Both Hannah and I have now been 'initiated.' We've both been robbed in Barcelona.
Two weeks ago on the Metro, Hannah was surrounded by a group of jostling young men. When they got off at the next stop, they had managed to unzip her bag and remove her wallet. What was so frustrating is that Cynthia and I were on the outside of the mob and realized (too late) that something was amiss.
Last night we were at a sushi bar with Blanche. Sitting at the bar, I had suspended my purse, with my coat over it, from the hook beneath the counter, directly in front of me. Big mistake. When I reached for my bag to pay the bill, the coat was on the floor and the bag was gone. Lesson: never lose contact with your bag. Even then, there've been instances of bag straps being cut by blade-wielding thieves.
I called my credit card company as soon as I got home. This morning, I was about to go and buy a new mobile phone - of course, that was in the bag, too - when I realized with a sick shock that the keys to the apartment were missing as well. And, the keys were attached to a tag bearing our address. Another stupid mistake, caught too late. Unwilling to leave the apartment vulnerable to entry, I was forced to call an emergency locksmith, who came and changed the keys. The thieves, however, still have the key to the building.
So: the final cost (we hope) of crime in Barelona (in euros):
Cash taken from Hannah's wallet 75
Hannah's wallet 50
Jane's bag 45
Jane's wallet (20-year-old Gold Pfeil
wallet, no longer available in U.S.) 100
Cash taken from Jane's wallet 50
Contents of Jane's bag 30
New mobile phone 40
Change of lock 220
GRAND TOTAL 610 EUROS (USD $884.50)
Will we be even more careful from now on? You bet - unless the thieves think of something we haven't.
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1 comment:
OUCH !!!! My heart goes out to you completely Jane !!
An email was sent to me today that I will pass on to you. There were also local contact numbers, but they would be no good to you.
A corporate attorney sent the following information out to the employees in his company:
Next time you order cheques, have only your initials (instead of your first name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your chequebook, they will not know if you sign your cheques with just your initials or your first name, but your bank will know how you sign your cheques.
Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put "PHOTO ID REQUIRED".
When you are writing cheques to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your cheque as it passes through all the cheque processing channels won't have access to it.
Put your work phone number on your cheques instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box, use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your Centrelink Number printed on your cheques. You can add it if it is necessary, but if you have it printed, anyone can get it.
Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each licence, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. I also carry a photocopy of my passport when travelling either here or abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.
Unfortunately I, an attorney, have first-hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly mobile phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Dell computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information on-line, and more.
But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:
We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately, but the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.
File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).
But here's what is perhaps most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.)
Call the three national credit reporting organisations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorise new credit. By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away. This weekend someone handed it in. It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.
thinking of you.......... Jen xoxo
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