Traveling for the Holidays? A Few Safety Tips
    
Zoomer Travel offers some advice for holiday travelers, especially females, so you can enjoy your travels with fewer security concerns.
    
If you’re staying in a hotel on your trip:

• Skip the gender question. When you book a hotel room online, be gender neutral. No need to say whether you are Ms., Mrs. or Mr. Just use your first initial and surname.
  
  
• Shhhh. If there are other people in the lobby when you register, ask the clerk not to say your room number out loud. Experienced clerks will generally be discreet and just hand you your room key with the room number on it, and possibly show you a property map of where to find your room. No need to tell onlookers where you’ll be, especially if you are a female or two females alone.
  
  
• New room please. Don’t hesitate to ask for a different room if you feel unsafe. For example, if your room is right by an exit or elevator, it could be the first one a thief would target since it comes with a quick escape available. It’s best to ask the room clerk to not put you in such a room. Also don’t accept a room that is ground floor and has access from a balcony or fire escape, or a room that is at the end of a long, isolated hallway which could be seen as an ideal place for theft.
  
  If you register online you can ask for these restrictions, but in my experience, you’ll have to tell the room clerk again. I always ask for certain restrictions but by the time my reservation gets to the specific hotel, the special requests have been lost.
  
  
• Don’t advertise. Hold your travel pictures till later. It’s fun to share your adventures with friends and family on Facebook, but you may also be telling thieves that you’re away from home. Rather than become a target, save the sharing till you are home safe and sound.

Renting a Car for Holiday Travel? Avoid Identity Theft
    
Holiday travel may mean renting a car. I love trying out new model cars when I travel, and the new models are full of bells and whistles. That is, they’re full of infotainment technology features so you can “stay connected.” That’s nice, but you need to be aware of a potential danger associated with all that technology.
    
When you rent a “connected car” that has hands-free calls and texting, web browsing, streaming music, you give the car your personal information. Of course when you return the car, you may not think about it, but that information stays in the car. And the next person to rent the car, or employees of the rental company or anonymous hackers may all be easily able to tap your information.
    
They can also see locations you entered into the GPS including where you live and work. If you connect a mobile device, the car may keep your mobile phone number, who you called, message logs, contacts, and text messages. Yikes!
    
What can you do? If you rent a connected car, here’s what the Federal Trade Commission recommends.

• Don’t connect your mobile phone or devices to the infotainment system just to charge them. Use the cigarette lighter adapter instead of the USB port in the car. Even if you don’t ask it to, the USB connection may automatically transfer data.
  
  
• If you do connect a device, a permissions screen should pop up, which lets you specify which types of information you want the system to access. Only grant access that you think is necessary.
  
  
• Don’t return your rental car until you delete your information. Go into the infotainment system’s settings menu. It should present a list of devices that have been connected to the system. Look through it to find your devices and delete them. If you can’t figure it out, look for an owner’s manual, or check with the desk personnel when you return the car.

Old-School Style Scamming
    
You don’t have to be online or even on the phone to be scammed. Older people are losing millions of dollars to snail mail scammers, $20 or $30 at a time, says the Department of Justice  (DOJ). The scammers promise gifts, good fortune, lottery winnings, and more… for a fee. But, nothing of value ever arrives.
    
If you receive mail that you believe is suspicious, such as a notice of lottery winnings that asks you to send money to claim your prize, file a complaint online at ftc.gov. Or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC cannot resolve individual complaints, but your complaint helps law enforcement detect patterns of fraud. That could lead to an investigation... and make you a hero.
    
The DOJ is enlisting the help of Meals on Wheels America and other meal providers to get the word out about these snail mail scams. One way they are doing this is by providing “fraud alert placemats” to people who receive meals. If you belong to a senior center or senior community where meals are served regularly or for occasional potlucks, you can receive a bulk order of placemats, 500 in a lot, for free.
    
Order placemats by going to consumerfinance.gov and type in “placemat” or use this link: http://alturl.com/bosqk. You can also call 855-411-2372 or write to:

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
PO Box 4503
Iowa City, IA 52244

Gray Hair Prevention Scam
    
If you purchased a product that claims to prevent or reverse gray hair, you might be interested to know the makers of those products have been taken to the woodshed. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint against them for making misleading claims that their dietary supplements “Grey Defence” could prevent or reverse gray hair.
    
A U.S. district court ordered the defendants, COORGA Nutraceuticals, to stop making claims of gray hair prevention or reversal, unless they could produce reliable scientific evidence to support their claims. So far, they haven’t produced that proof. The defendants are not only prohibited from advertising, but must also pay $391,335, which may be used to provide refunds to defrauded consumers.
    
Previously other companies had also been charged with making false claims about gray hair prevention and reversal. Those companies were GetAwayGrey LLC and Rise-N-Shine LLC. Both defendants reached settlements with the FTC.
    
The FTC advises consumers seeking refunds to contact the makers of the products, take the product back to the retail store where it was purchased, or file a complaint with the FTC at FTC.gov.

Teresa Ambord is a former accountant and Enrolled Agent with the IRS. Now she writes full time from her home, mostly for business, and about family when the inspiration strikes.

Meet Teresa