While visiting family in Paris, I had my wallet lifted on the Metro this afternoon. Major pain in the derriere but in order to be positive, I thought I'd post here for folk to share tips on how to avoid being a victim of crime but also if folk want to share stories just for some catharsis. As I got on the train, this fella jostled between me and my wife and was right up close to me and prevented me from getting past. Red flag No 1. He then proceeded to stand way too close to me. Red flag 2. He was carrying something like a newspaper in one hand that masked his other hand. Perhaps a yellow flag as many folk carry stuff on trains. The main element was the distraction of him being on my space that made me feel uncomfortable such that even when I felt the bum bag being unzipped (with the benefit of hindsight, I realised I had felt that), his distraction was too effective to make me realise what was going on until too late. On the positive side, my passport was in the same place and he missed that! The banking apps are very good. Most seem to now allow you to freeze the bank cards immediately as did the credit card apps too. A follow up phone call made doubly sure. The remaining concern was the driving licence which of course has full name, dob and postal address. The frustration here was that the advice is to report to the police immediately but the French cops were not overly interested and the form for the Met Police didn't seem to help either. I will call DVLA tomorrow morning to ask for advice. As a result of all of that, I immediately signed up to the paid version of Experian which will now monitor any transaction etc using my details and alert me if that happens. Hopefully that will protect against identity theft / fraud. Only lost about £25 in cash. My main learning points are: 1. Empty your wallet of all non essential items to save the hassle of replacing if not needed for the trip eg driving licence, Nat Trust card etc and carry no more than one bank or credit card. I usually do this and stupidly did not on this occasion. 2. If someone is in your space in a public place, immediately think 'pick pocket', check your kit ASAP and move away. 3. Know how to freeze your credit and debit cards. 4. Phone not taken but I've upgraded the pin to a six digit pin and made sure the remote delete is enabled on my phone. 5. I always thought a zipped bum bag was reasonable secure. How wrong was I?! How do you folk keep your stuff safe? As if all that were not enough, he stole my lovely brown leather wallet embossed with the QPR logo. Now that is unforgiveable!
**** luck pal, pesky french bastatds should've popped round Daves and got him to speak to the gendarmes on your behalf. All good tips. Maybe when he sees your lovely wallet he'll come all racked with remorse and post it back to you along with your driving license
I sympathise mate, but you must live in the proper sticks if you think that this stuff is new to people.
That's a ****er mate. It's really hard to be aware every moment when out and about, but unfortunately it's the world we live in. Treat everyone with suspicion, which is very sad I know.
Real trip spoiler RTID. Sorry to hear. All good tips to resolve a pain in the arse experience. I was seeing that people in London are being advised, by police, not to wear expensive watches in London now as gangs track and attack people regularly now. What’s it all coming to! Really. Can’t see it getting any better as austerity digs in. Have been hearing that robberies are increasing. My tip: a lot of homes have standard ‘euro-cylinder’ locks on their external doors which can be ‘snapped’ and give easy access to your home - a friend/colleague had his home broken into doing this and his car keys and car stolen (while he and his family were in the home at night sleeping - they were just after the car). The police said this method of breaking in was becoming common and advised him to replace his locks with 3* locks which are unsnappable. Replaced mine and did the same for my father’s home too. Well advised.
Bad luck mate. Re your point 5, a bumbag seems to me to be the next most insecure thing to use next to a handbag. It’s highly visible, screams ‘this is where I keep my valuables and I’m a tourist’ and easy to razor open. My wife had her handbag snatched from the back of a chair while we were eating in Madrid. Luckily I (it was a few years ago) and one of the waiters were fast enough to chase the perpetrator and although we didn’t catch him, he dropped the bag. In the olden days when I was travelling seriously for long periods and staying in very cheap and insecure places I used to wear a money belt, under clothes. This was pre mobile phones, banking apps etc. Remember travellers cheques? Now I try and ensure that I stay in hotels with a coded safe in the room (of course these are not secure from staff, but you probably have greater recourse if stuff does go missing) and just leave everything that I won’t need in that. I usually leave my passport in there, figuring that if it’s demanded I can plead ignorance and ask to be escorted back to hotel. Carry all valuables in front pockets of jeans (I have a tiny Secrid card wallet which also has space for some cash, though I usually carry cash separately in a money clip and only take what I need for the day out) including phone (I have the smallest decent phone possible), or if it’s chilly, in a zipped inner pocket of jacket/coat. Nowadays in some places you might not need cards at all, just do everything from the phone, which is the most secure way for fraud etc as well. Hadn’t thought about the driving licence though, have to ponder whether I need to take it in future. Oh, make sure you have decent travel insurance from a reputable firm as well, even for a weekend trip. Hope it hasn’t ruined the trip.
It’s a standard of lock. There are different makes - looked up versions I bought: “YALE PLATINUM EURO CYLINDER 3 STAR” (https://www.handlestore.com/dl30-yale-platinum-euro-cylinder-3-star-35-35-as). You have to check your current lock lengths to ensure the correct fitting - see “View Video” button on the web page for advice on measuring correctly.
Sorry to hear this. Happened to me a few years ago and so frustrating. Felt someone get a bit too close for comfort on the metro but didn't realise until too late. Happy to help if needed, just PM me.
