Hackers con gap year parents

Identity theft comes in many forms. Traditionally we think of it as people getting your personal details through theft of your passport or driving licence and this information being used to clone your identity in order to take out loans and credit cards in your name or to gain access to your bank account; but with the advent of social networking there is yet more risk…


It does sometimes feel like I write and talk about the drawbacks of social networking more than I praise its uses, but with our information being available to all (let’s face it, if your bank account can be hacked it’s not overly surprising that social networks can be…) there are too many opportunities for those who would use it for criminal purposes.


There are great advantages in social networking when travelling, it means you can keep people updated about your adventures as you go; one message reaches everyone in your network. The internet is now truly worldwide, with only a few corners where access is limited; so you can remain in constant ‘contact’.


But be careful not to rely too heavily on this form of communication alone. When we run courses which look at the effectiveness of different communication styles in the messages we ‘send’, social networking tends to rank just above texting...


Messages on social networks should not replace phone calls, if not for the benefit of the person travelling, then for the benefit of the people they leave behind. A phone call provides reassurance to both that everything is ok; a text message reading ‘All ok :) bungee 2morrow. gr8 ;)’ can have the opposite effect. It is worth remembering that independent travel can sometimes be more stressful for those left behind, than those travelling.


The scam highlighted in this article relies on the lack of communication between people travelling and those left behind.


The news article made much of the implied wealth of the Hogg family, however this would likely have had little or no influence on them being chosen as victims. I imagine had the perpetrators of this ‘scam’ realised they lived on a big country estate, their demands might actually have been much higher.


The sums of money they demanded (£265 for the bribe and $300 for the taxi ride out) is a significant amount in Colombia.


The criminals do not require your bank details or your passport for this one, they just need access to your social networking page and / or email account, both easily available if you use a terminal in an internet café which they have access to.


They will spend some time reading through your posts and emails until they know a little more about you and then contact your parents using your email account with the fake story of you being arrested and a bribe being required for your release (or a similar scenario).


Often they will also warn you not to contact the FCO or local police as ‘this may lead to the local authorities having to officially charge your son or daughter and the bribe no longer being a possible option’.


To most parents a few hundred pounds is a small price to pay for the release of their child and they will without hesitation pay up, through a wire transfer; why would you not?


The criminals will have all the information they need to impersonate the independent traveller, they will go so far as to write in the same style, using the same phrases, which they gauge from previous emails and messages. They will normally include several ‘convincers’, these are pieces of information which the receiver believes only the person they are impersonating would know and so they don’t question the origin / authenticity of the message; these too will be derived from the masses of information which people openly post on the internet through social networking sites. In the case of Gavin Hogg this was a reference to a new tattoo he had recently had on his back.


Like many such scams they play on the fear and emotion of loved-ones who feel utterly helpless when a close relative is ‘stranded’ far away from help.


Identity theft and this type of impersonation are on the increase in travellers. Independent travellers must be prepared for a world where our relative wealth in the UK, makes us targets across the rest of the world.


So what can you do to protect yourself against this scam?


The first thing is prepare effectively for your travel and decide who your ‘Trustee’ is going to be. Provide them with all the information they need to back you up if things go wrong.


Our ‘Trustee system’ involves you deciding on one main point of contact (usually a parent, relative or close friend) who you trust explicitly. During our workshops we provide a list of all the relevant documents and information they will require to assist you if it all goes wrong.


The ‘Trustee’ should be given a code word to use in an emergency; a simple innocuous phrase which would not seem out of place in a message, but which would if included confirm the authenticity of the message and related emergency.


If this phrase isn’t used it can alert the ‘trustee’ to the possibility of a scam or that the threat is not real; moreover if the code is used, it confirms the threat is real and can trigger an appropriate response.


The response should be to contact the FCO in the UK and the British Embassy in the country in question, rather than contacting the police in the country directly. If a warning has been given not to contact the FCO by the criminals, make sure that this information is passed on to the FCO, as it will allow them to act accordingly.


At Safe Gap Year our Independent Travel Safety and Cultural Awareness Workshop considers issues of Travel Safety, alongside sessions on Cultural Awareness, Travel Health, Ethical and Responsible Travel, Travel Equipment, Destination Advice, Transport Options, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.


Please visit our website at http://www.safegapyear.co.uk/.


For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.


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Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 23rd August 2010
Submitted by – Peter Mayhew

Newlyweds stranded after fall

If ever there was a story to reaffirm the point I made in my recent news blog entry (Warning tourists of the dangers of ‘Balconing’) here it is.


