough, got time for, you know, 'American? Oh, I love to practice my English. Let's go for a coffee. There's a coffee right over here.' I said no. I extracted myself quickly and went on. But it was an example. My brother had the same thing. Happened to him in another country where they invited him into a tea house. He's thinking, okay, I mean, they have tea house, try different teas, maybe even, uh, I don't know, some music. And he went in there and the same thing, they served him some tea, then they came out with this outrageous, uh, amount that he had to pay. And, you know, you, you, they got some thugs there, they'll beat you up if you don't pay it.

Yeah, Peter, that happened to me in Boston. In my backyard. So we, we went out to dinner to what's called the North End in Boston, which is a great, great area. Love the North End in Boston. We go there every summer at least a couple, three times. It's the Italian section of Boston with all the Italian restaurants. And we, we had gone out at a time of the day where like there was lines everywhere. So we ended up at a restaurant that was more of a tourist trap than anything else, you know, a restaurant that I would not ever recommend going forward. And when we walked in, you know, we sat down and, um, you know, the maître d' or the host or whatever he was, he started putting— look at— I'm Italian, so I can speak like this, okay? Uh, he started to do the whole 'abundanza, abundanza' thing, you know, like kind of putting on a show for, for the tourists, right? My, um, you know, not knowing that I'm a local, and my, uh, my brother-in-law being Australian, so when he spoke up— he's Australian, you know, in has that Australian accent. So the, the, the maître d' is thinking that we're all, you know, foreigners. And so we ordered a bottle of wine that we didn't like so much. And then we, we asked him, you know, to kind of pick out something else that was, you know, you know, around the same money, you know, but, but better, right? And the first bottle of wine we had bought was a $60 bottle of wine. The bottle of wine that the maître d' had ordered for us was a $175 bottle of wine. That was almost 3 times as much as the first bottle of wine, which our mistake for allowing him to pick us out a bottle of wine. Uh, but that happened in Boston, so that can happen anywhere. So you always really need to be very careful in that regard.

Be careful. I think a lot of this travel, travel security comes down to really thinking about it and planning a lot of things in advance of your trip and knowing what your options are.

So We have an article that I'm gonna— that we'll go over that has a lot of the do's and don'ts. One last travel security story that happened to my wife. So some years ago, it was before her and I were together, she went to Spain with a girlfriend, and she had rented a car, and she left the car rental agency, and right out of the driveway there was a stop sign. And as soon as she stopped at the stop sign, somebody knocked on her passenger window at the stop sign. And the, the guy knocks on her window and said, and pointed to her rear tire and said, "Flat tire, flat tire, flat tire." And she's like, "Okay, thank you." She puts it in park, she gets out of the vehicle, she walks around the vehicle to check the flat tire, and the tire was fine. There was nothing wrong with it. So she gets back in her vehicle, and she's getting ready to drive. And she noticed that her pocketbook that was sitting on the passenger seat was gone. Yeah, the way it works is, uh, when you put it in park, the doors automatically unlock. And when that happens, the, the guy who had said flat tire, all he had done was duck. And as soon as she put it in park, he cracked open the door, grabbed the pocketbook, and then just ran down the street. She went back to the, the car rental place. And actually, no, she went right to the police station. And there was a sign as soon as she walked in that said, if you were a victim of the flat tire scam, please line up over here.

Wow. So that was happening all the time.

Now you would think that they would say something to her at the car rental place. But they didn't. There should have been a sign at the car rental place, or somebody should have said at the car rental place, beware of the flat tire scam. But they didn't do that at all. Probably because they're probably getting paid off by the people who are doing the actual stealing to say nothing.

