I had about a week to kill in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to reset my Indonesian visa. I messaged my friend Kai to let her know that I would be coming to town and we made plans to meet up the next day to see the Barbie movie. After my lonely week in Nusa Lembongan, I was excited for a girl’s night and some buttery popcorn. I arrived at the theater early and was disappointed to find they only sold caramel popcorn, discovering savory popcorn was mostly an American thing. I got asked for a few pictures outside of the theater, which wasn’t unusual, but uncommon for Kuala Lumpur which has a more diverse population.
Once Kai got there, we bought our tickets and found the seats. She took a few selfies of us and a short video, jokingly saying “Barbie with my Barbie”. Then I realized the reason for the pictures earlier. I, sadly, share no resemblance to Margot Robbie but I realized that I was the only white person in the theater and thereby the closest resemblance to stereotypical Barbie and I took it as a compliment.
After the movie, we went out to dinner and drinks and gossiped about our lives and relationships. I told her it would likely be the last time I was in Malaysia before returning home for the holidays and how much I appreciated having a friend like her. I’d spent so much time in Malaysia this year, it was starting to feel like a home away from home. She joked that I can’t say I’ve been to Malaysia without having gone to the Batu Caves, probably the top tourist destination in the entire country. She insisted that before my week was over, she would take me out to the caves to officiate my time there.
A few days later, Kai picked me up and we went out to breakfast then we drove 15 minutes outside of the city to a unique mogote land formation sticking out of the ground. We found parking and made our way with several other tourists, towards the colorful Hindu temple. A giant statue of a Hindu god stood erect, overlooking the plaza filled with tourists, people selling food and trinkets, and flocks of pigeons.
Kai and I made our way through the crowd and started up the rainbow-colored stairs. Occasionally monkeys would walk down the railing and we moved opposite sides, trying to avoid any conflict after seeing a video of a monkey stealing someone’s phone and bartering snacks to trade it back. I had my GoPro out, recording the monkeys and the seemingly endless walk up the steps. By the time we got to the top, I reached for my fanny pack that I had been wearing as a cross-body bag on my back and was shocked to find it was zipped open. I am rarely ever so careless as to leave my bag unzipped and quickly check its contents. My wallet was missing!
Kai suggested that maybe my wallet had fallen out and we briefly looked around but I had a gut feeling that wasn’t the case. When I first started traveling, I was always very aware of my belongings and potential pickpockets, especially in crowded tourist places like this. But, after traveling full time for the last three years I’d gotten too comfortable in foreign places and forgot that I was also a tourist. If there was anywhere in Malaysia where people would be looking to pickpocket tourists, it would be here and I was an easy target, carrying my bag on my back.
I prayed that maybe my wallet had fallen out in the car and did my best to enjoy the stunning surroundings of the cave-turned-Hindu temple. We walked back down the steps and kept an eye out for any wallet but if it hadn’t been picked up by someone else, the monkeys surely would have gotten it. Once we were back in the car, my heart sank that my wallet was nowhere to be found, and felt immediately sick. I did a quick mental scan of my wallet contents and felt violated, knowing someone could be looking at the personal details on my driver’s license.
Although I may seem like a totally stupid tourist for carrying my bag behind me, at least I have two seprate wallets. I keep a wallet with my passport, extra cash, and backup bank cards which stays safely locked away in my accommodation, and a separate wallet for day-to-day use with my driver’s license, primary credit and debit cards, and some local currency for this exact reason. I logged into my credit card banking app and put a hold on the card and just 10 minutes later, I received a notification saying someone was trying to make charges to the card. This confirmed that whoever had my wallet, took it intentionally and knew what they were doing.
Then, I tried to do the same for my debit card (a separate bank) but since I rarely use the app for my debit card, I needed to update the app which logged me out. When I tried to log back in, it kept sending two-factor authentication to my US cell phone number which wasn’t working in Malaysia. My Malaysian phone plan didn’t come with international calling so I couldn’t call the bank either. When all else fails, call Dad! Luckily my dad was still awake and answered over Whatsapp. He was able to get ahold of the bank to explain the situation and put a temporary hold on the card. In the meantime, the pickpockets were able to charge about $500 USD in electronics to the card which I would later have to dispute.
I was still shaken up so Kai took me out to lunch for dumplings and then dropped me off at my apartment. I decided to look at my GoPro footage for any clues about how this had happened. As I watched the videos, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I realized that I recorded the person pickpocketing me! I took a video of Kai and I walking up the steps and behind me, you can see someone walking very close, and then you can see him take something from my bag and immediately step away. The process was so slick that nobody around even noticed. Professional pickpockets are quite good at their jobs!
He looked just like any other tourist and I could make out some of his clothes, shoes, and sunglasses. I kept getting this impulsive feeling that I should go back and try and find him. Surly he would still be there wearing the same clothes. But then what? I tell him he stole my wallet earlier? Try to get the police involved in a petty tourist crime? The reality was that my cards had already been compromised and the greatest loss was the $200 Malaysia Ringgit (about $50 USD) which I surely wasn’t getting back. I tried to feel grateful that if I was going to have either my phone, camera, or wallet stolen, the wallet would be the one to give up.
Luckily, I still had my passport and backup bank cards to get me through the next two months before going home. Although, my backup bank cards have international transaction fees and don’t work as reliably, it was better than nothing. I was immensely grateful I didn’t have my brand-new passport in my bag that day. Could you imagine? I logged on to my computer and began canceling and reordering a new driver’s license, and credit and debit card.
A few months ago, I got coffee with a friend but forgot my wallet at my accommodation. Since I memorized my bank card info, I was able to enter it into Apple Pay and use my phone to pay the bill. This one incident turned out to be immensely helpful. When I reported my credit card as stollen, a new e-card was automatically updated on my phone and the physical one was ordered to my billing address. So, I was still able to use my credit card anywhere that accepted contactless payment from my phone.
The next day, I went shopping for a new fanny pack and debated paying premium prices for an anti-theft purse. I wanted to blame the situation on my flimsy bag with easy zippers but the reality was, had I been wearing the bag in front of me, as I should have, it wouldn’t have happened. Here’s a list of things I learned from the situation:
- Being in tourist areas makes the possibility you might get pickpocketed infinitely higher.
- Always be aware of where your belongings are. Even if you have an anti-theft bag, chances are you will forget to lock it.
- Keep separate wallets and leave the important stuff you can’t lose locked up somewhere safe.
- Install banking apps on your phone and keep them updated. Make sure that you can access them even if you have a foreign SIM card. If you need to keep the two-step verification, you can use services like Google Voice to maintain an American number.
- Keep an electronic version of cards on your phone.