Now I’m not suggesting that this incident in Corfu was anything other than an accident, but it does once again demonstrate two things; balconies are dangerous places and more importantly the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) scheme is no substitute for comprehensive Travel Insurance.


The EHIC will only get you the same treatment as local people. In some parts of Europe this treatment will be better than in the UK, but in others it will be less good. The point is most people who suffer illness or accident want to be treated in the UK and want access to the specialist treatment we are all automatically entitled to.


More to the point an accident like the one suffered by Carrie-Anne Dudbridge can result in injuries which require months of hospital treatment and rehabilitation, people need the support of friends and family at these difficult times and for that you need to be at home.


The EHIC will not cover repatriation costs, which if you cannot leave hospital and board an aeroplane in the normal manner can cost upwards of £15,000 even from Europe; and significantly more from other parts of the world. In addition to this travel partners and friends will also need to fund their ‘extended’ stay.


The EHIC is a good additional measure to take when travelling in Europe, but it is the BACK-UP to travel insurance, not the substitute.


At Safe Gap Year our Independent Travel Safety and Cultural Awareness Workshop considers issues of Travel Safety, alongside sessions on Cultural Awareness, Travel Health, Ethical and Responsible Travel, Travel Equipment, Destination Advice, Transport Options, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.


Please visit our website at http://www.safegapyear.co.uk/.


For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.


To view the original article Click Here
To view the article on the Safe Gap Year website Click Here
Source – The Evening Standard
Date – 19th August 2010
Submitted by – Peter Mayhew

Warning tourists of the dangers of ‘Balconing’

I was contacted by Sky News last week and asked to provide comment live on a news feature they were running on the dangers of ‘Balconing’. It’s a new craze which is sweeping through the Balearic islands and has already led to 4 deaths in young people this summer; amongst a total of 15 deaths recorded as ‘accidental falls from balconies’


Unfortunately the feature Sky News were planning was pulled shortly before it was due as there were further developments with the devastating floods in Pakistan. Having prepared and researched the item I thought I would share it with visitors to our website.


This story came to light following the tragic accident involving a young British tourist Ryan Ellery, who fell from a balcony in Ibiza and suffered very serious injuries.


Balconies have long been dangerous places for tourists with many deaths from balcony falls reported every year, the majority of which involve people intoxicated through drink or drugs.


‘Balconing’ is the practice of either jumping from one balcony to another or from a hotel balcony into a pool. Balcony jumping (from one to another) is said to often be done in order to gain access to girl’s rooms; something which adds a whole other set of concerns.


The practice of jumping from a second, third or fourth floor balcony (or in some cases the roof) into a pool presents what most would see as obvious dangers; miscalculating the distance and clipping the concrete edge of a pool, missing the pool entirely or jumping into a pool which is not sufficiently deep (a 10m jump into salt water requires at the very minimum 5m water depth, swimming pools which are fresh water are even less buoyant) and hitting the bottom; not to mention the potential of colliding with other people using the pool.


It is these dangers which have not only led to the fatalities, but to countless (we have seen reports on between 30 and close to 100) injuries, of which some have been very serious indeed; as in the case of Ryan Elley.


‘Balconing’ is an extension of the practise commonly referred to as ‘Tombstoning’ in the UK and which was recently the subject of a renewed warning from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).


‘Tombstoning is the practice of jumping from height (usually rocks, cliffs, piers, sea walls, jetties etc) into the sea and has led to many fatalities and injuries as a result of miscalculation, hidden rocks, other obstacles under the water, strong currents, shock from the water temperature and due to the significant changes in the depth of water due to the tide.


In the last 5 years there have been 139 accidents from ‘Tombstoning’ in the UK which required an emergency response by the RNLI and 12 which resulted in fatalities. Many of the accidents involved serious life-changing spinal injuries.


The RNLI are so concerned about this practice they have produced a Short Campaign Film highlighting the dangers; it’s a film anyone thinking about taking part in ‘Balconing’ should think about watching before they take the leap.


Preventing these ‘accidents’ can only be done through understanding the causes and educating those taking part. The first thing is to find out who they are; typically they are young men, but I have seen videos of young girls taking part in ‘Balconing’ and recently a 75 year old man was hospitalised in Dorset after a ‘Tombstoning’ incident…


Let’s not castigate young people in search of ‘adventure’, certainly I would not condone ‘Balconing’ on any level, but peer pressure has led young people to take irresponsible actions for generations. Peer pressure usually means doing something as ‘impressive’ or more ‘impressive’ than those that have gone before. Twenty years ago this was relatively straight forward and only involved a small group of friends ‘competing’, in this ‘YouTube generation’ there is a whole world to compete with; it means those prone to risk taking feel pressure to take even greater risks.


