Multiple Americans have claimed that they landed in different countries only to be told by immigration that their passports had unknowingly been canceled, the Daily Mail reports.
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One traveler, named Parker Anderson, took to TikTok earlier this week to issue a dire warning to others after he said he flew a whopping 24 hours to Thailand only to be told after he arrived that he would not be allowed in the country.
Anderson explained in the now-viral video that customs agents said his passport had been flagged as lost or stolen, despite the fact that he had never reported it as missing.
“The American system is failing you in a way you don’t even know about,” he began in the clip.
“On December 28, me and my girlfriend flew from Miami, Florida, to Doha, Qatar, to Bangkok, Thailand. Upon arrival, I go into immigration and I’m told my passport was flagged as lost or stolen by Interpol.
“The only way it can be marked as lost or stolen is if you, yourself mark it as lost. You need your social security number… all of your personal information to mark it as lost. I did not do that.”
According to the US Department of State, to report a passport as lost or stolen, one must fill out a form online, by mail or in person while applying for a new passport. The form asks for information such as name, date of birth, social security number, address and passport number “if known.”
“Here I am, about as far away from the US as I could be with an invalid passport flagged by international police,” Anderson continued. “I’m told I am not allowed to enter the country and I’m detained until I’m back on US soil.”
Anderson said he had used the passport to book six international flights and took two of them without any problems.
“This is not OK. We spoke to the airlines and they said it’s not their job to check our passports,” he continued.
“Why is that not checked when getting on an international flight? The responsibility of an airline is to ensure the safety of people getting on a flight and they’re not even doing a full check of your passport? How can they say they’re keeping us safe?”
Anderson said he was back home safe, but noted that it was an extremely “traumatizing” experience.
“I hope you understand just how dangerous this could be. This was one of the most traumatizing things to happen in my and my girlfriend’s lives,” he said.
“We are financially damaged, emotionally scarred. It was a horrible experience, but we’re back home and safe.
“My concern is someone a lot more vulnerable could go somewhere a lot scarier by themselves and be stuck in a situation you cannot come home from.”
Upon arriving back home, Anderson said he has begun trying to figure out how his passport was reported as lost or stolen, but has not gotten any answers.
He said he contacted multiple departments in the government and spent “hours on the phone” but still has “no information about what happened.”
“I’m not making this video to complain about what happened to me. I’m making it to spread awareness that this could happen to you and you could have no idea it’s going to happen until you’re in a dangerous situation,” he concluded.
“At this point I have no one to contact, I am resorting to emailing and sending letters in the mail to local and state representatives and I’m almost at a dead end and don’t know what to do about it… I am at a loss at this point.”
Another traveler, named Marcy, said she went through a similar situation when she flew from New York to Rome last month.
In a video shared this week, she explained that like Anderson, “everything was normal” when she got on her flight.
“I was able to leave JFK with not a problem in the world. But I land in Rome and they tell me there’s an Interpol alert on my passport,” she shared. “They said it was reported lost or stolen.”
Thankfully, she had brought her birth certificate with her and after showing them other proof of identity she was let into the country.
She then went to the US Embassy in Rome to get a new passport, where she was told that someone had reported hers as lost or stolen in November.
“That was not me… why would I report my passport missing then decide to go on a trip with it a month later?” she pointed out.
“It was not adding up. [Thankfully the agent] believed my story, I had to swear under oath, and I was charged $165 and sent on my way with an emergency new passport.”
Since returning back home, she said that she too has been unsuccessful at getting any answers from the government.
“I’m [still] unsure if this was just an accident or someone trying to steal her identity,” she added.
“I don’t know if this was malicious and if they have all of my information — my name, birthday, social security number.”
Since emergency passports are just temporary, she has since had to fork over hundreds of dollars more for a new passport.
“At this point I’ve paid $300 [because the state didn’t] confirm that it was me [when someone filed the report saying my passport was stolen],” she said.
“The fact that a complete stranger can void and cancel my passport and I not be notified is absolutely insane.”
Many viewers of the videos were left horrified over the incidents and took to the comment section to voice their concern.
“This is the third voided passport video I’ve seen so far. I’m terrified,” one user wrote under Marcy’s video.
“This is definitely very alarming,” agreed another.
“This is so scary,” voiced someone else, while a fourth person wrote: “It’s crazy that anyone can void any passport and there is no way to check the status of your passport.”
“Hold up, ANYONE can report a passport as stolen? So, if someone I know is angry with me they can just report my passport as stolen and… it’s just, voided?” questioned a different viewer.
“No vetting that it was me who reported it? Wtf? I watched ’til the end so I know how unlikely it is, but still that’s scary stuff!”
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