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From Pattayone.net. You'll love the photo. Your room safe is not as safe as you think
on: 16 September, 201617 Comments
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Don't be distracted by those who have access to your room
I am not one for giving out travel advice, but have you ever considered just how safe your room safe is?
I have lost count of the number of times I have booked into a room only to find the previous occupant has left the safe locked. And nobody knows their code. It€™s easily solved though because after a quick call to reception somebody you have never seen before turns up with an override key, opens it up, shows you how to set a new code and then disappears.
You might never see him again.
But, did you notice the important part of that last sentence? Override key. If this stranger can by-pass the previous occupant€™s password then he can by-pass yours too. And everybody else€™s.
Now, I am not suggesting, that in a half decent hotel, you are going to return to find your Rolex, or passport or toothbrush (that€™s where I keep mine) missing because if you do then there are sometimes ways to find out who has used a key card to get into your room and at what time.
Plus, it would be an obvious theft and so the hotel will call the police, although you will have to prove you had a Rolex in there in the first place. And that€™s not going to be easy.
However, if you, like most travelers, also have fifty to one-hundred thousand baht in cash in your safe then don€™t be surprised if at least part of it has gone missing when you count it. It will never be all gone, that€™s just not subtle enough.
But it is possible that as often as you are dipping into the pile, to peel off a few thousand, somebody else may well be doing exactly the same thing.
And you will never know. Because you don€™t count it every day.
You will never notice how that one-hundred-thousand baht became ninety-thousand. In your room and in everybody else€™s room around you too.
That safe in your room is not as safe as you think it is.
Albert Jack.
Shared by The Jack Report on HanoiJack
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Here's what I use. Google Pacsafe portable safe. Amazon.com sells them. Used to sell all sizes so you might have to spend some time finding them. Even got a bucket-sized one for cameras. I also own a steel-meshed fanny pack and feel extra secure when I latch the clips onto the zipper handles. Pacsafe is great stuff.
You pull the wire and a bead pops out the hole. Put a lock on and the bead cannot pull back in. I loop it around an armchair or a suitcase handle to lock my jewelry, passport, traveler's checks, etc. I keep only B3K in broken denominations in the hotel safe. Laptop, cameras, and batteries go into my locked suitcases. Always cover the number pad with a thick towel, cardboard, or you body when you punch in the PIN. Worry though someone will listen to the numbers' tones and figure out the combo. Ever hear about the story about an Arab guy who befriended the hotel counter girl and bought her a cup of coffee. Turns out the drink was spiked with a date rape drug. Emptied the safe of passports, money, cameras, etc. What do you think? I think there was NO Arab at all. Other stories I've read are someone forgot to put a suitcase into the taxi and had to return from the airport to retrieve it. Turns out someone opened it during his absence. The hotel manager said it was standard policy to open unclaimed bags in order to return it. Bull Sheeet!
Later on I'll educate you how airport thieves can get into your zippered bags without you ever knowing it afterwards.
on: 16 September, 201617 Comments
Print Email
Don't be distracted by those who have access to your room
I am not one for giving out travel advice, but have you ever considered just how safe your room safe is?
I have lost count of the number of times I have booked into a room only to find the previous occupant has left the safe locked. And nobody knows their code. It€™s easily solved though because after a quick call to reception somebody you have never seen before turns up with an override key, opens it up, shows you how to set a new code and then disappears.
You might never see him again.
But, did you notice the important part of that last sentence? Override key. If this stranger can by-pass the previous occupant€™s password then he can by-pass yours too. And everybody else€™s.
Now, I am not suggesting, that in a half decent hotel, you are going to return to find your Rolex, or passport or toothbrush (that€™s where I keep mine) missing because if you do then there are sometimes ways to find out who has used a key card to get into your room and at what time.
Plus, it would be an obvious theft and so the hotel will call the police, although you will have to prove you had a Rolex in there in the first place. And that€™s not going to be easy.
However, if you, like most travelers, also have fifty to one-hundred thousand baht in cash in your safe then don€™t be surprised if at least part of it has gone missing when you count it. It will never be all gone, that€™s just not subtle enough.
But it is possible that as often as you are dipping into the pile, to peel off a few thousand, somebody else may well be doing exactly the same thing.
And you will never know. Because you don€™t count it every day.
You will never notice how that one-hundred-thousand baht became ninety-thousand. In your room and in everybody else€™s room around you too.
That safe in your room is not as safe as you think it is.
Albert Jack.
Shared by The Jack Report on HanoiJack
++++++++
Here's what I use. Google Pacsafe portable safe. Amazon.com sells them. Used to sell all sizes so you might have to spend some time finding them. Even got a bucket-sized one for cameras. I also own a steel-meshed fanny pack and feel extra secure when I latch the clips onto the zipper handles. Pacsafe is great stuff.
You pull the wire and a bead pops out the hole. Put a lock on and the bead cannot pull back in. I loop it around an armchair or a suitcase handle to lock my jewelry, passport, traveler's checks, etc. I keep only B3K in broken denominations in the hotel safe. Laptop, cameras, and batteries go into my locked suitcases. Always cover the number pad with a thick towel, cardboard, or you body when you punch in the PIN. Worry though someone will listen to the numbers' tones and figure out the combo. Ever hear about the story about an Arab guy who befriended the hotel counter girl and bought her a cup of coffee. Turns out the drink was spiked with a date rape drug. Emptied the safe of passports, money, cameras, etc. What do you think? I think there was NO Arab at all. Other stories I've read are someone forgot to put a suitcase into the taxi and had to return from the airport to retrieve it. Turns out someone opened it during his absence. The hotel manager said it was standard policy to open unclaimed bags in order to return it. Bull Sheeet!
Later on I'll educate you how airport thieves can get into your zippered bags without you ever knowing it afterwards.
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