What To Do After Your Handbag Is Snatched?

Obviously, what I’m about to blog is not about work. My friends heard about my little unpleasant encounter and suggested that I list down the things to do especially on documents replacement so that others can benefit if ever such unfortunate incident should happened to anyone. My prayer is that you won’t and you don’t have to refer to this check list.

Anyway, here goes…

1. Get to the nearest phone. Call all my banks to cancel and bar my ATM cards and credit cards. Call my telephone operator, in my case was Maxis, to temporarily suspend my number until I apply for new SIM card.

2. Go to the nearest police station and make a report. Check the details of your report before you leave. Do not assume all data were keyed-in correctly. In my case, my name and birth dates were typed incorrectly and they have to make amendments. Well, don't ask me further on what I think of our police force.

3. Since my incident happened in the mid-morning, I’ve ample time to go to the nearest Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara to report and apply for new MyKad. With the police report, no fee is charged. I took the opportunity to also change other details, like my house address. I was given a temporary MyKad and I will only be getting my real one three weeks from then. I can either call or check from their portal: www.jpn.gov.my on when my card is ready for collection.

4. Next, I went to Maxis Centre to apply for my new SIM card. It costs RM25 for a new sim card plus RM10 activation fee. Too bad they won’t allow exception for snatched phones. It took about 2 hours to get myself connected after.

5. The next destination was the Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan to get my new driving license. I was told any photo would do but it’s wrong information. They only want colour photograph and no black and white. I went to the same place twice in a day because of this misinformation. Again, with the police report, no fee or penalty incurred. You can even take the opportunity to further renew your expiry date. By the way, all the driving details are stored in the MyKad including the temporary one.

6. My credit cards replacement are said to be on their way. It's been slightly more than a week now. What shall I say?

7. And as for my ATM card, different banks may vary slightly in their policies but most hold the view that you need to have your MyKad before you can apply for your new ATM card. If you need to get some fast cash, I was told by a Maybank Officer that I can present my police report and my temporary MyKad at the counter of any branch to get cash. I have yet to verify this step.

After all these, I can then begin to really mourn for my loss but count myself blessed for being alive to share my story. Someone told me, “If you have never been mugged or met with a car accident in your lifetime, you’ve not started to live…” Err…was I supposed to be comforted? He must be joking.