criminals

Travel experts have warned that doing these seemingly innocent things could expose people to unnecessary risks

Travel experts have warned Brits doing three common habits during the bank holiday could leave them exposed to criminals. In the modern digital era, it’s become almost instinctive to post holiday pictures on Instagram or Facebook.

However, while sharing updates may seem innocuous, divulging too much online while you’re away can leave you vulnerable to unnecessary risks. From burglaries at home to identity theft, certain types of posts can make you an easy prey for criminals.

Travel experts at Ski Vertigo reveals the top three things you should never disclose online during your trip – and why holding off until you’re safely back home could be a wiser decision.

1. Your precise location in real time

Disclosing your location, whether through tagged posts, check-ins, or live updates, is one of the easiest blunders you can make while travelling. Criminals often scour social media for hints and a public post showing you are hundreds of miles away could signal to burglars that your house is vacant.

But the perils don’t end there. Revealing your location while abroad could put you in danger if opportunistic thieves nearby see where you are. For example, tagging a restaurant, pub or even your hotel might make it easier for strangers to trace your movements.

“Even if you believe only friends can see your updates, remember that posts can easily be reshared, or your account might not be as private as you think,” explains a spokesperson from Ski Vertigo. “By broadcasting your location in real time, you are essentially telling the world your home is unattended – and also where to find you.”

Instead, the experts suggested posting snaps after your return or delaying uploads. This way, you can still relish sharing your adventure without endangering your property or personal safety.

2. Photos of travel documents and tickets

It might be alluring to share a swift snapshot of your boarding pass or passport as a means of displaying enthusiasm, but this can be a big security blunder. Travel documents contain sensitive personal information that can be exploited by identity thieves or fraudsters.

Even seemingly trivial details – such as a booking reference number or barcode – can be used by criminals to access your travel itinerary, cancel flights, or even alter your seat. Once your details fall into the wrong hands, the consequences can swiftly cause chaos for your trip.

Ski Vertigo’s experts said: “We have seen cases where travellers accidentally gave away enough information in a single photo for someone to interfere with their trip. A boarding pass should never be treated like a souvenir. Keep it secure and private.”

A safer option is to photograph luggage, airport architecture or even your in-flight meal if you still wish to capture the thrill of departure without endangering yourself.

3. Expensive purchases or valuables

Another frequent habit is flaunting luxury items during your travels. Sharing photos of costly jewellery, designer shopping bags, or premium gadgets makes you stand out as a potential target for theft.

Criminals in tourist hotspots frequently exploit social media to monitor visitors who flaunt expensive items online. Even if you exercise caution in person, digital oversharing could undermine your attempts to remain secure, reports Galway Beo.

Thieves may not only set their sights on you while abroad, but also make mental notes of your possessions back home. Ski Vertigo warned: “Displaying expensive items online is like walking around with a sign saying, ‘I am carrying something valuable’. It can attract unwanted attention both abroad and back home.”

If you wish to share photographs, concentrate on scenery, cultural encounters, or cuisine – moments that highlight your travels without broadcasting affluence.

Real-life consequences

The perils of oversharing while travelling extend beyond mere theory. Countless instances exist of burglars breaking into properties after spotting social media updates confirming the occupants were overseas.

Some travellers have experienced flight disruptions after criminals gained access to booking information through posted boarding passes.

Others have been pursued in real time, with crooks pinpointing their precise whereabouts through geotagged uploads.

In one documented incident, holidaymakers were stalked back to their accommodation after sharing a photograph from a neighbouring establishment – a sobering illustration of how rapidly online details can manifest into real problems. Scammers often exploit overshared details to their benefit.

A simple photograph of a passport or ticket can provide fraudsters with enough information to initiate phishing attacks, impersonate travellers, or deceive family members into sending money through counterfeit “emergency” messages.

One of the most prevalent strategies is dispatching urgent alerts that seem to originate from airlines, hotels or banks. These messages allege there’s a problem with your booking or payment, pressuring you to “confirm” details or re-enter credit card numbers.

Once scammers are aware you’re overseas, these fake alerts become significantly more persuasive – and considerably more risky.

