[Voice]

[gaveherwings]

Hello. Fellow newcomers? I'm in need of some practical advice-

[A breath. This is less the tone of a confident doctor, and more like a young man teetering on the brink of anxiety, but holding his voice together at a steady calm.]

What are the appropriate channels, besides calling it in to law enforcement, to best go about securing yourself from identity theft? I've...never had to recover from losing anything like this before, and I'm uncertain what steps I should take from here-

I seem to have somehow misplaced something very important: Photo IDs, keys, my debit, a portable storage drive, and a panicalarm device which- its GPS is apparently disabled. (So much for that being anything of use)

I've been retracing my steps for almost two hours now, and I just can't figure out quite how, or when- [Uncertainty clouds his tone for a moment, as he mutters mostly to himself](It's odd I could even get so far without realizing it was missing- my lanyard is something I feel rather... naked without.)

So If anyone's had any experience dealing with this before, in the contemporary system- I'm at an honest loss here, asking the network. Normally it's something entourage simply wouldn't allow to happen, but.... What would you do?

And how would you go about even beginning to locate something potentially stolen, in a city this large and under poor surveillance, which can't easily be replaced?

Comments

[beenwaitinglong]

The first thing anyone dishonest who finds your wallet will care about is spending as much money as they can. It's easier to get a new debit card than to file a bunch of charge dispute paperwork when someone goes on a shopping spree.

[gaveherwings]

Unless that wasn't their aim-

[beenwaitinglong]

And that's why the next step is to call anyone who might be affected by what was lost on your storage device-- the hospital, patients, whoever, and let them know there's a possibility of compromise.

Private

[gaveherwings]

It's a necessary manual plug in to access all of my encypted files, along with password. I can't access my own patient files without it.

Private

[beenwaitinglong]

Ah.

Well. That sucks.

It doesn't have the information itself on it?

Private

[gaveherwings]

No. It's more or less a key. And I keep a few personal things on there.

Private

[beenwaitinglong]

At least you didn't just compromise your entire practice.

Report it to the police. Perhaps offer a reward for its return and hope it shows up.

Private

[gaveherwings]

How much do people typically offer, for these things?

Private

[beenwaitinglong]

Fifty to a hundred dollars, perhaps. That'll usually attract any lowlives who would otherwise want to try to keep it.

Private

[gaveherwings]

Alright. Fifty- ah...

And I put in an advertisement for it?

Private

[beenwaitinglong]

Yes. Might be a good idea.

You did call the police, right?

Private

[gaveherwings]

I'm putting through the information right now. I'm using the electronic contact- I don't trust their phone operators to not dismiss the matter as more newcomer nonsense entirely.