In today’s interconnected world, cyber security has become paramount. As our reliance on digital technology grows, so too do the threats posed by cyber criminals. From personal data breaches to large-scale cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, the consequences of inadequate cyber security measures can be devastating.
A prevalent but little talked about issue is crime committed against tourists overseas, as technology gets more advanced, criminals are more frequently exploiting tourist’s lack of knowledge regarding their mobile devices, giving them a plethora of opportunities when it comes to stealing personal data, belongings, identity fraud and much more.
In this article, I cover Medellin, Colombia. A city with a rapidly growing tourist industry and a bad online reputation for less-than-well-intentioned criminals who are been responsible for tens of thousands of crimes in the city every year. I also cover, from my own experience in visiting, how to keep safe (as somebody who spent 3 whole months in the city with zero issues but saw plenty of foreigners who did).
Stolen phones being password cracked and held at ransom
This was by far the most devastating cyber-crime I caught wind of while in Medellin. Once a criminal is in possession of a foreigner’s stolen phone, they’ll attempt to run password cracking software designed to brute-force guess a password or PIN number.
Once they’ve gained access, they’ll access any online banking app present on the device and transfer the money into cryptocurrency rendering it impossible to recover, they’ll change passwords to anything made available on the device including email addresses, apps with active accounts and they’ll check for any sensitive photos or notes that will likely be sold off to multiple individuals to contact the victim in an attempt to ransom the accounts back to them.
There have even been successful attempts to open new financial accounts, such as a Charles Schwab account, in an attempt to qualify for a loan and transfer even more money from the victim into cryptocurrency.
How to avoid this?
While this does sound scary, some basic security policy can ensure that in the event of an emergency, this does not occur or that all the above methods cannot be used against your device.
Uninstall online banking before your trip, and use the desktop version, preferably with a card reader. While mildly inconvenient, this is a good first step to preventing any access to your accounts. A good middle ground would be to use a travel card like a Revolut card, while also using the app, this way the amount you can lose is always capped by however much is on the account.
Make absolutely sure your devices always have the latest software updates. This means that if your phone has been stolen and somebody attempts to crack its password, they’ll have the hardest possible time doing so with the latest security updates. This is by no means a permanent or 100% reliable way of ensuring your data is not stolen, but it can certainly buy you some time while you ensure the stolen device is rendered useless.
Make sure you can lock or erase your device from a different one if it’s been stolen, both Android and IOS have features for this, meaning if you have access to your Google or Apple account on a secondary device like a laptop or tablet, you can wipe the device remotely and prevent any data theft before it’s even started.
For the extra careful, bring a second phone along and always leave your personal (and more important) device in your building. This is probably the ultimate way to keep safe, using a cheap android device coupled with a local SIM with some data would be the ultimate way to keep safe. If you can bear sacrificing the convenience!
Conclusion
I wouldn’t call Medellin a country that beginner travelers should go to, get some experience going and traveling domestically or to the country next door so you can really understand how to be mobile and travel smart.
Medellin is a city that continues to be a mixed bag for a lot of tourists, the ones who come uninformed quickly paint a target on their backs, those who are knowledgeable before arriving have the privilege of discovering a beautiful, warm and massively up-and-coming city that feels like anything is possible.