I just lost my wallet on the way home from work • Hacker News Board

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#461

Post by mb_72 » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:26 AM UTC

CaptainZapp wrote: post #379

laurex wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Long ago, I worked in a record store, and David Byrne came in to the store to shop. He was wearing a red plastic hard hat, yet gave a disparaging look to everyone who seemed to "notice" him. When he left, I discovered he had forgotten to take his credit card from the counter. I called him (we also had a video store with contact info) and he was incredibly rude and told me just to cut it up because he couldn't be both…

I flew back from Palermo to Zurich on Monday. Exceptionally in business class (essentially same price). A pretty well known German performer was also on the flight with his companion and - I assume - his favorite microphone. The gentleman was meticulously polite, including the fact that he queued up at the gate instead of jumping the queue with about a dozen economy passengers in the queue. Not every prominent person…

Even prominent people can have a bad day or have other momentary hassles to deal with that might make them behave less than gracious on occasion. Trying to be generous here.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#462

Post by deadbunny » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:26 AM UTC

emdowling wrote: post #366

the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless something changed pretty much all payments in the UK are “Faster”.

Salary payments are typically still BACS and I think Faster does have a transaction limit in the 10’s of thousands of pounds range.

IIRC the limit according to the standard is £100,000/day but most banks impose their own arbitrary limit. Assuming things haven't changed in 5 years, this[1] lists the limits for a lot of banks. I can also add to the list that Monzo's is £10,000/day.

1. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2014/11/customers-bei...

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#463

Post by kieckerjan » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:28 AM UTC

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #455

SI_Rob wrote: post #51

Every so often my pessimistic tendencies get a healthy slap across the face by the actions of someone who took the high road when they easily could have chosen otherwise. It's a couple summers ago, at the height of the summer tourist season and I'm cycling up 4th ave SW in DC. Somewhere between the NASA HQ and the National Mall my camera bag - packed full with a fairly new DSLR, a few lenses, and a secondary cell pho…

A few weeks ago, my partner and I, together with our 1-month-old baby, were rushing to a courthouse as she needed to do some paperwork for a case she's involved in. We were under high pressure as the courthouse would close in like half an hour, but our son was especially hungry that day and we had to stop several times to feed him, etc. In one of these stops, probably due to the stress and rush, we left her handbag b…

A found a phone a couple of times. Calling "mama" always works! :-)

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#464

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:29 AM UTC

fortran77 wrote: post #348

DoreenMichele wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I turned in more than one lost wallet or debit card to a librarian (or similar) while homeless. I didn't want to call them myself or whatever because I was homeless and I knew I was automatically suspect as a thief because of it. So I wanted someone the world would trust/believe to deal with it. Well before I was homeless, attempts to return wallets or found ID cards or whatever were consistently met with suspicion.…

I am 56 years old. I have never found a wallet or a debit card except one I found a card in a restaurant where I just hand it to a server.

[deleted]

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#465

Post by stef25 » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:32 AM UTC

TylerE wrote: post #322

ethbro wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I call this the subway train theory. I am nervous with one other person in my subway car. I feel completely safe with 5+ unrelated people in my subway car.

You shouldn't. I had my iPhone stolen on a nearly full DC metro train. Thief grabbed it out of my hands just before the doors closed and dashed.

Pickpockets thrive in crowded places. Opposite for muggers, rapists.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#466

Post by chris_overseas » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:33 AM UTC

ojosilva wrote: post #422

Someone registered and paid for a new Netflix account with my gmail address plus a point somewhere, which Gmail ignores. So I logged into the Netflix account, thinking it was actually mine and this was some misunderstanding. I realized that was not the case, so I to tried to get in touch with the person but no other info was available, everything was done from his phone apparently according to the account logs. I fig…

I have this problem too - only, it happens a LOT. I've had people use my Gmail address but without the "." to sign up (or try to) for Playstation accounts, Apple accounts, Paypal, Skype, Bank accounts, plus it's pretty common that I receive wills and other sensitive legal documents, property deals, you name it. The legal docs etc are likely due to other people mishearing/mistyping someone's email which I can understand, but I'm constantly baffled by how often people must type in their OWN email address incorrectly for important situations too.

Often I can just ignore the signup confirmation emails and it doesn't go any further, but it's surprising how often there is no confirmation link sent out and the account gets opened without verification of the email address. At that point, it can be incredibly difficult to get the problem rectified. Most companies don't seem to have any procedure in place to deal with this situation - Many online companies only have an easy way to contact them if you are one of their customers, so I often have to resort to resetting that user's password to get into their account and use the company's contact form to try and get things straightened out from there. Sometimes even that isn't possible, e.g. because 2FA prevents me from resetting the password, so about the best I can do is unsubscribe from their marketing emails and leave the account active.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#467

Post by oh_sigh » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:36 AM UTC

dpcan wrote: post #117

kraftman wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those things don't have phone numbers/email on them, so getting in contact with the owner isn't that easy.

Most cards have a business name or person's name. Taking the card to the police or the bank would get a call directly to them. Who would think, I'm going to start a chain of 1 penny transaction to contact this person at this bank account, and hope they get them before they cancel their bank account because they lost their wallet. And is this a wallet with cash and a single card with no identifiable information on it?…

Anyone you've ever written a check to has access to your bank account info.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#468

Post by stef25 » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:36 AM UTC

azthecx wrote: post #447

will0 wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gmail ignores periods in emails. It also ignores everything after the +. So if your email is bob@gmail.com you can also use: b.ob@gmail.com, b.o.b@gmail.com, bob+alice@gmail.com, You can use the second one to do filtering. I.e. use a different +{filter} for bills, entertainment etc. bob+bills@gmail.com for bills. bob+spam@gmail.com for sites you know will spam you etc. then setup mail rules to filter based on the +

What if my email IS a.bob.mail@gmail.com, if someone registers abobmail@gmail.com are they getting my emails?

There's a slight chance the gmail developers would have thought of that scenario.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#469

Post by esseti » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:37 AM UTC

Has anyone understood how this has been done? how can you place a message in a transaction like this?

If not mistaken this was done via contactless payment, right? how is that possible to add a message? (maybe you can in some country)

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#470

Post by stef25 » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:42 AM UTC

ALittleLight wrote: post #402

dahart wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just looked it up and Mexico city’s homicide rate in 2009 was half that of Atlanta, Georgia. ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Mexico#Mexico_City ) Mexico has changed considerably in the last 30 years, and the story above sounds like it wasn’t recent. Most murders today are drug related, and crime is heavy in US border towns, but not that bad everywhere else. Thirty years ago, when I was a kid, my siblings…

Mexico City is one of the safer cities in Mexico and Atlanta one of the more dangerous cities in the US. Tijuana and Acapulco, on the other hand, have a murder ten times higher than Atlanta's. Victoria, Juarez, and Irapuato have five times Atlanta's murder rate. The parent comment mentioned traveling in rural Mexico, which presumably does not refer to Mexico City. I agree that homicide rates have changed over the yea…

When I was in Mexico City (10+ years ago) every single person advised "don't get in random taxis", make sure you know one / have a driver's number.

In Caracas the locals also constantly emphasized the dangers. Random airport workers would tell us to not even leave the airport unless we had a driver outside specifically waiting for us. Even on Isla Margarita locals would look at us in a panic if we were out on the streets after dark "you can't be here!!" and would go out of their way to help us get home safely.