ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605170008
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: workplace
SOURCE: JERRY ACKERMAN THE BOSTON GLOBE
IT'S CALLED ``DIVERSION THEFT,'' and it happens at the metal detector. No airport is immune.
Watch your laptop.
That's the gist of a memo that's circulating among business travelers, via fax and the Internet. It describes a scam at airports that is aimed at stealing laptop computers.
The memo is unsigned and is described as a summary of ``a warning to business travelers'' from the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA says that part is wrong. It has not issued such a warning. The FAA's primary business is ensuring safety in the air - not security in crowded terminals.
But the problem, in fact, is very real, said David Varrelman, chief of police for Washington National and Washington Dulles International airports and incoming president of a national organization of airport law enforcement agencies.
Here's how the scam often works:
Carrying a laptop computer, you approach a metal detector to get to your gate, and two people standing nearby move in. They ease into line ahead of you, just as you put your computer on the conveyor that will take it through an X-ray scanner.
One of the people passes through the gate quickly. The other is carrying enough metal to set off the alarm - and then has to take time out to empty his pockets and take off his watch.
While you wait, the first person picks up the computer and moves on, sometimes going only a few feet before doing an about-face and exiting back into the crowds outside the gate.
Varrelman says the theft takes just a few seconds. It is a variation of what police officers call ``diversion theft,'' the category that includes someone jostling you on the subway while an accomplice picks your pocket - or someone spilling a drink on your clothes while a partner snatches your purse.
Although large airports seem to attract more trouble than small ones, Varrelman said no airport is immune. Purses, high-quality luggage and briefcases, cameras and telephones are common targets for this scam. Laptop computers are an especially attractive target ``because they are very obvious for what they are and they are easily resold,'' he said.
Varrelman said airport law enforcement authorities believe gangs or crews of laptop and luggage thieves operate nationwide, moving from airport to airport to avoid capture. ``They are pros,'' he said. ``They work so smoothly and so quickly that a police officer can be standing right next to it and not see it happen.''
What can a traveler do? ``The first thing is to hold on to your property,'' he said. Next is to ``look ahead. Don't worry about the guy who is stopping right in front of you. Watch what is happening in front of him.''
Travelers, says Varrelman, are an overly trusting lot. ``They are not as security conscious as they ought to be. They seem to figure that everyone around them is going somewhere and has their own luggage, and there is no need for them to worry about their own belongings.''
The memo from ``the FAA'' is phony. But the problem is real.
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