It turns out that the little paper tag you rip off your suitcase and toss in the terminal trash might be more valuable than you think, just not to you.
According to a now widely circulated warning from someone claiming to work in airline baggage claims, there’s a growing concern that old bag tags are being quietly repurposed by fraudsters. The idea is simple: grab a discarded tag, collect what details are visible—typically a name, flight info, and confirmation number—and use them to fake a baggage claim in someone else’s name.
Even without highly sensitive data like a full address or payment details, these scraps of information may be just enough to pull off a low-level scam. Someone could create a throwaway email and phone number, impersonate the traveler, and request compensation for a “lost” bag that was never theirs.
While some industry experts are skeptical about how widespread this tactic really is, the mechanics do line up with known forms of travel fraud. Most passengers don’t consider luggage tags to be risky, yet they contain more identifiers than we tend to notice—especially when combined with social media oversharing and public Wi-Fi use at airports.
The bigger issue might be timing. Most people tear off and discard their bag tags the moment they leave the carousel. But doing so in public bins gives anyone with bad intentions a free grab at your travel footprint.
A smarter habit is to wait until you’re home and your trip is fully closed out. And instead of tossing the tag in the trash, treat it like any other personal document: shred it, or at the very least, make sure it ends up in a secure bin.
Because, as odd as it sounds, your throwaway travel tag might be worth something—to someone else.
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