Well, fortunately, though, for her, it's a nonviolent crime, because It's kind of like a similarity here. She was targeted also because she left something on the seat that they saw that was of value. Okay, they know they'll get in and out really quickly. What I've seen— I've lived in Brazil for a period of time, and not only in São Paulo but other big cities— where, uh, what happens is there's a lot of people that will be on motorcycles like messenger boys, and then— but there's a lot of people on motorcycles and they're going between the lines of cars, and sometimes there's a lot of congestion. And all of a sudden they pull up and they look into the vehicle you're driving. They'll look into the vehicle to see if there's something of value, you know, maybe it's a briefcase, maybe it's a purse, maybe it's your watch. And there they'll even put up— I mean, what, what has happened, they will put a gun, a revolver, and they'll tap the window. And if you don't give it to them, I mean, it can seriously— it can be very violent. I know people— I mean, I know of people there that have actually gotten killed, uh, in these circumstances. And it comes— and what it really is, is having something of value. It's very important when you're traveling not to carry anything that, that these criminals will see that makes you a target. You know, if you're carrying an expensive camera, expensive jewelry, uh, a briefcase or something like that, that, that might make you the target, target of opportunity for them.

Yeah, yeah. This puppy Uh, does not travel with me at all.

Nope. I had— I mean, I've had that happen. I've lost a chain like that my first trip overseas. Yeah, yeah.

My wife leaves her rings at home, you know. Everything is locked up safe, the whole thing. Like, none of that stuff. You just, you just can't. Yeah. So, uh, check this out, Peter. Um, all right, so right here, uh, this is Via Expert Vagabond, 25 Important Travel Safety Tips Everyone Should Know. This just came out. This is very timely due to the fact that, you know, here we are, um, the beginning of the spring-ish, uh, summer's coming and people are hungry to get out. Uh, I know that, uh, everything that I've seen in regards to traveling and resorts and hotels and everything is booking up really fast, and that's good, you know, people got to get out and, you know, explore and experiment. And so after traveling the world for the past 10 years, this guy's learned about staying safe sometimes the hard way. I have too. And here are his best travel safety tips for avoiding trouble on your trip. So learn common travel scams, and that's a really good one. So wherever you go in the world, you always find people ready to trick you out of your hard-earned cash. If you're lucky, you know, they'll be kind of obvious. So there's a link right here to the most common travel scams that this guy's come across. We will provide the links to this particular article in the show notes. So no matter where you go, and you know, there are— there's always going to be a resource to find out what those travel scams are. So like, for example, if you do— if you search Tijuana travel scams, or Mexico City travel scams, or Uruguay travel scams, etc., you know, Italian or Italy travel scams, you'll find options, you'll find articles. So it's just a matter of being resourceful yourself.

Absolutely. Right. All right.

Now, basic stuff like write down emergency info. If disaster strikes, you might not have time to research the numbers for local police or ambulance. So I think it's important to have, like this guy is saying, have a thumb drive with copies of your passports and important documents. I also have it on my mobile phone. I have phone numbers of the consulate where I'm traveling. I have phone numbers of local hospitals and law enforcement. Um, and I have— I have— I also have, um, Peter, when you travel, what do you do for insurance?

Uh, be honest with you, I know a lot of people will get travel insurance. I typically— I have not really relied upon it, but I think it's a good idea if you research it and you look at different— there's a lot of different companies that offer it and different price points. Yeah, I think go with a reputable company. It is definitely— we definitely worth it.

Yeah, I actually go straight to American Express. I've been a lifelong American Express ever since I was 18 years old client, and I buy their insurance, uh, for me and my whole family. And I also, um, uh, so, so I, I think I'm, I'm insured up to like $50,000 in cash, and then I have, um, so many thousands of dollars of, uh, money that goes towards evacuation, and there's a Medflight involved in that, same, um, cost. I think I spent under $500 for that, and I think it— I forget how long it lasts me for, but for me, that is absolute peace of mind. I know for a fact that if you travel to countries like Mexico and something catastrophic happens to you, that you're on your own. I mean, they're not going to take your insurance. That just doesn't happen in Mexico. You've got to pay cash.

Yeah, most places.

Yeah, most parts of the world, you're gonna have to pay cash.

You get reimbursed later. Yeah, you get reimbursed later from your, your, uh, insurance, hopefully.

Maybe, maybe not, right? So, uh, whenever I travel, I have the insurance, and then I also have usually about $75,000 to $100,000 in credit. So I have access to credit cards with, you know, $25,000, $35,000 limits. And if I need to wire that money or just lay down a credit card, I'll do that.

