The One Thing You Should Never Put in a TSA Bin (Unless You Want It Stolen)

There’s a specific kind of airport pressure that hits at the TSA bins. Belts are off, socks are exposed, someone’s got four trays stacked like Tetris, and you’re expected to breeze through it all without leaving anything behind. But according to travel pro Tiffany (@travel.by.the.books), one move, in particular, is setting people up to get robbed: putting your phone directly into the bin.

“I am not putting my phone directly into one of the containers,” she warns in a recent TikTok, which has racked up thousands of views. “It’s always going in a zipped pocket in my bag.” Why? Because apparently, that innocent little habit is basically bait for theft.

Tiffany recalled a moment when she did just that—dropped her phone into a tray—and was immediately called out by a TSA agent. “He looked at me and said, ‘You don’t like your phone?’” she explained. When she said she did, he replied, “This is the fastest way to get it stolen.”

Don’t Put Your Phone in the TSA Bin

Phones, it turns out, are swiped at security all the time. “The number one thing they see stolen on a regular basis is phones,” Tiffany said. “They’re left out and available, the lines get backed up, and people don’t notice until it’s too late.” By the time you’re slipping your shoes back on or looking for gate C14, your phone could be long gone.

And if you’re thinking, Eh, someone will turn it in, don’t get your hopes up. While the TSA says it recovers around 100,000 items each year, there’s no guarantee yours will make it back. After 30 days, unclaimed electronics get wiped or destroyed to protect personal data. And if your phone’s locked or doesn’t have ID on it, it might not even get logged correctly in the first place.

To dodge that fate, Tiffany’s advice is simple: stash your phone inside your bag before it hits the scanner. “Always make sure your valuables are zipped up when they go through,” she said. That goes for phones, wallets, and anything else you don’t want ending up on a stranger’s nightstand.

Losing your phone at TSA isn’t just inconvenient—it’s handing your entire digital life to the stranger behind you with a hole in his sock.