You never think it’s going to happen to you until it does. One moment, your wallet is snug in your back pocket and the next moment you are frantically trying to figure out where you last had it, where did you last use it, you start asking the shopkeepers around you and then you start checking all the stuff you have. But you soon realize that you have lost your wallet and with it, you have lost all the money, important cards like debit card, credit card, identity cards, driving license.
Men generally keep their wallet in the back pocket of their pants and women hang it up on their arms which make the purses very vulnerable for theft. If even for a moment these people are not alert their wallets and purses can easily be stolen and alertness, we all know can not stay with a person forever. The person will surely be distracted at some given moment and that moment is what the thieves have waited for all this while. These incidents generally take place in crowded places wherein there is no proper place to even stand still at such places the thieves can easily pick your pocket and you may not even know about this until you go for your wallet in your back pocket but it is too late.
What if something like that happens to you:
If such a thing happens to you the very first thing you must do is file a police complaint. Firstly, you have to file a police report to establish a record of your loss. The police officer filling your report will need to know when it was lost or stolen, what you think happened and what all belongings were there in the wallet. You can also file a police complaint online[1]. The benefit of the online police reports is you need not visit a police station and can simply file a police report sitting at the comfort of your home or at the office. You need to fill all the details asked on the website and submit the details, this can save a lot of time of one person. After filling the necessary information online, you will receive an actual incident number for your reference later and you will be able to print the report as well for your records. Details asked on the website are very detailed like the color of the wallet, its design, the amount of money in the wallet, other important things in the wallet like a credit card, debit card, license etc.
Things must be done for other things in the wallet:
The lost things like cheques, debit card, credit card must be immediately informed to your bank, the bank will immediately freeze all your cards and cheques so that you do not lose money from your bank account as well. The report of loss of sim card must be immediately provided to the sim card network provider who will immediately block the sim card for any use which will not let the thief or anyone else use the sim card for any purpose.
Why you must file a police complaint:
Filling a police complaint is vital to safeguarding your future identity; if you are the victim of further fraud or identity theft down the line, the police report will help you serve as evidence that you were indeed the victim of a crime. Some Credit Card issuer or banks may also ask for a police report as part of their fraud investigation. If your credit card is used after you have informed the bank then they will immediately inform you about the same also will not let any payment be made using the card.
Things after filling the report:
Be sure to get the FIR filed under Section 154 CRPC[2] and get a hard copy of the police report for your records. The police department may take some time to complete the report, so get your investigating officer’s business card and contact information so that you can follow up.
You will have to eventually replace all the other important stuff that you lost in the wallet like the License, Credit card, Debit card etc. This can be done by contacting the appropriate departments.
[1] Different states have different online websites to file an online complaint
[2] SECTION 154 CRPC. Information in cognizable cases.
(1) Every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence, if given orally to an officer in charge of a police station, shall be reduced to writing by him or under his direction, and be read Over to the informant; and every such information, whether given in writing or reduced to writing as aforesaid, shall be signed by the person giving it, and the substance thereof shall be entered in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the State Government may prescribe in this behalf.
(2) A copy of the information as recorded under sub-section (1) shall be given forthwith, free of cost, to the informant.
This Article is Authored by Devesh Nath Tiwari, 3rd Year, BALLB Student at Fairfield Institute of Management & Technology.
Also Read – How To File An FIR For Theft In Train?
