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!
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!
should've popped round Daves and got him to speak to the gendarmes on your behalf.
