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Wallet stolen and trackable - what would you do?

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  • I'm going back 40 years and found a wallet/purse on the train on the way to Bellingham.  As I lived opposite Catford police station it made sense to hand it in there.
    I was then asked to fill a form in, which I was happy to do.
    A few weeks later I received a letter from the owner of said wallet/purse, they were very grateful and said some very nice things.
    Fortunately we never did meet as they may have retracted their comments!
    It's nice to be nice.
  • PragueAddick
    PragueAddick Posts: 22,145
    edited December 2024
    JohnBoyUK said:
    The airtags do give that piece of mind.

    When I'm shooting weddings, I can have 2-3 bags of kit with me and leaving them unattended is the stuff of nightmares when you start to add up the value of the kit inside.

    So invested in the tags and got the kensington lock things for them so they cant just be removed easily from the bags.  Set the tags to alert you on movement and you know when to make a runner for them.

    Also got them in my normal backpack, all our doorkeys (my wife is notorious for losing them).  We also stick them in our suitcases when travelling to make sure we know the cases are on the plane, after an incident a couple or years ago.
    That’s an interesting observation. I get the broad idea but again what could you even do once you are on the plane but don’t see your luggage as in the hold? 

    You can’t get off or do anything practical before you leave. Only be able to tell the airline on arrival your luggage appears to be at x location. I’m not sure it would give me peace of mind more than worry me for the whole flight and after whilst you still see your luggage not where it should be. Ignorance is bliss sometimes🙂

    I do get it for day to day keeping tabs on keys etc. 
    it‘s useful at the other end though when you wait at the carousel. Edit, @BalladMan already covered this.
  • valleynick66
    valleynick66 Posts: 4,890
    edited December 2024
    JohnBoyUK said:
    The airtags do give that piece of mind.

    When I'm shooting weddings, I can have 2-3 bags of kit with me and leaving them unattended is the stuff of nightmares when you start to add up the value of the kit inside.

    So invested in the tags and got the kensington lock things for them so they cant just be removed easily from the bags.  Set the tags to alert you on movement and you know when to make a runner for them.

    Also got them in my normal backpack, all our doorkeys (my wife is notorious for losing them).  We also stick them in our suitcases when travelling to make sure we know the cases are on the plane, after an incident a couple or years ago.
    That’s an interesting observation. I get the broad idea but again what could you even do once you are on the plane but don’t see your luggage as in the hold? 

    You can’t get off or do anything practical before you leave. Only be able to tell the airline on arrival your luggage appears to be at x location. I’m not sure it would give me peace of mind more than worry me for the whole flight and after whilst you still see your luggage not where it should be. Ignorance is bliss sometimes🙂

    I do get it for day to day keeping tabs on keys etc. 
    it‘s useful at the other end though when you wait at the carousel. Edit, @BalladMan already covered this.
    And as I said in my post !

    My point was it my worry me / frustrate me as much as anything 🙂

    On a related note I did once work with someone who had their 2 week holiday cases mislaid for several days with 2 young kids. Taught me the value of mixing your contents when travelling as a family and not an individual case of just your own clothes. 
  • Stig
    Stig Posts: 29,024
    There was a discussion about this very topic on the James O'brien show today. If you haven't heard it, it's well worth a listen just for Adam in Kent's story about driving up to Manchester to recover his stolen phone.
  • MrOneLung
    MrOneLung Posts: 26,853
    Thank your lucky stars. Pretty rare these days for someone to pickpocket you, nick 40 quid out of the 200 and then go through the trouble of posting it back to you 👍
    We were in Manchester one weekend after a game in north west somewhere , maybe Bolton. Two of us were back at our hotel in Manchester Piccadilly square when other mate came in. Started saying a couple of brasses had approached him as he was on his own and asking if he wanted business. He declined and they were all over him saying he was far too good looking to pay for it and that he could get any girl. As he walked off he checked his pockets in case they had nabbed his wallet. All his cash had been taken. For some reason he decided to go back and confront them (their pimp was nearby) and they just laughed at him and said at least we didn’t nick your cards that would be out of order !! 
  • IdleHans
    IdleHans Posts: 10,966
    MrOneLung said:
    Thank your lucky stars. Pretty rare these days for someone to pickpocket you, nick 40 quid out of the 200 and then go through the trouble of posting it back to you 👍
    We were in Manchester one weekend after a game in north west somewhere , maybe Bolton. Two of us were back at our hotel in Manchester Piccadilly square when other mate came in. Started saying a couple of brasses had approached him as he was on his own and asking if he wanted business. He declined and they were all over him saying he was far too good looking to pay for it and that he could get any girl. As he walked off he checked his pockets in case they had nabbed his wallet. All his cash had been taken. For some reason he decided to go back and confront them (their pimp was nearby) and they just laughed at him and said at least we didn’t nick your cards that would be out of order !! 
    That's what he told you, anyway
  • MrOneLung
    MrOneLung Posts: 26,853
    IdleHans said:
    MrOneLung said:
    Thank your lucky stars. Pretty rare these days for someone to pickpocket you, nick 40 quid out of the 200 and then go through the trouble of posting it back to you 👍
    We were in Manchester one weekend after a game in north west somewhere , maybe Bolton. Two of us were back at our hotel in Manchester Piccadilly square when other mate came in. Started saying a couple of brasses had approached him as he was on his own and asking if he wanted business. He declined and they were all over him saying he was far too good looking to pay for it and that he could get any girl. As he walked off he checked his pockets in case they had nabbed his wallet. All his cash had been taken. For some reason he decided to go back and confront them (their pimp was nearby) and they just laughed at him and said at least we didn’t nick your cards that would be out of order !! 
    That's what he told you, anyway
    Ha. He wanted us to go back with him again and ask the pimp for his cash back. We carried on playing pool in the bar. His brother posts on here 
  • JohnBoyUK said:
    The airtags do give that piece of mind.

