AIRPORT THIEVES TARGET LAPTOP COMPUTERS.

Byline: Jerry Ackerman Boston Globe

Watch your laptop.

That's the gist of a memo that's circulating among business travelers, via fax and the Internet. It describes a scam at airports that is aimed at stealing laptop computers.

According to David Varrelman, chief of police for Washington National and Dulles International airports, here's how the scam often works:

Carrying a laptop computer, you approach a metal detector to get to your gate, and two people standing nearby move in. They ease into line ahead of you, just as you put your computer on the conveyor that will take it through an X-ray scanner.

One of the people passes through the gate quickly. The other is carrying enough metal to set off the alarm - and then has to take time out to empty his pockets and take off his watch.

While you wait, the first person picks up the computer and moves on, sometimes going only a few feet before doing an about-face and exiting back into the crowds outside the gate.

Varrelman says the theft takes just a few seconds.

Although large airports seem to attract more trouble than small ones, Varrelman said no airport is immune.

Purses, high-quality luggage and briefcases, cameras and telephones are common targets for this scam. Laptop computers are an especially attractive target ``because they are very obvious for what they are and they are easily resold,'' he said.

Varrelman said airport law enforcement authorities believe gangs or crews of laptop and luggage thieves operate nationwide, moving from airport to airport to avoid capture. ``They are pros,'' he said. ``They work so smoothly and so quickly that a police officer can be standing right next to it and not see it happen.''

What can a traveler do? ``The first thing is to hold on to your property,'' he said. Next is to ``look ahead. Don't worry about the guy who is stopping right in front of you. Watch what is happening in front of him.''