My wife and I just returned from a wonderful three week vacation in Ireland--six nights in Dublin, followed by five other towns in the west (Dingle, Ennis, Kenmare, etc). We had a great time driving all around, staying in wonderful (but very affordable) B&Bs, seeing all the sights, and downing many a Guinness in various public houses! However, it did not start out so great...
We got off the plane from HELL A X in Dublin in the afternoon, and headed to our hotel ("fancy-pants travel" as some of you would call it! :) for a brief nap. Then, like dumbasses, we started walking around town (O'Connell Street, Parnell Street--LOADED with tourists, ugh!), taking photos and not paying very close attention. My wife had her wallet in her purse, zipped up, inside a backpack, zipped up. Some dirtbag must have followed us and observed as she used her credit cards and/or scanned chips with scanners. We bought some takeout, wine, and headed back to our hotel for an early night. THen, she noticed her wallet was gone. Fortunately they didn't also take her passport and mobile phone. We went back to the stores we visited to see whether anyone had found it, then made a report to the police. Very clearly a case of pickpocketing.
We called her various credit cards and cancelled them. Fortunately mine (even on some joint accounts) were not affected, so we still had a means to pay for things and withdraw Euros (exchanging dollars for euros in the U.S. is a MASSIVE Ripoff!!!). The next day, we started noticing fraudulent charges piling up--small charges first, then larger amounts. We are not responsible for any of it, we are told (MasterCards and Visas)
These shitebags also got a book of checks, so we had to stop payment on them. Fortunately, we have a very good credit union, and the hotel was very helpful in letting us make all the calls we needed free of charge.
In addition to this, they also got away with a few hundred dollars worth of dollars and euros.
I also wonder whether these crooks work in conjunction with businesses who process these fraudulent charges and--obviously--don't ask for ID. Probably a massive ring of organized crime, and not the work of a couple isolated induhviduals.
While that certainly sucks, we certainly weren't about to let it ruin one more minute of our trip than necessary. We had a great time!
Now, mind you--we didn't just fall off the turnip truck. We are both in our 40s, and have never been pickpocked before. We have traveled many times in Europe and all over North America--New York City, ST. Louis, Philly, Portland, the Bay Area, HELL A, Hawaii four times. I have also travel regularly for business in North America, Asia, and Europe.
Ironically, we were told that Ireland is quite safe. In terms of violent crime, I believe this is true, but, we found out from the locals, that pickpocketing is rife in Dublin, and is certainly not unheard of elsewhere in the country!
We were in Russia for business/vacation ten years ago and had a perfect trip--never a problem. All the guidebooks warned: The Russian mafia's gonna get you! The street thugs are gonna get you! The crooked police are gonna get you! We had no problem.
We were in Rome in 2000 and all the guidebooks warned the gypsy kids are expert pickpockets and will clean you out in a split second. Never had a problem!
Then it happens in Ireland. Oh well, bad people everywhere!
ANYWAY, we believe this is behind us at this point (except for closing our bank account), BUTT, I wonder what info is on those chips in the credit cards. Are the cc companies dumb enough to put EVERYTHING about you on those chips??? SSN? Passwords, etc????
What should we do to safeguard ourselves now--aside from being more careful, using a money belt instead of a wallet, and getting RFID blockers?
Has is ever happened to you? Thoughts?