<p>I know there was a thread about this not too long ago, but I don’t have time to search as I am on the phone with the credit card companies. My daughter’s purse was just stolen while abroad. I am canceling her credits cards and ATM, but what else do I need to do? </p>
<p>Her passport was not in her purse, but a copy of it was. She has her US driver’s licenses, her school ID’s, of course she just withdrew money this morning and more than she has ever withdrawn while there, her ipod, maybe her camera and her flash drive for school.</p>
<p>She did not file a police report as she said she was at a dive restaurant. I told her to check with her host mom as soon as she gets home in a few minutes and see what she needs to do. I am wondering if we need to put a fraud alert on her accounts. </p>
<p>You seem to be already calling the credit card companies, so here’s the next step I got off google:</p>
<p>Step 3. Next, call the three national credit-reporting agencies to report the theft, and ask them to attach a ‘fraud alert’ to all your credit cards. Here are the three agencies and their numbers: </p>
<p>Equifax: 1-800-525-6285 </p>
<p>Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742 </p>
<p>Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289 </p>
<p>Step 4. If your social security card is missing, call the Social Security Administration (fraud line) at 1-800-269-0271. Also, be sure the Motor Vehicles Bureau about your drivers license, as well as any other organizations from which you lost cards. </p>
<p>Step 5. Next, call the police in the jurisdiction where your credit card(s) was stolen to report the theft. </p>
<p>Hope this helps. Just plug in “stolen credit cards” in google. I’d call the passport people or check their site to see what to do if someone now has a copy of her passport. Good thing she has the original, but you don’t want a snafu when she tries to use it to board the plane home.</p>
<p>I think filing a police report would be important, especially in case there is identity theft later on. Since they have her passport info too the embassy/consulate should be informed. I’m sure they will be able to give her some good advice as well.</p>
<p>What a pain. I wish you both a lot of luck in getting this inevitable mess straightened out.</p>
<p>Smowball, the Embassy to make a report to ensure that her passport is not compromised: I show the Embassy duty officer to be Jamie Alaman Garcia, 91-587-2200, however, I think due to the time difference they are closed.</p>
<p>If you are having problems with this on Monday please send to me a PM.</p>
<p>Have her file a police report right away as well since you never know - the thief might just take the cash and iPod and dump the purse. Maybe someone will find it and turn it in.</p>
<p>My daughter’s wallet was stolen in Vienna last September, and I had kept a link on this topic from CC. It is bookmarked on another computer, and I will find it and link it here. </p>
<p>I immediately called the bank (ATM) and credit card companies and cancelled the cards…someone had already tried to get cash but without the pin #'s they were unsuccessful. I put fraud alerts on her social security number with all the credit companies. I arranged replacement cards which were delivered within 48 hours. By filing a police report and keeping it with her, she had a paper which affirmed legal driving (her driver’s license had been stolen), so have her file a report. Fortunately D only had 5 euros in the wallet, she had just bought groceries, and she was able to get a cash advance where she was working until we got there (already planned) four days later. She did lose her monthly transportation pass, and that was not replaceable.</p>
<p>Poor you! DD had her wallet stolen in Chile and I still remember that phone call (which I received at the grocery store with a cart full of groceries :eek:), and it was a hassle but had no long-term repercussions. The thief took her cash and trashed the wallet. Sorry for your stress. :)</p>
<p>my D is very “casual” about her purse, so I am showing her this thread</p>
<p>she is the “it will nver happen to me type” and I have been telling her that she will need to be extra vigilente (she is going to spain in two months)</p>
<p>this can happen everywhere, so this a reminder that where you travel, just be extra aware, carry a different kind of purse, etc</p>
<p>not to blame the OP d, not at all, but I know people can be easily distracted when traveling and sometimes distracted on purpose</p>
<p>When my daughter was studying (and traveling) abroad last year, one of her travel companions had her luggage and purse stolen, in Spain (I think it was in Barcelona’s train station). Whoever stole it, took what they wanted, dumped it, and someone else found it. The person who found it was Italian, and called the girl’s home here in the states. Believe it or not, this girl’s mom speaks Italian, so they were able to work out a place to meet to get back the stuff the thieves didn’t take. They didn’t ‘take’ her passport, but they did rip it in half. I think money wise, she had quite a loss, but she still had her student ID, and a ripped up passport which was easily replacable the next day at the embassy. The girls all loaned her some money until her parents could get a replacement credit card/ATM card to her.</p>
