My wallet was stolen last Friday (06/22/18) (place to live, stores, safe)

[beez74]

Originally Posted by Luckyo

Last Friday morning, I lost my wallet at the TJMAXX store in Chandler. At the time, I carried a backpack, bought a few clothes, and paid for them with a credit card in my wallet. Then I don't remember if I left my wallet on the cashier counter or it was stolen.

I walked out of the store and drove home. Since then, my car and backpack have been kept at home. I did not notice that the wallet was lost until Saturday morning, when I got a lot of message from banks showed there were several unusual transactions of my credit cards.

The guy who stole my credit card used them to go to Phoenix's railway station, went to boost mobile, went to some Shell gas stations (Chandler), went to Walmart (Chandler), panda express(Chandler), Mi Amigos food market(Chandler), DVD rental, etc. The guy even used my debit card to shop in the boost mobile store.

I immediately called to stop the credit card and quickly reported this to the Office Department on Saturday afternoon. However, the policeman who in charge of this case did not return to work until Wednesday. I think that since the thief had gone to so many places, it should be easy to catch the guy. Because whether it is TJMAXX or Walmart, there are many surveillance cameras. If the police handle the case in time, they must be able to catch this guy. However, I am now anxious to wait for them to handle the case.

I am very worried that it will not be easy to catch him after a long time. There are not only some credit cards in my wallet, but also some gift cards, a small amount of cash, and important Id such as Permanent Resident Card...

I was supposed to fly abroad on schedule yesterday. However, because of the loss of this card, I cannot go. I lost all my family's international air tickets and hotel reservations abroad. I not only lost a lot of money, but also caused me a lot of trouble. I planned for this trip for a year and a half. I feel very depressed.

I would like to ask everyone to help me out. Do you think that there is so much evidence, shouldn't it be easy to catch the thieves?
Apart from waiting for the police, what else can I do? I have been to some of the stores that the guy has visited. No one could show me a video. They say that it can only be seen by the police.

best case scenario is you'll get your charges reversed on your cards but that is probably it. hopes of getting back items is slim to none..... the reality is the thief grabbed the wallet emptied out anything he could charge up and threw the rest away as fast as possible. when i worked at a theater we would have wallets and purses stolen daily and it became routine to go directly to the restrooms immediately after they were reported and 8-10 times that's where we found them tossed in the garbage with all the cash and cards gone everything else still inside. short answer on catching him is doubtful only because it happens all day long and there isn't enough time in a day...they get caught usually in the act and with other peoples property on them from previous theft.

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by evening sun

This kind of crime, appears to be low priority to most police departments.

There are dedicated fraud officers in many cities, certainly there are in Chandler. Yes, they are understaffed and cannot possibly work hard on every case. For something like this, I think if the evidence is available there is a decent chance they could figure out who is the guilty party. But then of course there's the matter of actually finding them and making an arrest. And then there's the matter of timeframe.


Even if the person is identified and arrested, most likely all of the gift cards, cash, Resident ID card, etc, will be long gone. It's of no help to the victim except perhaps to have some satisfaction that the thief was caught and convicted.

----
Side note...

A co-worker of mine had his house broken into a few years ago. It was around tax time and the thieves took documents with SSN/etc that were out in plain view at the time. The officers that made the call told him to not expect they would catch the guy, but in fact they did when he committed a similar crime in the same neighborhood. There is a lot of random chance at play when it comes down to making an arrest, but the people who commit these crimes typically are doing the same thing over and over many times, and most are not very smart.

[wase4711]

Originally Posted by VoxTerra

Wow, what a strange, cold and unhelpful response.

reality is tough; learn to deal with it..

[GiGi603]

Originally Posted by evening sun

This kind of crime, appears to be low priority to most police departments. You need to get your green card replaced, & once you have the new one, keep it in a safe place ( not your wallet.) I am sorry your will miss your trip.

Agree.

Originally Posted by Luckyo

Last Friday morning, I lost my wallet at the TJMAXX store in Chandler. At the time, I carried a backpack, bought a few clothes, and paid for them with a credit card in my wallet. Then I don't remember if I left my wallet on the cashier counter or it was stolen.

I walked out of the store and drove home. Since then, my car and backpack have been kept at home. I did not notice that the wallet was lost until Saturday morning, when I got a lot of message from banks showed there were several unusual transactions of my credit cards.

Friday morning to Saturday morning ~24 hours, how is it that you did not get notifications on Friday afternoon?

I personally would get a better bank. My bank notifies me immediately if there are unusual transactions.

[DanBev]

My debit card is 100 percent safer than a credit card.
The latest was I tried to login and for some reason said login not valid so tried again and went thru.When I logged in at home there was email message questioning whether it was me.This with my new credit union in CT.
When I lived in FL and still banked out of my Denver credit union,a skimmer got my card,bank software detected it and canceled it immediately,I found this out when I got home.Another time I was visiting Ct and made a purchase at Lowes and left store and went back in and made a second purchase and when I got home a message was on my recorder asking if I made second purchase. They thought I had left my card at store.
Some excellent software.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by DanBev

My debit card is 100 percent safer than a credit card.
The latest was I tried to login and for some reason said login not valid so tried again and went thru.When I logged in at home there was email message questioning whether it was me.This with my new credit union in CT.
When I lived in FL and still banked out of my Denver credit union,a skimmer got my card,bank software detected it and canceled it immediately,I found this out when I got home.Another time I was visiting Ct and made a purchase at Lowes and left store and went back in and made a second purchase and when I got home a message was on my recorder asking if I made second purchase. They thought I had left my card at store.
Some excellent software.

Each card is equally "safe" as you have zero liability for fraud. The debit card is less safe in the sense that fraud actually takes your money, potentially leaving you cashless for a period of time. On a credit card, it just hits the credit line so it doesn't matter.

[wase4711]

yep, with zero fraud, your liability is zero, but Debit card is NOT safer than a credit card, for the reason posted above..with debit, your cash is gone; although, if you have a cash advance funding with your credit card, in theory, a thief could take a cash advance on your credit card, possibly.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by wase4711

yep, with zero fraud, your liability is zero, but Debit card is NOT safer than a credit card, for the reason posted above..with debit, your cash is gone; although, if you have a cash advance funding with your credit card, in theory, a thief could take a cash advance on your credit card, possibly.

What's the difference if a thief takes a cash advance (although unlikely) or fraudulently purchases merchandise using your credit card? It's the same thing. They both draw off of the credit line. The cardholder has zero liability either way.

[wase4711]

thanks once again for overstating the obvious

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by wase4711

thanks once again for overstating the obvious

No need to be rude. I was trying to determine what your point about cash advances was and why you mentioned them. If it’s “obvious” what was the reference about?