If you travel with a laptop or other valuables in your carry on – pay attention!
There are people who work in teams to victimize travelers. One common scam is for two crooks to position themselves in front of a lone passenger carrying a laptop computer or other valuable carry-on baggage and stall until the mark puts the laptop on the conveyor belt.
The first will quickly go through the metal detector, while the second person will stall and deliberately set of the detector to slow the process by taking their time to remove things from pockets, take off jewelry, etc. While this second person is holding up the line, the first person picks up the laptop as soon as it comes out of the x-ray machine on the conveyor belt, and heads off with it disappearing in the crowd.
When the owner of the laptop gets through the metal detector, the laptop is gone. There is no way to prove the person who was delaying the line had anything to do with the theft. Often, just like with pickpockets, the computer or other valuables may have been handed off to a third person right after the first through the metal detector headed off with it. The third person will take the item out of the area before anything can be done to stop the thieves. This can happen so quickly and smoothly that even if you notice your laptop isn’t over on the conveyor belt before you go through, it may be too late.
Besides being ripped of by these scam artists, you should be aware of airport screening employees. I don’t want to slam the TSA, and in fact theft by TSA employees is not common. But it has happened, and TSA employees have been arrested for stealing items from travelers during scanning. There are also other employees at the airport that have been caught steeling from passengers.
Keep Control of Your Items
If you are traveling with a companion, the easiest thing to do is have one person go through first, and once cleared, put the valuables on the conveyor belt to send through to them. They can watch the valuables and be there to retrieve them while you go through the screening.
If you are traveling by yourself, keep control of your items until you are sure you will be the next person through the screening and can get to the other side before your items come out. And like always, pay attention! When you are going through the detector, keep an eye on the conveyor belt and watch for your items to come out. Also pay attention to what those in front of you are picking up of the belt.
Travel can be a big enough head ache as it is, don’t let it become worse by losing your laptop or other valuables. Keep and eye on them and don’t get ripped off.
Here is a segment on theft at LAX: