Two things to help make your home secure while you travel, and the No. 1 scam on the road

Q: I’m taking my family to the Bay Area for the Fourth of July and staying there for the rest of the week. My spouse and I are cautious people to say the least, and we’re always worried of our house being broken into. Do you have any tips on securing a person’s home when they’re going away? And, if it’s not too much to ask, perhaps a tip or two for when we’re on the road?

A: It goes without saying, but I will say it nonetheless: make sure to double-check that all windows/doors are securely locked or fastened. Consider hiring someone to keep an eye on your house for you, maybe a trustworthy housesitter. At the very least, you might ask them to visit your home in the evenings and mornings to turn on/off some house lights to make it look as though someone is home during the night.

Another good way to protect your home while you are gone is to keep your travel plans on the down-low. Try not to advertise the fact that you will be gone, as you never know who that information might be passed on to. To expand on that point, hold off on posting pictures of your trip until after you return home. When you post pictures on social media of you and your family on vacation, you inadvertently let strangers know that your house might be unguarded.

When you are on the road, be wary of gas station pumps and outdoor ATMs close to highway exits/entrances. They are prime spots for scammers to install card-reading devices, as they are places people on the road use their credit/debit cards without a second thought. I could talk about credit card shims/skimmers all day, but I will give you a quick overview on them. Shims are thin slivers of technology that scammers will put inside the card reader of a machine, and when you slide your card in, the shim scans and stores the card information. Card skimmers are a little easier to notice, as they are attached over the top of the card reader itself. Before you insert your card, try giving the scanner a little tug and see if the piece is loose, that usually indicates that there is a fake piece over the reader. Most importantly, when at a gas pump, look at the tape seal on the pump. Most gas stations now have a tape seal over the front panel of the pump. If the tape is broken, then that means it has been tampered with, and you should notify the station attendant.

For more tips on traveling, check out bbb.org. It never hurts to be too prepared, especially when traveling.