I have an example here of that, writing down the emergency info. I mean, it's important, I think, to take photocopies of our passports, driver's license, or, and/or credit cards, and try to keep those, the original documents secure, but carrying those photocopies that could be utilized, especially if all of a sudden those things go missing or stolen. But in the case of our, my recent trip to Morocco, my wife all of a sudden was suffering from some severe, uh, blood pressure shot up and for, for a period of 3 days, got very concerned. And we were staying at a very nice hotel, Marriott, really nice hotel. And you would think going to a lobby of a 5-star hotel that they would be able to secure a doctor for you, right? Whether they have a doctor on staff or they can call one that would come. I went down there, it was about 11 PM, and they had nobody and they didn't have anybody listed that they could call. All they could refer me to is a clinic several blocks away. But fortunately, I had written down my wife's doctor, cardiologist, his telephone number. And fortunately, he did respond. So we were able to make that call and resolve something that could have been, you know, maybe have to go to a clinic or it could have disrupted our travel just by not having that. Sort of information available.

Yeah, yeah, that's real stuff. All right, check the State Department website, so travel.state.gov. I am always heading to travel.state.gov prior to any international trip. I want to know exactly what's going on wherever it is I'm going to, including on the connector, right? So that's a great, great resource. Uh, you could sign up for travel advisories as well. So that's a fantastic website, definitely if you've never been there. Travel.state.gov. What else do we have here? All kinds of good stuff. Lock up your valuables. So you have the hotel safe, right, in your room. You also have the hotel has its own safe. Peter, what are your thoughts on that?

Well, don't take for granted that— I mean, putting it in the hotel safe is better than leaving it in the room, or maybe better than carrying all these things with you, like cash, you know, these other items that could be stolen. But it doesn't— the fact that you put it in a safe at the hotel doesn't necessarily protect you from someone else, hotel staff, accessing that safe. Fortunately, we have not had something stolen from us in a safe, but I know from a security standpoint, working in the intelligence world, we will not leave anything in a safe because we presume that someone from— somebody from the hotel who's working for the intelligence service can easily access whatever we have in there and get the information. So from a more of an intelligence, counterintelligence standpoint, I'm, I'm very cautious when it comes to using the hotel safes, but it's better than nothing if you're trying to protect your, your, you know, your money and your, your computer and things like that from being stolen.

Yeah, so I know that you can go to YouTube and search, you know, how to hack a hotel safe and how to hack a hotel lock, and you could find various tutorials on how to do just that. So we don't generally keep anything of any value in the hotel safes. I'm usually taking whatever it is with me. Um, the laptop computer, I'm usually not going to be taking that with me. Um, I'm not even going to put that in the safe. I'll usually find someplace within the room, like, like underneath a drawer in a bureau, to put a laptop computer, which would fit underneath the drawer— uh, not in the drawer, but underneath that drawer. So there's something called security through obscurity And that's one way to go about it. They would have to completely turn over a room in order to find any valuables of mine in a hotel. I'm pretty good at hiding stuff. I've even got stuff underneath rugs in the past.

That's good. The second hotel that we checked into in Morocco, the, the safe wasn't working. And so I called, you know, I called, uh, housekeeping. They sent somebody up and, and they couldn't get it to work. And all of a sudden, you just like pulled it right out of the wall. No, it will only— I think it only weighed like about 15 pounds. The safe, and he took it out and he said, we'll bring you another one in about half an hour.

Yeah, and keep it— and keep in mind that like no matter what you travel with, you know, electronics, jewelry— if you're gonna travel jewelry, just make sure that you have insurance on that stuff so that, you know, if it was to be stolen while you're on the road, that your home insurance generally should cover as long as it's listed as an item to be covered.

Yeah, maybe take pictures of it too.

Yeah, yeah. We, uh, we had a friend very recently who had something stolen out of her vehicle in her home, and it was a laptop, a brand new laptop from Christmas, and her home insurance covered it. So ask locals for advice. It's always a good idea. Locals being generally those in the hotel. The concierge is usually the best person to ask. Um, you know, you could ask people at the bars and the restaurants and out and about, but I I would definitely stick to somebody more reputable, generally more reputable, somebody within the hotel, right?

Yeah.

