Nobody likes that creeping feeling of dread when, after rifling through your hand-bag, pockets and car, you still can’t find your wallet. Whether your cash-carrier was stolen by a sneaky thief, or you happen to have misplaced it somewhere yourself, the risks of a wallet going MIA are high. From cash being stolen and cards being fraudulently used, to your identity being stolen – losing your wallet is serious business.
But who bothers researching what to do in such a crisis? No one, until it happens to you. So, we’ve put together a handy guide to getting your life back together after losing a wallet.
1. Accept you’ll never get your cash back
If you’re one of the few people who still carry cash, make peace with the fact that you’ll never get those notes back.
2. Cancel or block your debit and credit cards
This first thing you should do when you realise your wallet is missing is call your bank and either cancel or have a temporary block put on your cards. These days, most banks allow you to block or cancel a card via the banking app. This will prevent any would-be criminals from spending your hard-earned money.
3. Inform your bank
If you didn’t do this in step two, do so now. Call your bank and explain that your wallet has been lost or stolen, and you need to ensure that all bank cards are cancelled. Also ask your bank if you can add extra levels of security to your account, in case a scammer tries to call the bank and impersonate you. Also ask the bank if a fraud alert can be out on your account in case of any unauthorised transactions.
4. Call the police
While there’s not a whole lot the police can do about your wallet being stolen, it’s important to report the incident, log a formal report and get a reference number for the report, so you have proof of the lost wallet. This way, if your identity is stolen or your credit cards are used, you can prove it wasn’t you.
5. Call any government agencies to inform them of the lost wallet
It might seem like money is the biggest issue when a wallet is lost or stolen, but your Medicare card and driver’s licence are just as valuable to thieves and scammers. Notify your local Department of Transport office and have a new licence issued, call Medicare and do the same.
6. Make a list of all the cards in your wallet
From public transport cards to loyalty cards, library cards and memberships cards – it’s important to notify those businesses and have any cards with sensitive information cancelled and replaced to avoid anyone using your accounts or accessing private information.
7. Make a list of your subscription services
The downfall of losing your wallet is the trouble you have to go to working out which subscriptions were linked to which cards so you can enter the replacement card details into your Netflix, Spotify, Stan, Hulu, Apple, Amazon, etc. accounts.
8. Keep an eye out
For the next few weeks keep an eye on your bank accounts to ensure there isn’t any attempted breaches. Ditto for your email, phone account, MyGov account, Medicare, etc.
You might also like:
How your identity can be stolen in 10 minutes or less
The NBN scam you need to know about
5 ways to stop nuisance callers dialing your number
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