    When I'm shooting weddings, I can have 2-3 bags of kit with me and leaving them unattended is the stuff of nightmares when you start to add up the value of the kit inside.

    So invested in the tags and got the kensington lock things for them so they cant just be removed easily from the bags.  Set the tags to alert you on movement and you know when to make a runner for them.

    Also got them in my normal backpack, all our doorkeys (my wife is notorious for losing them).  We also stick them in our suitcases when travelling to make sure we know the cases are on the plane, after an incident a couple or years ago.
    That’s an interesting observation. I get the broad idea but again what could you even do once you are on the plane but don’t see your luggage as in the hold? 

    You can’t get off or do anything practical before you leave. Only be able to tell the airline on arrival your luggage appears to be at x location. I’m not sure it would give me peace of mind more than worry me for the whole flight and after whilst you still see your luggage not where it should be. Ignorance is bliss sometimes🙂

    I do get it for day to day keeping tabs on keys etc. 
    Luggage gets loaded onto the plane long before passengers board it so a quick check while sitting in the departure lounge should confirm where they are 
  • LargeAddick
    LargeAddick Posts: 32,561
    JiMMy 85 said:
    This will probably sound insensitive but I don’t mean it to be - why have a trackable wallet and then ponder your actions when the scenario you are safeguarding against occurs?
    I have a tracker in it to see which room it is in when I can't find it, not to hunt down criminals. 
    Do you live in that big gaff at the end of The Mall?
  • JohnBoyUK said:
    The airtags do give that piece of mind.

    When I'm shooting weddings, I can have 2-3 bags of kit with me and leaving them unattended is the stuff of nightmares when you start to add up the value of the kit inside.

    So invested in the tags and got the kensington lock things for them so they cant just be removed easily from the bags.  Set the tags to alert you on movement and you know when to make a runner for them.

    Also got them in my normal backpack, all our doorkeys (my wife is notorious for losing them).  We also stick them in our suitcases when travelling to make sure we know the cases are on the plane, after an incident a couple or years ago.
    That’s an interesting observation. I get the broad idea but again what could you even do once you are on the plane but don’t see your luggage as in the hold? 

    You can’t get off or do anything practical before you leave. Only be able to tell the airline on arrival your luggage appears to be at x location. I’m not sure it would give me peace of mind more than worry me for the whole flight and after whilst you still see your luggage not where it should be. Ignorance is bliss sometimes🙂

    I do get it for day to day keeping tabs on keys etc. 
    Luggage gets loaded onto the plane long before passengers board it so a quick check while sitting in the departure lounge should confirm where they are 
    Maybe so but not always. But my point is that if you discover that it’s too late and you are effectively committed. 

    You may then worry about it all throughout the flight. As I said ignorance may be better sometimes. 

    I’m not suggesting tags aren’t a clever bit of kit just not sure about the peace of mind thing when an  airport is involved. 
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  • McBobbin
    McBobbin Posts: 12,051
    I've handed a wallet I've found on the street to the police, and in return I've left a wallet on the train and it's been handed in, no money taken either time. I also got really drunk once, left an award (not even my award) on the train and got that back. Only thing I've ever lost was a popcorn maker (but did get bag with all my uni work back)... You'd think I'd learn. I asked the guys at the station what the strangest thing left on a train was.  Answers include a child in a pram and an artificial leg 
  • Living on the route to the beach it's surprising how much stuff gets left behind when the grockles load up at the end of the day to go home. And the amount of rubbish the dirty buggers dump deliberately. Loads of beach stuff, camping seats and whatnot but I reckon i've reunited at least 5 people with the mobiles that they've dropped over the last few years and a couple of wallets.

