UK holidaymakers are leaving themselves open to identity theft by letting their guard down when they go abroad, a new survey has found.
A telephone survey of more than 2,000 people, commissioned by financial services company Capital One, discovered 45% don’t use safes provided by hotels and leave passports and personal documents out in the open where they can be stolen.
A further 34% said they keep their passports on them at all times while 20% prefer to hide them in their hotel room, but not in the safe.
The Identity and Passport Service confirmed that last year alone 300,000 people lost or had their passports stolen.
Professor Martin Gill, a criminologist at the University of Leicester, said: “I’m not sure many of us would leave our iPods or wallets lying around our apartments and hotel rooms, yet people seem to forget that passports and personal documents could be worth far more to fraudsters.”
Capital One principal managing director Sanjiv Yajnik added many criminals were now targeting passports and other personal information that can then be used for
financial fraud.
He added: “Holidaymakers may return home to find accounts set up in their name, transactions they know nothing about on their bank statements or activity in their name that they are unaware of.”
An ABTA spokeswoman said agents could help fight fraud by reminding customers of the need for vigilance while abroad. She added the ABTA-backed Family Safe Holidays website allows customers to securely register information such as their passport numbers before they go abroad.
She said: “Also for insurance purposes people need to look after their valuables as they won’t get a payout if they don’t use the hotel safes.”