Thieves can break into your luggage using only a pen, warns Tiktok travel expert

The TikTok expert has plenty of tricks to pick a suitcase using only a pen. Photo / Unsplash

You think a padlock is all you need to keep your luggage safe from thieves? All you need to bypass it is a pen, says one travel expert.

TikToker Sarah Adekola published a short video demonstrating the common vulnerabilities of passenger luggage. Pressing a biro pen through the zip she demonstrates how easy it is to open the bag.

Zipping back over the clasps to re-seal the bag, thieves could rob you “and you would never know,” says Adekola.

The clip titled “Know this before you travel” has garnered more than 180,000 views for her channel @millennialwealthsarah.

The video was made not to dishearten travellers, or to educate would-be baggage crooks, but to show you how to better protect your stuff while jetting around the globe.

The Irish travel expert goes on to detail the dos and don’ts of choosing unpickable luggage.

“First never pick suitcases with zippers like this because people are literally stealing your stuff with just a pen,” she says.

Sarah Adekola has recorded several videos about how to get into luggage using only a pen. Photo / TikTok, millennialwealthsarah

Many top travel cases now cover zips with a material sheath to stop such robberies.

“For suitcases with zippers like this that are somewhat invisible it is much harder to actually puncture into it,” she says.

She recommends hard-shell luggage with buckles instead of zips. There are several “more affordable” options from high-street brands, she says.

Sarah also has a separate video on how to break into a TSA lock using a biro. The implement can be used to devise the combination code used by Transport Security to access the contents of passengers’ checked luggage.

Her other top tips include always going for darker colours and choosing luggage brands that come with a warranty. Suitcases take a beating on the way from airport to airport. This can lead to cosmetic stains and - more annoyingly - wheels and structural damage that can make your luggage near useless.

“I would also go for suitcase brands that give me a lifetime warranty or at least five years.”

Viewers were delighted by the tips. Many travellers claimed they had been robbed by the ballpen method.

One said they “had expensive professional makeup stolen from my luggage” and that it’s not something that could easily go in carry-on luggage.

Another was simply blown away by the unloading of baggage knowledge.

“I’ve learnt so much about suitcases wow.”