There is also an element of not realising the benefits of the health & safety standards we enjoy in the UK; the RNLI is a great example of this, a voluntary service we should be rightly proud of.


The fact is if I decide to pick a fight with a grizzly bear with my back to the edge of the white cliffs of Dover, on the assumption I somehow survive, I will be rescued and I will receive treatment. This is a great privilege and unique to the UK, in much of the rest of the world it is money or insurance which will get you help and the standard of that help will vary very considerably.


If we can remember this then it should make us take more care to avoid requiring assistance when we are abroad. Climbing onto the railings of a third floor balcony with the intention of throwing yourself off into the pool below, is in this context is a very very bad idea.


This brings me on to the subject of travel insurance, you should never travel anywhere without it. Even the ‘simplest’ medical procedures can carry considerable cost; if you go to A&E in the UK the cost will not cross your mind, but it can cost thousands of pounds to the tax payer and in the rest of the world they will charge you. If you require medical evacuation, the cost can be as high as £10,000 to £30,000 in extreme reported cases costs have been in excess of £100,000.


So travel insurance is vital, however if the reason for your injury is that you were drunk and decided to jump into a pool from the second floor balcony, the chances of your insurance company paying out are somewhere between limited and zero. Drink or dugs alone usually invalidate insurance, as do voluntary acts of recklessness.


I spoke to a senior FCO official on this matter and they are genuinely worried about the ‘craze’ of ‘Balconing’ and the minister responsible is considering releasing a statement on the issue. They re-enforced our concerns about the invalidation of travel insurance through such activities.


Alcohol and drugs play a significant part in these activities, the levels of intoxication turns ‘Balconing’ from irresponsible and dangerous to suicidal. Think about it if you are not fit to drive a car…


The fact is that binge drinking has become a problem in the UK, with people drinking to excess and the nature of the drink being high abv drinks and spirits. Many of those who travel on these types of holiday take that one or two day a week binging habit and spread it throughout the week.


The problem is people are not aware of the number of units they consume but rather count their consumption in the number of drinks they have. Because they are on holiday they often consume even more and the volume of spirits measures in particular can mean that a standard shot of spirits (typically 25ml in the UK) contains twice as much alcohol as they are used to (a standard measure in most continental holiday locations will be 50ml).


The consequence of this is that holidaymakers binge twice as much as usual, without realising it. Because the body can only eliminates about 1 unit an hour, many of those binging in these resorts can find themselves never sobering up and so actually getting drunker and drunker as the week goes on; by the way you can’t sleep off alcohol, the rate of sobering changes little awake or asleep.


Ask around British tourists on the Balearic islands and it will not take you long to find one who has consumed 30+ units the night before. So let’s use this example of a tourist who has consumed 30 units in one night; when they wake up they might still have some 20 units in their system. Even if they don’t drink until the evening, when they sit down for dinner and drink their first glass of sangria they may well still have 10 units in their system… the point is they will often be starting a ‘new’ night from a position of significant intoxication.


This scenario is a problem at the best of times, with a mix of peer pressure, YouTube, a feeling of invincibility, a lack of life experiences which provide a natural risk aversion and potentially other chemical stimulants playing their part, it provides a dangerous ‘cocktail’.


What can you do:


• Tell people of the dangers; show people the RNLI Video
• Talk to those who might take part in such activities with respect; explain to them that if peer pressure means it is more difficult to say no than to jump, surely saying no is actually a braver thing to do…
• Don’t encourage other people (when someone is drunk even shouting at them to stop may just add to the sense of encouragement, silence can be deafening), walk away and get other to walk away; few will jump without an audience; avoid being guilty by association.
• Tell someone at the hotel or the police; you might be saving a life.
• Drink in moderation and take it in turns to stay sober to watch over your friends.
• Be a leader not a follower.


If you’re a thrill seeker or an adrenaline junkie there are hundreds of safer ways to get the shot of adrenaline and the kudos you are looking for.


At Safe Gap Year our Independent Travel Safety and Cultural Awareness Workshop considers issues of Travel Safety, alongside sessions on Cultural Awareness, Travel Health, Ethical and Responsible Travel, Travel Equipment, Destination Advice, Transport Options, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.


Please visit our website at http://www.safegapyear.co.uk/.


For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.


To view the original article Click Here
Source – Sky News
Date – 13th August 2010
Submitted by – Peter Mayhew