My purse was stolen - any advice?

[flopshot]

the first thing you need to do is freeze your credit with all three reporting agencies. cost varies by state with some being free. 10.00 to 15.00 for each agency is average.

 

[horsejody]

Check with your insurance agent. Some homeowner policies come with a courstesy service to use when you are potentially targeted with identity theft.

 

[ruby]

Don't just call the pawn shops....go to them. Shop, and look at everything. I have had to do this more than I want to admit. It was usually employees that stole from me, the people I used to trust. It's going to be a long a bumpy road for a while everyone should watch everything they own.

 

[Southernbelle]

Quote:
I filed a 90-day fraud alert, but I'll need paperwork to initiate a long-term fraud alert or a total freeze, but I wanted to do something immediately. Potential creditors have to verify with me any credit inquiries made by anyone.

 

[Southernbelle]

Quote:
I did file a police report, but it was more of a formality than anything else, especially since there wasn't any money in it. The book was the newest Dick Francis book - I don't know if the library is going to charge me for it or not, since it was stolen.

 

[rooster0209]

You were lucky on what was actually lost. I know that isnt much help. Your purse is probably in a dumpster around lowes somewhere w/everything in it....but the PDA. I agree checks craigslist and pawnshops maybe you will get lucky.

Several years ago, I left my purse at mcdonalds once, got home, realized it and immediately called Mcdonalds. An elderly lady saw it and turned it in to the cashier, she had it. I drove right back and the purse was gone! The cashier gave it to the shift manager, who was off for the day and the office was empty. I called the police and demanded the mgr on duty call the store owner. I filed a police report and the store owner was not happy about getting called in around 7:00pm. The next morning, a lady calls me...she has my purse. She found it outside her store. Right next to her store is the bank where the shift manager took the night deposit. Again, I called the police. McDonalds pressed charges against the shift manager and he lost his job...all for $15 cash (which was all that was missing) and a phone card he tried to use but didnt know the passcode. Mcdonalds reimbursed me the $15 w/$15 in Mcdonalds money.

 

[debilorrah]

Police report to start with and call the social security office to see if they can do anything about the SS card being stolen.

Lesson: Never carry your social security card on you. For reason's just like this one.

 

[chickenbuddy]

 

[JennsPeeps]

I work with students who travel overseas often and I give them the same advice I'm going to give everyone who reads this:

1. Go to a copier.
2. Remove all contents of your wallet and photocopy them, front & back. You can cross out the "magic code" and first 8 digits on the credit cards to make the copies secure. Keep the copies in a safe or deposit box.
3. Repeat every 6 months.
4. Put a password on every account, including your health care & car insurance accounts.

If your wallet/purse is ever stolen, you can easily track down the phone numbers for every place you have an account, plus the account info. Believe me, you'll be glad that you have the customer service number for places like Costco, your health insurance company, the car insurance, etc.

 

[HennysMom]

I was going to ditto JennsPeeps sentiments but she beat me to it - I can add however that to EVERY DEBIT and CREDIT CARD YOU OWN - DO NOT SIGN THE BACK!!

PUT THIS INSTEAD: ASK FOR ID

IF the clerk doesnt ask for id with each transaction and your card is stolen - YOU ARE NOT LIABLE for those charges and the store WILL BE LIABLE as security measures were not followed. Every store's policy is to ask for ID each and every time you present a credit card/debit card - no exceptions.

I learned this trick from a lawyer friend and yes..it is upholdable in court. (at least here in VA it is). Every time I present my Debit card and they do NOT ask for ID - I ask them "do you not want to see my ID?" They ususally just look at me and say "Uhm, no thats okay" - I then proceed to tell them "You know, if I'm not who I say I am (and then flip the back of my card to show the "ASK FOR ID" written in sharpie pen) - you are liable for all transactions resulting by not following store security policies." That usually gets me one of these

from employee and quickly results in "May I see your ID please?"

Sorry your purse got stolen...