A recent post on Reddit entitled “Toss your bag tags at home!” was made by someone claiming to be a Delta Airlines baggage claims manager. The person warned of the risks of leaving those tags where others can find them.
Their post said Delta is “getting an influx of fraudulent claims” where scammers use the information from discarded airline baggage tags. These are the adhesive ones airlines use on your suitcase handles. The tags contain information enabling ne’er-do-wells to claim “missing items” that aren’t theirs.
The post says scammers watch for people at the airport who throw their baggage tags away. Then, the scammers dig the tags out of the trash to get all their baggage details and impersonate the traveler at baggage claims. “From my own personal experience in currently dealing with this it is causing issue with reimbursing the real people if they submit a legitimate claim. So please be careful and don’t take your tags off at the airport. They can steal enough information from that to use your travel itinerary to get paid,” the reddit poster said.