By Wendy Perrin

I received a disturbing e-mail from one of Condé Nast Traveler's Europe-based editors, who flew from Boston's Logan Airport to Paris on Saturday, September 2nd:

"An anniversary present I'd given my wife--a gold filigree antique bracelet mounted with a series of small mother-of-pearl cameos--was in the high inside pocket of her carry-on bag when it was passed through security. No one appeared to touch the bag after it came out of the machine, but the screeners were busy opening and inspecting bags on the other side. 

"We never opened the bag after it came through, and afterwards it was with us all the time until we opened it at home.  The bracelet, which had been in a small envelope, was gone. Our suspicion is that one of the security screeners slipped the envelope into her pocket while inspecting the bag. Nice thought: Hire a thief to catch a terrorist."

The bracelet was of great sentimental value.  Can anything be done?"

My European colleague can write a complaint letter to the Transportation Security Administration but, since he has no evidence that a screener stole the bracelet, I can't imagine he will ever see any remuneration.

When I've written about airport metal-detector scams, my advice has been: If you are traveling with a companion, one of you should go through the metal detector first so that by the time the other puts the valuables through the X-ray machine, someone is there to keep an eye on them.  In this era of heightened security inspections, however, such a precaution clearly may not be enough to prevent pilferage. Alas, my new advice will have to be: Leave valuable jewelry at home.