Safety & security
Keeping your money and cards safe abroad: declined payments, stolen cards, scams and what to do about them.
Safety & security6 min read
How Secure Is a QR Payment App Abroad Once Your Phone Gets Stolen?
The pastel de queijo is still too hot to hold. You set your phone face-down on the counter of a lanchonete on Rua Augusta in São Paulo, turn to grab a napkin, and when you turn back the counter is…
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Safety & security6 min read
The Safest Way to Carry Money Backpacking Asia on Night Buses and Sleeper Trains
Where is your money at 3 AM on a sleeper bus? The safest answer is to board with as little cash as possible and split the rest into separate layers: a phone wallet for daily spending, a backup card…
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Safety & security7 min read
QR Wallet or Credit Card Abroad: What a Card Skimmer or a Pickpocket Can Actually Take From Each
At a mamak counter on Jalan Alor, the cook flips roti canai on a blackened griddle while his cousin pours teh tarik from shoulder height.
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Safety & security6 min read
What Happens to Your Travel Wallet Balance If the App Shuts Down Mid-Trip
You are standing at a noodle stall in a market you cannot pronounce, phone in hand, and the app will not load. Not a slow connection.
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Safety & security7 min read
Why Merchant QR Codes in Cambodia and Malaysia Sometimes Belong to Someone Else: Spotting a Swapped Sticker
A laminated QR code sits taped to the counter at a char kway teow stall in Petaling Jaya.
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Safety & security7 min read
Why You Should Split Travel Funds Across Two Apps and a Physical Card: A Three-Layer Backup System
A shopkeeper in Phnom Penh waves off your phone. Her KHQR payments aren't coming through, the shop's WiFi router is blinking red, and the only thing moving is a line of tuk-tuks behind you.
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Safety & security6 min read
Notifying Your Bank Before You Fly Actually Matters Less Than This One Thing: A Fraud-Flag Survival Guide
You're at a padaria counter in São Paulo at 2am, card in hand. It declines.
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Safety & security8 min read
What to Do When an ATM Eats Your Card in Kuala Lumpur, Phnom Penh, or Sao Paulo
The machine on Jalan Alor blinks, whirs, and goes silent. Your card is gone. There is no receipt, no error code you understand, just a slot that used to give money and now gives nothing.
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Safety & security7 min read
How Y Combinator Backing and FinCEN Registration Help Travelers Compare Travel Wallet Apps
A vendor at a night market in Kuala Lumpur will scan almost anything you hand her, a phone, a card, a printed slip, as long as the payment clears.
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Read up, then pay like a local.
Scan local QR codes from your own bank or card, with no local account.