    Only 1 person has ever offered me a reward - a fiver that I obviously turned down. If someone saved me the hassle of dealing with the fall out from the banks, etc. I'd offer them a kidney if they needed it, but each to their own I suppose. 
  • Bournemouth Addick
    Bournemouth Addick Posts: 16,283
    edited December 2024
    In a similar vein the most interesting/strange thing I've ever found was a copper's utility belt. Everything on it, cuffs, CS spray, first aid kit, everything a crime fighter needs. Baffles me how they didn't know they'd lost it but, being the honest citizen I am, I handed it in at the local nick.

    For my sins I got treated more like I'd nicked it than found it lying in the road and even though I insisted they take my details I didn't get so much a courtesy call of thanks from whichever numbnuts had lost it.

    Unlikely to ever happen again but it's finders keepers next time. 
  • I used to live in a basement flat on Plumstead High Street, opposite the Nick. One morning as I left there was a knife on my steps. I took it across to the Police station to hand it in. The geezer behind the jump said 'what do you want me to do with it'. I suggested police type stuff and walked out.
  • red10
    red10 Posts: 834
    edited December 2024
    Slight tangent but a colleague of mine who was decent in jujitsu was at the end of Fenchurch st where they had those police booths, bloke got out of a car holding a hand gun and ended up flat on his back in a goose neck wrist lock. My colleague shouted over to the old bill manning the booth for help, they said let him up, he's one of us. They then took up the rest of his lunch hour questioning and giving him a hard time coz he had shown one of them up.
  • JohnBoyUK
    JohnBoyUK Posts: 9,018
    BalladMan said:
    JohnBoyUK said:
    The airtags do give that piece of mind.

    When I'm shooting weddings, I can have 2-3 bags of kit with me and leaving them unattended is the stuff of nightmares when you start to add up the value of the kit inside.

    So invested in the tags and got the kensington lock things for them so they cant just be removed easily from the bags.  Set the tags to alert you on movement and you know when to make a runner for them.

    Also got them in my normal backpack, all our doorkeys (my wife is notorious for losing them).  We also stick them in our suitcases when travelling to make sure we know the cases are on the plane, after an incident a couple or years ago.
    That’s an interesting observation. I get the broad idea but again what could you even do once you are on the plane but don’t see your luggage as in the hold? 

    You can’t get off or do anything practical before you leave. Only be able to tell the airline on arrival your luggage appears to be at x location. I’m not sure it would give me peace of mind more than worry me for the whole flight and after whilst you still see your luggage not where it should be. Ignorance is bliss sometimes🙂

    I do get it for day to day keeping tabs on keys etc. 
    I also have airtags on luggage.  If the bags are lost, you at least know where they are in the world.  If they are lost in destination airport (as has happened to me) you know they are there and can alert ground staff.


    Also can correct Ryanair when they say they are out on the next days flight (they weren't, they were still at stansted). 
    My wife travels a lot for work unfortunately and she does a lot of indirect flights all over the gaff and she sometimes only gets 45-60 mins between flights.  She's had a couple of incidences where 1 of her cases got missed in transfer and she was able to contact the airline using the plane's internet and they can get the luggage on the next flight out that day, rather than 24-48hrs later if she left it until she reached her final destination.

    When we went out to Mexico a couple of months ago, the cargo door on the plane didn't open for 2hrs due to a technical problem.  So we stationed ourselves in a cafe until the cases actually started moving.  Think standing around for 2hrs like everyone else on the flight did would finish the kids off!
  • I found a wallet containing £40, a driving licence. a couple of cards and a business card that enabled me to contact him via his company.  I found the wallet in the gutter of a road I was walking along en route to a sports centre. 

    I didn't really want to hold onto it or have him come to my house, so I told him that I'd hand it in to the receptionist at the sports centre (saying I found it in the car park).  He seemed happy enough with that, but said he'd like to meet me. After he picked the wallet up he called again to thank me and say he'd like to meet me.  I told him I was happy that he was happy and that was the end to it. 

    Quite unlikely I know, but it crossed my mind that had he been missing more money he might have taken me to task for it  :o   
  • paulbaconsarnie
    paulbaconsarnie Posts: 9,423
    edited December 2024
    A few years ago I found a wallet near to where I live.
    I started to go through it to see if anything had a local address on but all I found was around £200 of tightly folded up notes put in different compartments, a bank card and bus pass.
    The bus pass had a photo on it and it turned out it belonged to the bloke who regularly travelled on the same bus as I took to and from work, but had continuously bugged my journeys by constantly whistling.
    My other half persuaded me that tracking him down and offering a settlement of ‘no more whistling’ in return of the wallet wasn’t an option so I handed it in to Eltham Police Station, filled in a form, then was contacted a few days later saying the person had collected it and left me a tenner.