<p>Yea, it’s scary, but I guarantee, she has learned a lesson that she will benefit from for the rest of her life. And she will tell all her friends, who will also learn a good lesson.</p>
<p>Thanks all for the advice. My daughter really has been very careful, but it wasn’t careful enough tonight. She had her purse between her feet while eating dinner. Not 5 minutes before she had taken her phone out of her purse and then replaced her purse between her feet. All the girls with her can not figure out someone was aboe to get the purse without them noticing. They were sitting in a corner near an exit, so I am thinking someone saw her remove her phone, watch her put the purse under the table and somehow got their foot under the table, slid the purse out and picked it up out of sight of the girls.</p>
<p>My daughter has calmed down not, but is still upset and mad. She doesn’t want us to replace her camera and ipod as punishment to herself, but I will replace as I feel bad that she is so upset.</p>
<p>S had his external hard drive stolen from what he said was the finest thrift shop in Paris. Of course, in this case, he put it down (it was in a black case), and then turned around for a second, and it it was gone. D had her wallet stolen at the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in nyc, but somehow she was able to get everything back, except for the $60 in cash. She received two separate packages from two different sources - one being the US Postal Service and the other being a business that she patronized, so there were people looking out for her belongings. D recently informed me that some students had their wallets stolen in a club/bar in Madrid, because they put them down - this is definitely a no-no - but taking something that’s between the feet - that’s difficult to comprehend, but obviously occurred. I hope that your D gets everything returned to her.</p>
<p>They really should wear their purses with the strap diagonally across their chest- that’s what I instructed my D to do - and it seems that she’s following that advice. Forget the clutch purse - that’s not going to work!</p>
<p>I meant to mention before that my daughter’s host mom has been wonderful. She took my daughter to the police station to file a report, but they were told it was a busy time and gave my daughter a number to call to file the report. She was also told she could file online. When she got home and went to the web site, it said she could only file for a violent crime! She will call the number in the morning and go back to the police station if necessary.</p>
<p>If it was just the credit cards I wouldn’t be so concerned, but I do worry about her driver’s license and her photo copy of her passport. I am hoping that whoever took her purse, takes the cash, camera and ipod and trashes the wallet where it might be found. I am not holing my breath on that one though. </p>
<p>Of course this was a new camera, but luckily she had recently downloaded her pictures. She takes tons of pictures so that would have been a shame to loose them. Her ipod is a few years old but looks brand new. I am sure someone will make some nice money on ebay with her electronics! The cash I am sick about. Why in the world she had so much on her is beyond me; she never takes that much from the ATM at once. </p>
<p>Lesson learned here; she just wasn’t careful enough. My child is also a pack rat in some regards; tossing things in her bag and not removing them when not needed. She had her ipod as she had gone to the gym earlier in the day. There was no need for that to be in her purse when she was out shopping and having dinner. The same for her flash drive and the money from the ATM; she should have taken that back to the apartment before she went out for the night.</p>
<p>One good thing is she had purchased a dress with an American Express that was in her bag (she carries a very large purse.) The cost of the dress will be covered under the Amex protection plan. It wasn’t an expensive dress, but she had just purchased it. I don’t know if she had anything else in her bag purchased with the Amex in the past 90 days, but will check with her in the morning. As I am having trouble sleeping, I might still be up by the time she wakes up in Madrid!!</p>
<p>Snowball - about the flashdrive - did she have anything personal on it - i.e. backups of personal files? If so, was it encrypted on the flash drive (some have this option). If she had personal info that wasn’t encrypted, she may have to accommodate that loss as well.</p>
<p>Snowball, my sympathy on this problem! I was pickpocketed a few months ago in Brussels, and it is so frustrating. I still haven’t figured out exactly how it happened, but I clearly wasn’t careful enough.</p>
<p>One thought I had–do you have insurance on your daughter’s possessions at school? If so, you could check and see if it covers her while a student abroad. It may not cover the cash, but if the deductible is low enough you might recoup something on the camera.</p>
<p>Her flash drive only had school work on it and it was one that I got for next to nothing! As far as insurance, we do have coverage, but even if our deductible is $500 (but I think it is $1000,) my husband is not sure we want to bother with claiming it. We are going to check into all of this more tomorrow; we had to be out of town this morning and had Passover with the family tonight. Tomorrow will be a new day!</p>