Revealed: The surprising scams con artists are using to try and steal your passport when you head abroad

With more than 21,000 passports stolen or lost last year, the FCO has launched a social media campaign to encourage Britons to prevent their documents from falling into the wrong hands. 


In addition to robberies and thefts from hotel rooms or hired cars, the most common scams involve posing as a cop, asking questions and then walking off with a passport (pictured top right), pretending bird droppings have landed on someone, offering to help them clean up and stealing their passport when they are distracted (bottom left), stealing a passport from a hotel check-in desk when the guest is distracted with forms or payment (bottom right) and stealing a passport from someone's jacket while it is hanging on the back of a chair and pretending to reach into your own jacket pocket (top left).