And, uh, register with your embassy, we talked about that. Email your itinerary to friends and family, that's always a good idea. My father always has everything, um, my sister-in-law always has everything. My father always emails me his stuff as well, right? These are all basic 101 things that everybody should be doing. Don't share too much with strangers, Definitely not. You never know if you're talking to the enemy, and I definitely do not post stuff on social media ever.

Oh yeah, that's especially important during the travel. If for those people that are just love to get their stuff on social media regarding pictures from their trip, if you're going to do that, do it after you're back. Don't do it during the trip because you're just telegraphing to everybody, hey, this is where I, I, I am right now, and I'm not at home or I'm not at the office. Perfect time for someone to, uh, try to leverage that, right?

Yeah, I like this one right here. Don't do stupid things for photos.

Like, you hear about this every day. I mean, it wasn't that long ago there was somebody, I think in the Grand Canyon, and a lady, young lady that just went over. It's so sad.

Couples. Yeah, it's just, you know, please, uh, splurge on extra safety if you're traveling as a budget backpacker. Know the safest way to travel. Ultra cheap backpacker hostels aren't always the safest places, so spend a little bit more money. Be aware of your clothing. Dress like the locals do. In certain parts of the Middle East, women have to wear headdresses and so forth. So just always be cognizant of that because people can get offended. You know, I would never wear like, you know, a big old USA flag if I was traveling in any part of the world where they were hostile towards Americans. I mean, that makes sense. I wouldn't wear a Patriots football jersey if I'm going to Philly, never mind, you know, uh, you know, parts of the world, right? Or a Red Sox shirt in New York City.

You're asking for trouble, right?

Stay tethered to your bag. That's very important. You know, always have your bag like not just on the back of your chair slot, uh, you know, over the, um, armrest or the chair back, but literally like around your leg or around your arm. I've had friends who have had pocketbooks stolen right off the back of their chair.

Well, yeah. And even when you're carrying it, I would say try to, you know, try to carry it in front of you, you know, at least where you have positive control versus to the side or back of you, because that can easily be lifted. What, uh, when I travel, I mean, to me, the most, probably the most valuable thing I'm carrying is gonna be my wallet, right? But I will take out cash from that wallet and put, put that cash in a separate pocket so that if I'm paying for something, I'm just pulling out a few bills. I'm not pulling out my wallet with all the money in there and all the credit cards. And I usually keep that wallet in my front pocket versus in that back pocket. And I'll tell you a story. I was in, um, Bolivia with my son. It was a Sunday and we were going through this market, okay? And I had the wallet in my front pocket. It was kind of tight But there was a distraction. There was a group of 3 individuals who were, you know, maybe gentlemen in their 50s or even 60s, and one of them was like walking in front of me, and it was kind of like annoying because I wanted to get past him. And all of a sudden he turned around, and first thing in my mind, oh great, he's gonna like get out of my way. Now, as he was coming toward me, someone from the left who was carrying popcorn, eating popcorn, all of a sudden it seemed like he, he he collided with something and all this popcorn fell like right in front of me. I knew at that moment, this is a distraction. They're doing this intentionally. And so my hands, my hands came down to my side, to my pockets. At that moment, I felt two fingers in my front pocket and it just made me so mad. I was like, how these guys, you know, they're trying to get my wallet out of my pocket. I don't think they would, who knows. So what I did then is I just bought a pair of socks and I stuffed that pair of socks in my front pocket, you know, over the top of my wallet. I said to my son, I don't— I'm done here, let's go. But yeah, it's incredible. A lot of these people, it's not just one pickpocket, they work in groups. Okay, they do.

Yeah, distraction crimes, usually 2 or 3 people. Yeah, last tip was learn self-defense, which you should. Project situational awareness, that means knowing what's going on. In front of you and behind you, to the right, to the left, 50 to 100 feet at all times. That's really important. Tell your bank where you're going so that they don't shut, you know, your credit cards down. And I always, if I'm going to get cash in the country that I'm traveling to, which I always do, as a matter of saving a little bit of money, I have found, and correct me if I'm wrong, Peter, that the cheapest exchange for your dollars is going to be at an ATM, at a bank ATM. So I will take my actual ATM card and go right to an actual bank and withdraw whatever it is that I want, and that generally has the best exchange rate.