Tips to avoid oversharing blunders

The silver lining is that ensuring safety doesn’t mean you have to cease sharing entirely. Ski Vertigo suggests the following precautions:

• Post later, not live – Share your updates after you’ve returned home, or at least postpone uploads until you’ve left a location
• Check your privacy settings – Make sure your accounts are set to private and restrict your audience to trusted friends
• Avoid geotags and check-ins – Deactivate automatic location services in apps to prevent revealing your whereabouts
• Think before you post – Consider if a stranger could use this photo or detail against you
• Reserve document photos for private use only – If you need copies of travel documents, store them securely on your phone or in cloud storage, never on a public platform

By steering clear of these three frequent blunders, holidaymakers can still relish capturing their getaway memories while keeping themselves out of danger’s path. Bear in mind – the fewer personal details you broadcast in real time, the more secure your journey will be.

“Travelling should be about relaxation, discovery, and enjoyment,” Ski Vertigo said. “A few simple precautions online can make the difference between a holiday you remember for the right reasons, and one that is overshadowed by problems you could have avoided.”

A POLICE force is the first in the UK to trial a futuristic robot dog to hunt criminals.

The Terminator-style bot can climb stairs, see in the dark and operate in silence.

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Notts Police reckon the robo-dog could aid reconnaissance in armed sieges, hostage situations and chemical and biological incidents.

It is remote-controlled, can recognise weapons, scan its surroundings and has a loudspeaker to issue commands to suspects.

The device, funded by the office of the Chief Scientific Adviser, is under trial.

If results are positive, other forces will get them from next year.

Inventor Nathan Wallace, 22, of Gedling, Notts, said: “It can be used like a land-based drone.

“It has an AI camera which can detect weapons — handguns, knives, baseball bats.”

Supt Louise Clarke said: “It’s not hard to see how this technology can and will be used in the future to protect and serve the public.

“In the right circumstances this equipment can enhance officer and public safety.”

The force said there were no plans to fit the robot with weapons or replace police dogs.

More foreign criminals will be deported before their appeals against their removal are heard as the Home Office adds 15 new countries to its “deport now, appeal later” scheme.

The policy allows the government to send foreigners who commit crimes in the UK back to their home countries before they can appeal against the decision.

The scheme’s new countries, including Canada, India and Australia, bring the total to 23 – nearly three times more than the original eight, with the Home Office saying more could follow in the future.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says expansion of the scheme is to prevent foreign criminals from “exploiting our immigration system” and “fast-track” their removals.

Foreign nationals who have had their claim refused will be expelled from the UK and can take part in their appeal hearings from their home countries via video link.

The other countries added to the scheme are:

• Angola
• Botswana
• Brunei
• Bulgaria
• Guyana
• Indonesia
• Kenya
• Latvia
• Lebanon
• Malaysia
• Uganda
• Zambia

Cooper said previously that offenders were able to remain in the UK “for months or even years” while their cases worked through the appeals system.

“That has to end. Those who commit crimes in our country cannot be allowed to manipulate the system, which is why we are restoring control and sending a clear message that our laws must be respected and will be enforced,” she added.

Ministers argue that increasing deportations will ease the overcrowding crisis in prisons.

Prisons in England and Wales are facing significant capacity challenges, with occupancy levels nearing 100%.

There were 774 prisoners from the 15 new countries covered by “deport now, appeal later”, according to Ministry of Justice figures from the end of June.

Of the new countries, only Indians are in the most numerous nationalities among current prisoners.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy welcomed the decision and said the UK was working to increase the number of other countries where foreign criminals can be returned.

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, welcomed the move, adding: “But even with this U-turn, only the Conservative Party is committed to deporting all foreign criminals.

“Until Keir Starmer either commits to deporting all foreign criminals or stops rolling out the red carpet for migrants the world over, this problem is not going away.”

The move comes after the justice secretary announced on Sunday new plans to deport foreign criminals immediately after they have received a custodial sentence.

Under the proposals for England and Wales, those who are given fixed-term sentences could be deported straight away and would be barred from re-entering the UK.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said that foreign criminals would be sent “packing” if they “abuse our hospitality and break our laws”.

