Valuable Wake-up Call

It was a big problem, and I had no one to blame but myself. I discovered that my wallet was missing.

After searching the house and cars and racking my brains [style tip: “racking” is preferred to “wracking”], I concluded that it had probably fallen from my pocket the night before at the high school play. We went back to the auditorium. Lost-and-found came up empty. They let us search under and around our seats. Nothing. What to do next?

I looked up the phone numbers on my four credit cards and reported them lost. The replacements arrived during the next 3-5 days. But I wasn’t too concerned about the potential charges of $50 per card or the loss of $80 cash in the wallet. More troubling was the loss of my California driver license, which has my photo, date of birth, and full name and address. Not only would the information make it easier for someone to steal my identity, but the license would be a time-consuming hassle to replace in these days of State service cutbacks.

On Monday morning I compiled a list of every item that was missing. My to-do list included trips to the (sigh) DMV and the banks to replace the driver’s license and three ATM cards, respectively. Then I got the call. All the cards had been found by a security guard in the parking lot. The wallet and cash were gone, but I counted myself very lucky.

Below are some tips from those who are in the business of protecting against identity theft.

1. Carry only what you need in your wallet or purse. Store all non-essential information in a safe place.
2. Make a detailed list of the items you do carry with you.
3. Never carry your Social Security number in your wallet or purse.
4. Never carry account numbers or passwords in your purse or wallet.
5. Keep the contact numbers and information for all your financial and personal information in a secure place so they will be available easily if needed
6. Purchase Identity Theft Protection.

I already followed (3) and (4), am now doing (1), (2) and (5). As for Identity Theft insurance, I didn’t sign up not just because I am optimistic that I won’t need the coverage. What will also help is my resolution to do (7), which was not on the list and is applicable to much more than watching my wallet, which is to be alive to my surroundings and more connected to the people around me. The lost weekend was a valuable wake-up call. © 2009 Stephen Yuen