I agree with you, but I would be careful about where I do this, probably. I mean, for two reasons. First, you need to research about what your bank is going to charge for these transaction fees. Because sometimes it's very nominal, sometimes it might be a hefty, you know, $10, $15 per ATM transaction. So you need to look, research that. And then when you use an ATM, even though it's a better rate, you want to be careful where you are. I wouldn't necessarily want to do it like right on the street ATM, but maybe inside the bank that has the ATM machine.

That's what I do. Yeah, hide emergency cash, which might be in your sock or your shoe. I usually have what's called chump change. So I'll have like my cash in one spot and cash that I want to— that I'm going to give to somebody or throw in the opposite direction should I be accosted, right? Robbed. All right, so have emergency cash and chump change. Food, water, and safety. Get all your shots depending on the country you're traveling to. And, uh, you know, a bottled water is always best. And just be really careful. You know, I, I always travel with Imodium-D Right, I always have that in my bag. It's in my, my, um, my, my, uh, laptop bag, right? Because you just never know. Uh, Pepto-Bismol, Imodium, D, all that. So use ATMs wisely like we talked about. Uh, stop using your back pocket, of course. Yeah, travel in numbers. There is definitely strength in numbers.

I want to add something here a lot of people are not aware of. Um, if you have a serious emergency as an American traveling overseas, like let's say your passport stolen, your all your money stolen There is a phone number of the U.S. Embassy or U.S. Consulate that's there. It goes to American Citizen Services and it's 24 hours. So if you have something in the middle of the night, there will be a duty officer, someone who answers that phone. I work in a consulate. We were all assigned a few weeks during the year. And so we were trained in how to respond to these incoming calls to be able to help people, have them come in to the consulate or the embassy. Provide them with emergency cash, like a loan, help them expedite getting their replacement passport. But a lot of people are not aware of that. You are not on your own, per se. You have the assistance of the US Embassy or consulate in most of the big cities where you travel to.

Yeah, which is fantastic. USA. Pack a first aid kit, especially if you have loved ones, family members that have allergies. You know, Benadryl, all that stuff, uh, sunscreen, rehydration salts, antihistamines. That's all really good advice. I always travel with a, a small first aid kit. Uh, stay relatively sober. That's another one, you know, especially, uh, for you men traveling by yourselves, married or not. Uh, somebody cozies up to you at the bar, uh, always be aware of that, you know. Uh, if it's too good to be true, it definitely is. Uh, trust your instincts, you know. If something seems wrong, something is wrong, always. And travel safety for women versus men. The tips, safe— safety above are equally important for both men and women. Unfortunately, women are victims of violence everywhere, including the United States and Canada. Traveling doesn't necessarily increase that threat. It simply changes the location. Women worried about being assaulted or harassed might prefer to visit local street bazaar or nightclub in a group rather than alone. So I mean, there are some specific concerns that women need to be aware of. Peter, any closing thoughts on travel security?

No, I just think the best thing is to research as much as possible and where you're going to go so that you can learn about some of these scams. Take the information, take the telephone number so that if you do have an emergency, you got— you can get assistance right away instead of all of a sudden not knowing who to contact, what to do, because it's not a problem until it happens, and then all of a sudden you're like devastated. And, and, uh, be knowing who you can contact would be a great assistance. Um, and these other comments that we've, that we've already raised, I think, are all really pertinent. Yeah.

And like all things, uh, safety and security, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Absolutely. Right.

So, uh, Peter, what are you up to? What do you got to plug?

Well, I'm gonna be here for Easter, but then I'm on the road. Got a number of conferences, uh, in taking place, doing a lot of training, situational awareness as well as security awareness when it comes to social engineering, human hacking. So anybody that's interested in the topic, visit my website counterintelligence-institute.com if you're interested in booking me as a speaker or interested in other training events, and I'll be happy to respond to your emails.

Yeah, and y'all can see me and my team at Protect nowllc.com. Again, that's protectnowllc.com. Peter, I was telling you earlier, we sent out 11 contracts last week and we sent out another one today.

That's fantastic.

It's getting back.

Yeah, it's coming back. We're, we're moving forward.

Yeah, yeah. Peter, it was nice to see you.

Likewise.

You take care.

Have a great Easter and good luck in the marathon.

Thank you, sir.