The new powers – which require Parliament’s approval – would save taxpayers money and increase publish safety, the government said.

However, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick warned that some countries may refuse to take in those who are deported.

He suggested Sir Keir Starmer should “suspend visas and foreign aid” in the event that countries don’t take back their nationals.

According to the government, foreign offenders make up around 12% percent of the prison population, with prison places costing £54,000 a year on average.

Foreign criminals will face immediate deportation after receiving a custodial sentence, under new plans announced by the justice secretary.

Under the proposals, those who are given fixed-term sentences could be deported straight away and would be barred from re-entering the UK.

The decision over whether they go on to serve their sentences abroad would be up to the country they are sent to, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) told the BBC. In theory, this means that some criminals may be able to walk free upon arrival in their destination country.

Foreign offenders make up around 12% percent of the prison population, with prison places costing £54,000 a year on average, according to the government.

It says the new powers would save money for British taxpayers and protect the public.

Those serving life sentences, such as terrorists and murderers, will serve their full prison sentence in the UK before being considered for deportation, it said.

Once a custodial sentence is handed down by a judge, the decision over whether someone will be deported will fall to a prison governor, the MoJ said.

Authorities would retain the power to keep criminals in custody if, for example, they were planning further crimes against the UK’s interests or were seen as a danger to national security.

The MoJ told the BBC that its definition of a foreign national is based on the conditions laid out in the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act.

If passed, the new powers could be applied to those already in prison, meaning the government could begin deportations immediately. As of January 2024, there were about 10,400 foreign nationals in the prison system.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said that foreign criminals would be sent “packing” if they “abuse our hospitality and break our laws”.

“This government is taking radical action to deport foreign criminals, as part of our Plan for Change. Deportations are up under this government, and with this new law they will happen earlier and faster than ever before,” she said.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick criticised the plans, warning that some countries may refuse to take in those who are deported.

“If countries won’t take back their nationals, Starmer should suspend visas and foreign aid. His soft-touch approach isn’t working,” he said.

The announcement comes after a tweak in the law in June, expected to come into force in September, meaning prisoners would face deportation 30% into their prison sentence rather than the current 50%.

The government will now need Parliament to greenlight its proposal to bring this down further to 0%.

THREE in four Brits want all foreign criminals deported, a poll shows.

Two-thirds back building mega-jails on remote Scottish islands to deal with prison overcrowding.

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Nine in ten would rather new prisons be built than see softer sentences.

And 77 per cent want courts open longer to deal with the backlog of cases.

The same number back building temporary “Nightingale-style” prisons.

Julian Gallie, from Merlin Strategy — who carried out polling for campaign group Crush Crime — said: ““There is overwhelming public support for a tougher stance on crime.

“There is a desire for the government to deal with a justice system the country do not think is working.

“Options including nightingale prisons and even deporting all foreign criminals gain overwhelming support.”

Reform MP Sarah Pochin said: “It’s no surprise the public support the need for urgent action to fix the crisis in our prison system.”

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Pam Bondi says the proposed change will give her discretion over who can own firearms, in a move opposed by gun control groups.

Washington, DC – United States Attorney General Pam Bondi has begun a process to make it easier for individuals with criminal convictions to own guns.

The move on Friday comes amid a wider push by the administration of President Donald Trump to make good on campaign promises to gun rights groups, which criticise restrictions on firearm ownership as violations of the Constitution’s Second Amendment. Trump ordered a review of government gun policies in February.

Gun control advocates, meanwhile, have voiced concerns over the administration’s ability to adequately assess which convicted individuals would not pose a public safety risk.

In a statement released on Friday, Bondi said individuals with serious criminal convictions have been “disenfranchised from exercising the right to keep and bear arms — a right every bit as constitutionally enshrined as the right to vote, the right to free speech, and the right to free exercise of religion — irrespective of whether they actually pose a threat”.

“No longer,” she added.

Under the plan, Bondi seeks to return the power to determine which individuals convicted of crimes can own firearms directly to her office.

That exemption process has currently been overseen by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. However, Congress has, for decades, used its spending approval powers to stem the processing of exemption requests.

