The Decoy Wallet — But Where Will You Live?

Yes, this is exactly how pickpockets dress.

Safety and security is something that we think about as we plan our destinations and our travel logistics. Although, it’s probably not as big of a factor as one might think. In our experience, most places are about as safe as any other (there are definitely exceptions) and we take the same precautions we would take if we were just heading to Denver or Tampa or any other major city we’ve lived near. Of course, some cities require better pickpocket awareness and there are scams in touristy areas you have to be aware of (in Hanoi, a scammer tried to pull a shoe repair scam on me).

However, when you travel full time, the loss of your wallet would be even more inconvenient, given the additional time it would take to get replacement credit cards, etc. So I am probably most paranoid about getting mugged. As a precaution against this, I carry what I call my “decoy wallet”.

Whenever I cancel a credit card, I hang on to the physical card. Indeed, I have a small collection of old cards that I’ve accumulated over the years in our storage unit. Be careful not to do this trick with an expired credit card, though. Expired cards generally have the same card number as the newer replacement card, just with a different expiration date. The “expired” card often will continue to work for months after it's expired.

I even save old driver's licenses. I populate a second wallet with a couple of canceled credit cards, an old driver’s license, and a small amount of cash. When we are out and about, I carry this wallet with maybe one valid, usable credit card. This way, if I’m mugged or lose my wallet, I’m only out a little cash and only have one credit card to replace (of course, we travel with multiple credit cards, I just only carry one when out on the town).

Paying by phone is so much more convenient.

In some places, I might not carry a valid credit card at all, because pay-by-phone using Google Pay is so widely available. And I’m actually not as worried about losing my phone. Phones aren't worth stealing as much anymore because they depreciate so quickly their resale value isn’t generally worth the risk of stealing them. And even if my phone were stolen, getting it replaced would be much easier and less of a hassle since everything is backed up and it’s pretty easy nowadays to get everything moved onto a new phone. Of course, you still need to protect your phone with a strong pass code and fingerprint.

Eventually, I expect the wallet will go the way of the Walkman and it will all be in our phones, including driver's licenses. Until then, I'll carry my decoy wallet and thieves can have fun trying to use my old, cancelled cards.