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How to Find Lost Keys, Wallet or Purse Using Device Locator

by Staff | February 17, 2020

How-To Life Hacks Tech Gadgets

Have you ever lost any of your valuables – keys, wallets, phones, handbags, credit cards, debit cards, money, to mention but a few? What was your experience like? Did you feel a sense of panic or were you nervous?

Are you like most guys who keep 50% of their lives in their wallet…or ladies, in your purse? Without a doubt, it can be devastating if your possessions should ever fall into the wrong hands.

When any of these incidents happen, the consequences are not limited to you just losing some money, but you could also become a victim of fraud and identity theft which has a potential far greater impact that could linger on for years.

What if any of these incidents or the worst case scenario occurs…will you kill yourself? Absolutely you shouldn’t!

The good news: you can do something to locate, recover, and even prevent such predicament by employing some practical modern techniques.

Prescribed below are some of the techniques you can use to outsmart thieves or track down your valuable. But before you take any of the steps, you need to ask yourself this critical question:

Is it actually lost, stolen, or just misplaced?

Maybe your wallet had fallen out of your pocket into your car or you left it in the drawer at your office…and you prematurely tag it: lost or stolen. The best bet, in this case, is to recall some of the places you have visited in recently such as a restaurant, café, store, etc.

People are actually more sincere than they are given credit for, and they will usually turn in a wallet or handbag if they find one.

So ensure you have retraced and searched all places it may possibly be, and established that it is gone for good, before you do anything extreme. But, of course, the best course of action is to already have preemptive measures in place and aftermath steps to take, which we will be getting into.

For Credit or Debit Cards

If your credit, debit, or ATM cards are missing or stolen, the best step to take is to report the cards as lost or stolen rather than canceling them. Canceling the card at the drop of a hat (popular opinion) will surely affect your credit score negatively.

Reporting is quite different from canceling, and every card issuer has a procedure that will suspend your card and safeguard your money.

Firstly, call the card issuer on phone. The phone numbers of the four major card companies are the followings:

  • Mastercard: 1-800-MasterCard (1-800-627-8372) or 1-636-722-7111 (Global)
  • Visa: 1-800-VISA-911 (1-800-8472-911) or 1-303-967-1096 (Global)
  • AMEX – American Express: 1-800-528-4800
  • Discover: 1-800-347-2683

You should call your bank or credit union if your cards or checks in your wallet are issued by them. Why not through email or online chat? For obvious reasons, reporting through a direct phone call always guarantee a quicker response and immediate attention than any other channel.

After calling them, ensure that new cards are sent to you as soon as possible with new account numbers. This will maintain your credit limits as before, the same or even lower APR, and any miles accrued to be transferred to your new card.

Hint: You must inform your card issuer if any of those cards were used for automatic debits within two days of receiving your card. This will remove any likelihood of your card being rejected and other negative effects it might have on your account.

Secondly, put a fraud alert or credit freeze on your accounts by calling the three major credit-reporting agencies and telling them about your current situation immediately.

When you put this fraud alert, any creditor transacting business with you will have to verify your identity before granting any new credit. With the phone number you put on file with the fraud alert, it makes it highly impossible for a thief to run any transaction on your behalf.

Here are the numbers to call:

  • TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289
  • Experian:  1-888-397-3742
  • Equifax: 1-800-525-6285

For Key, Wallet, Handbag, and the Likes

If you are losing track of your wallet, handbag, keys, and other valuables, don’t panic! Technology finally has a solution to that.

One of the newest crowdfunding trends is small devices you can add on to the valuables that are likely to get lost in order to relocate them.

The concept here is you attach something to your valuable and register that item with an application on your phone via Bluetooth. Anytime you open the application or go out of range of the object, you will be able to find where it was as well as receive an alert detailing the last known location, especially when the object is registered.

There are many ways to do this type of tracking on different form and shape of an item. Here are two latest apps have been rounded up for you with the available options and the features for you to make your own decision.

– The Tile App

This handy little gadget has been showered with sensational praises, and the reasons for that are not far-fetched.

Just pair the small, square-shaped Tile with the power of the app – and find your goods anywhere, anytime. The most applauding feature of this device is that you can stick Tiles to almost any valuable item using the cord or double-sided tape supplied with it. Put it under a bike seat, on your wallet, inside your handbag, or drop in a purse.

The Tile app takes note of the last GPS location it recorded for your Tile, and the alarm will be heard when triggered so that you will find your valuables in a split of seconds.

You are free to add up to ten Tiles in one account while share access to Tiles with your reliable friends. This app covers a distance of 150 feet; and it is compatible with iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod Touch 5th generation, iPad 3rd and 4th generations, and iPad Mini – as well as Android 4.4 or higher.

You can purchase one online via the company’s website: TheTileApp.com

– Chipolo

As the latest entrant to the tracking object project, Chipolo comes with a beautiful key-ring style attachment for objects.

You can attach it to virtually any of your valuables such as laptop case, keys, backpacks, or anything that allows a key ring to be hung on it, and register it with the app. Then you will be able to use the app on your Android or iOS phone to find the object via Bluetooth 4.0 as long as it is registered.

This app on your phone will permit you to make Chipolo set off a noise to help you find it. An added feature it has is the ability to show you how far away you are from the object; it is also equipped with a temperature sensor to allow you track how hot the region your item is and covers up to 200 feet range.

One of the biggest benefits of this device is its replaceable battery when compared to other devices, which you must replace when the battery goes flat. It works with Windows phones, Android phones, and iOS phones.

You can get one for yourself from this link: https://chipolo.net/shop

For Other Valuables

Report the loss or theft of any other important properties, such as driver’s license, social security car, etc., to the police. Don’t make it a trivial issue by overlooking such loss as something that the police doesn’t have time to deal with.

The reason you should make a report to the police is to provide evidence in your favor if you, unfortunately, become a victim of identity theft or fraud.

Some information the police might require from you:

  • Where and when did you lose your valuable?
  • If it is a wallet, what was the actual amount of money in it?
  • If your valuable is stolen, what is the description of anyone you suspect?
  • A description of the item itself.

When you are done filing this report, get a copy for your own records.

Tips to Guard Against Item Loss

Don’t lose that valuable item, make the following tips your friend.

The essence of all what we have gone over is to allow you to be informed should the worst happen.

There are steps you can take right away to prepare so that you will always be in a better position to protect yourself and quickly perform any of the steps above should you lose any of your valuable items.

  • Photocopy and scan every valuable in your wallet.

You should have a copy of all the valuable items in your wallet – ranging from gift cards, health insurance cards, credits and debit cards, and especially driver’s license. All these should be scanned or photocopied and a copy be kept on your computer. You can convert them to a PDF and save them in your phone with a password.

  • Remove from your wallet anything you don’t really need.

It is not wise carrying every valuable in your wallet. You need to carry the ones you make frequent use of. Carrying of all your credit or debits cards is unreasonable. Just move along with the one you use most of the time and keep the rest at home.

  • Make use of lost wallet apps.

There are a lot of lost wallet apps in the marketplace for your smartphone, and many of them are free. Just search whichever one is right for your needs. The app will duplicate the contents of your wallet and store the information with a secure password.

Never Lose Things Again

It is such a traumatic experience to have any of your valuables stolen, misplaced, or get lost.

But always keep in mind that you can recover them just by applying some modern technological tweaks and good old commonsensical practices. So, you have a role to play to keep your properties from missing.

Lastly, as you guard your life jealously, make sure that your valuables are properly safeguarded. It will save you the inherent troubles of identity theft and fraud-related cases.

by Staff

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