The Department of Justice said the proposed change “will provide citizens whose firearm rights are currently under legal disability with an avenue to restore those rights, while keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous criminals and illegal aliens”.

The US attorney general would have “ultimate discretion to grant relief”, according to the department.

It added that, “absent extraordinary circumstances”, certain individuals would be “presumptively ineligible” for the restoration of their gun rights. They include “violent felons, registered sex offenders, and illegal aliens”.

The plan was outlined in a “proposed rule” submitted to the Federal Register on Friday. It will undergo a final public comment period before it is adopted.

In Friday’s statement, US Pardon Attorney Edward Martin Jr said that his team was already developing a “landing page with a sophisticated, user-friendly platform for Americans petitioning for the return of their gun rights, which will make the process easier for them”.

When details of Bondi’s plan initially emerged in March, the gun control group Brady was among those who voiced opposition.

“If and when gun rights are restored to an individual, it needs to be through a robust and thoughtful system that minimizes the risk to public safety,” the group’s president, Kris Brown, said in a statement.

She added that Trump’s restoration of gun rights to those who were convicted — and later pardoned — for their role in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, raised concerns over how the administration would exercise its discretion.

“This would be a unilateral system to give gun rights back to those who are dangerous and high risk, and we will all be at greater risk of gun violence,” she said.

This will strike the literal-minded as illogical, but I think Huntington Park Mayor Arturo Flores, a Marine veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, had a righteous point when he declared at a news conference with Southern California mayors that immigrants being rounded up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in communities like his “are Americans, whether they have a document or they don’t.”

“The president keeps talking about a foreign invasion,” Flores told me Thursday. “He keeps trying to paint us as the other. I say, ‘No, you are dealing with Americans.’”

California’s estimated 1.8 million undocumented immigrants who have lived among us for years, for decades, who work and pay taxes here, who have sent their American-born children to schools here, have all the responsibilities of citizens minus many of the rights. Yes, technically, they have broken the law. (For that matter, so has President Trump, a felon, and he continues to violate the Constitution day after day, as his mounting court losses attest.)

But our region’s undocumented Mexican and Central American immigrants are inextricably embedded in our lives. They care for our children, build our homes, dig our ditches, trim our trees, clean our homes, hotels and businesses, wash our dishes, pick our crops, sew our clothes. Lots own small businesses, are paying mortgages, attend universities, rise in their professions. In 2013, I wrote about Sergio Garcia, the first undocumented immigrant admitted to the California Bar. Since then, he has become a U.S. citizen and owns a personal injury law firm.

These Californians are far less likely to break the law than native-born Americans, and they do not deserve the reign of terror being inflicted on them by the Trump administration, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has pointlessly but theatrically called in the Marines.

“So we started off by hearing the administration wanted to go after violent felons gang members, drug dealers,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who organized the mayors’ news conference last week, “but when you raid Home Depot and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart, and when you run armored caravans through our streets, you’re not trying to keep anyone safe. You’re trying to cause fear and panic.”

And please, let’s not forget that when Congress came together and hammered out a bipartisan immigration reform bill under President Biden, Trump demanded Republicans kill it because he did not want a rational policy, he wanted to be able to keep hammering Democrats on the issue.

But it seems there is more going on here than rounding up undocumented immigrants and terrorizing their families. We seem to have entered the “punish California” phase of Trump 2.0.

“Trump has a hyperfocus on California, on how to hurt the economy and cause chaos, and he is really doubling down on that campaign,” Flores told me. He has a point.

“We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and this mayor placed on this country,” Noem told reporters Thursday at a news conference in the Westwood federal building, during which California Sen. Alex Padilla was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed face down for daring to ask her a question. “We are not going away.”

So now we’re talking about regime change? (As former Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe put it on Bluesky, the use of military force aimed at displacing democratically elected leaders “is the very definition of a coup.”)

Noem’s noxious mix of willful ignorance and inflammatory rhetoric is almost too ludicrous to mock. It goes hand in hand with Trump’s silly declaration that our city has been set aflame by rioters, that without the military patrolling our streets, Los Angeles “would be a crime scene like we haven’t seen in years,” and that “paid insurrectionists” have fueled the anti-ICE protests.

