Dummy wallet: Anti-theft device
A friend of mine who has being living in Bali for 20 years off an on, recently told me thefts have increased in Seminyak. “My landlord told me that the Balinese now catch other Balinese stealing from them, years ago they’d never admit that, they’d always blame it on people from Java.” Sign of the economic times I guess. With motorbike payments, rising rents, the cost of living and the un-recovered tourist industry adding up to ‘no money’ for some people, the temptation is too much.
Part of my anti-theft kit is a dummy wallet. I bought 2 cheap wallets from a street vendor, 10,000rp each, then placed random business cards, parking stubs and other junk inside. With 25,000rp in cash (2*5,000rp and 15*1,000rp) they look tempting from the outside. One of these goes inside my motorbike and will be used for ’solutions’…’go ahead, take it all’. The other I place on my desk when I leave the house. Thieves are looking for cash and cell phones, If they grab what they think is my wallet, the laptop may not get touched. Depends on who it is though and a friend of mine told me thieves took the time to pour his milk out and melt the ice cubes, looking for valuables.
So far in Bali I’ve been lucky and have not had anything of value taken from me. The best way to live out here is not to buy expensive stuff and leave your money in the bank.
By Nick | Permalink
Related Posts
- Balinese carvers: Still the best
- Bali vs. Jakarta expats
- Expat friends in Seminyak Bali
- Bali expats have million stories
- How Legian has changed since 1993
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share               |
Comments
Its not all bad news from Bali. Most people are alright, its just the odd bad apple that gives a place a bad name. Still people who rob houses aren’t the smartest and will often overlook something expensive, such as camera, in order to get your wallet / cell phone.
How come you revealed your \’anti theft\’ tactic on the web? Hope the bad guys are not web savvy as well. BTW…Happy Birthday on April 22.
Thanks,
The kind of people robbing houses could not be bothered to read Baliblog.
But most of Balinese think this all done by non-Bali nese, as we know that most of Balinese believe in Karma and bounded to their religion.
Hoping so
Yes, he he he, maybe the next theif who steals a laptop will use it to log in to baliblog.com and find your “anti theft” trick. Well, let’s hope not.
True most Balinese do blame the outsider, namely the Javanese. Karma or not sadly as in any culture there are bad apples so it does make sense it’s not confined just to the “outsider”.
Geez, is it that scary to live in Bali now? Maybe in touristy areas, but in Tabanan and smaller towns it’s certainly safe. But, sure, better safe than sorry. Nobody should leave their laptops and wallets lying around the house, I suppose. I still remember my grandfather telling me of how the villagers paraded thieves after they were caught, back in the days.