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.