What we are seeing play out in the news and in our neighborhoods is the willful infliction of fear, trauma and intimidation designed to spark a violent response, and the warping of reality to soften the ground for further Trump administration incursions into blue states, America’s bulwark against his autocratic aspirations.

For weeks, Trump has been scheming to deprive California — probably illegally — of federal funding for public schools and universities, citing resistance to his executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, on immigration, on environmental regulations, etc.

And yet, because he is perhaps the world’s most ignorant head of state, he seems to have suddenly realized that crippling the California economy might be bad politics for him. On Thursday, he suggested in his own jumbled way that perhaps deporting thousands of the state’s farm and hospitality workers might cause pain to his friends, their employers. (Central Valley growers and agribusiness PACs, for example, overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2024.)

“Our farmers are being hurt badly by, you know, they have very good workers. They’ve worked for them for 20 years,” Trump said. “They’re not citizens, but they’ve turned out to be, you know, great. And we’re going to have to do something about that.”

Like a lot of Californians, I feel helpless in the face of this assault on immigrants.

I thought about a Guatemalan, a father of three young American-born children, who has a thriving business hauling junk. I met him a couple of years ago at my local Home Depot, and have hired him a few times to haul away household detritus. Once, after I couldn’t get the city to help, he hauled off a small dune’s worth of sand at the end of my street that had become the local dogs’ pee pad.

I called him this week — I have more stuff that I need to get rid of, and I was pretty sure he could use the work. Early Friday morning, he arrived on time with two workers. He said hadn’t been able to work in two weeks but was hopeful he’d be able to return to Home Depot soon.

“How are your kids doing?” I asked.

“They worry,” he said. “They ask, ‘What will we do if you’re deported?’”

He tells them not to fret, that things will soon be back to normal. After he drove off, he texted: “Thank you so much for helping me today. God bless you.”

No, God bless him. For working hard. For being a good dad. And for still believing, against the odds, in the American dream.

@rabcarian.bsky.social @rabcarian

CRIMINALS will be forced to pay back every penny they steal under proposals being drawn up by Tory Robert Jenrick.

The move could let courts claw back many billions of pounds of ill-gotten gains which would be returned to victims or help tackle crime.

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Under the proposal, fines on burglars and thieves will be hiked so they have to pay for the full amount of damage they inflict.

Rules which stop courts pursuing criminals for unpaid fines after six years would be torn up so a thief can always be made to pay up.

The shadow justice secretary is proposing the crackdown in an amendment to the Victims and Courts Bill, which is being debated in parliament next week.

Mr Jenrick said: “There’s never been a better time to be a criminal. That has to change: crime should never pay.

“Thieves and burglars must be fined the full cost of the damage they cause.

“If they can’t pay immediately, they should be made to pay it back over their whole lifetime.

“Our criminal justice system must put victims first and yobs last.”

Criminals owe a record £4.4billion in unpaid fines and court fees.

It is made up of over £1bn in fines and £3.4bn in legal costs and confiscation orders slapped on convicts.

This is enough cash to build 20,000 prison places.

Courts can impose fines on criminals as part of their sentence. The size of the fine depends on the severity of the crime and the offender’s ability to pay it.

But thieves and burglars routinely fail to pay up. And some dodge these fines by serving an extra day in prison – racking up a bigger bill for the taxpayer.

Labour have a giant majority in Parliament, so they would have to back the amendment for it to become law.

May 15 (UPI) — Criminals could be using AI to send malicious texts and voicemails impersonating United States officials, the FBI warned Thursday.

“Since April 2025, malicious actors have impersonated senior US officials to target individuals, many of whom are current or former senior US federal or state government officials and their contacts,” a release from the FBI said.

The bureau warned recipients not to assume that these calls and texts are authentic. The techniques are known as smishing and vishing and attempt to establish a rapport with the recipient before trying to get them to divulge sensitive personal information.

Once the scammers have established trust, they attempt to get victims to switch to a different messaging platform via a hyperlink and try to access personal financial and other sensitive information, the bureau said. And also attempt access to other information related to current or government officials.

The FBI did not disclose which officials have been target or whether any were convinced to divulge personal or government information.