  • JiMMy 85 said:
    Stig said:
    I suppose calling the cops would be a stupid answer.
    Tried that. At one point it was outside Ilford Police Station for ten minutes but the listed number for that place does not work! Reported it online as I was on hold on 101 for an hour before giving up. 
    This would warrant a 999 call as deemed time-critical
  • I lost my wallet in  Locksbottom Sainsburys car park a few months back. I returned home and within 2 hours a guy knocked on my door to return it.
    There are some good people around, you generally hear about the bad ones.
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  • JiMMy 85
    JiMMy 85 Posts: 10,193
    JiMMy 85 said:
    Stig said:
    I suppose calling the cops would be a stupid answer.
    Tried that. At one point it was outside Ilford Police Station for ten minutes but the listed number for that place does not work! Reported it online as I was on hold on 101 for an hour before giving up. 
    This would warrant a 999 call as deemed time-critical
    Maybe. But I didn't rate my wallet as more important than the potential emergencies I would have been trying to queue jump. 
  • I lost my wallet in  Locksbottom Sainsburys car park a few months back. I returned home and within 2 hours a guy knocked on my door to return it.
    There are some good people around, you generally hear about the bad ones.
    And you said what took you so long before slamming the door in his face.
  • We had AirTags in 4 suitcases and we had a flight cancelled from Chambery and put on one from Lyon I think and we were told there wasn’t time for the cases to come on board cos the staff were limited on time to work .
    The next day I knew they had arrived at Heathrow but BA were saying nothing .
    I went to the Airport and after Two hours of fannying , they initially claimed from the airport that they were still in France, I was eventually let through to left luggage to get to them .
    Without AirTags I’m not sure how long the whole process would have lasted because BA were beyond useless in the whole situation .
  • PrincessFiona
    PrincessFiona Posts: 5,447
    edited December 2024
    JiMMy 85 said:
    JiMMy 85 said:
    Stig said:
    I suppose calling the cops would be a stupid answer.
    Tried that. At one point it was outside Ilford Police Station for ten minutes but the listed number for that place does not work! Reported it online as I was on hold on 101 for an hour before giving up. 
    This would warrant a 999 call as deemed time-critical
    Maybe. But I didn't rate my wallet as more important than the potential emergencies I would have been trying to queue jump. 


    You wouldn't 'queue jump' as it would be prioritised along with all the other calls. It was the proximity to a police station that warranted a 999 call as could have been a relatively easy nick - chances are if it was a dipping, that it could be someone targeting people at the event

    And worth clarifying you wouldn't have called 999 ordinary, but thought it worth it due to the proximity to the police station
  • DA9
    DA9 Posts: 11,091
    Back in July a young meet & greet driver at Gatwick left his mobile phone in our car after he’d brought it back to us at the terminal, we didn’t notice it until it started ringing as we reached the M25, he’d left it in the middle console.
    I wasn’t going to turn around at that point (I’m nice but not that nice) but asked him for his address and posted it back to him recorded delivery the next day, he did offer to pay me back but I declined.
  • DA9
    DA9 Posts: 11,091
    I used to live in a basement flat on Plumstead High Street, opposite the Nick. One morning as I left there was a knife on my steps. I took it across to the Police station to hand it in. The geezer behind the jump said 'what do you want me to do with it'. I suggested police type stuff and walked out.
    And they wonder why they have a less than favourable reputation with some members of the public. 
  • Crusty54
    Crusty54 Posts: 3,232
    edited December 2024
    With a recent software update on my Apple watch when I'm away from home I get an alert when I walk a certain distance away from my iPad. It tells me where it is
  • guinnessaddick
    guinnessaddick Posts: 28,625
    edited December 2024
    https://amzn.eu/d/httyr9h

    KeySmart SmartCard Thin Wallet Tracker Card

    I’ve got of these, works well, it will alert you on your phone if you leave you wallet somewhere. I’ve also got it set up not to alert me, when I walk Magnus, as I take my phone & leave my wallet at home. You can also get it make a noise, if you can’t find your wallet indoors.
  • I Think this warrants an experiment. Go to the darts the next 5 nights drop a wallet in the crowd, and let’s see how many times it comes home. 
    This test has been done in cities around the world. 
    Helsinki came out as the most honest city, followed by Mumbai and Budapest.

    https://www.npr.org/2019/06/20/734141432/what-dropping-17-000-wallets-around-the-globe-can-teach-us-about-honesty

    https://www.npr.org/2019/06/20/734141432/what-dropping-17-000-wallets-around-the-globe-can-teach-us-about-honesty
  • Crusty54 said:
    With a recent software update on my Apple watch when I'm away from home I get an alert when I walk a certain distance away from my iPad. It tells me where it is
    It’s on your wrist 😉