Victim?

[rodi]

In college I could not afford a car - so I rode a motorcycle... or I should say motorcycles... They kept getting stolen. I'd taken to having a heavy chain and hardened lock and chaining it between the frame and wheel... One of them was recovered, stripped, with the chain and lock still attaching the frame and wheel. (I guess they were lifting them into a truck to steal them.)

I had my car broken into 3 times - breaking the window, stealing cd's etc. All during the 80's and early 90's.

The biggest (from a financial POV) was having a licensed contractor try to shake us down - then abandon the job... He then refused to cooperate (pay his share) of the arbitration... He'd collected way more than work delivered (he'd been less than up front about what was completed - we had to unravel after the fact.) The state made him pay us (some) of our financial loss - but he stopped making payments. We lost over $100k even with his payments.... He broke contracting laws and business code laws but isn't considered a criminal for some reason... The only repercussion was he lost his contractors license...

 

[brett]

Nope. We have been fortunate.

-Dumped a stock broker before any losses when he started to churn the account to his favor and recommend mutual fund dogs with high back end.

-resisted and walked away from two timeshare pitches and one really bad vacation club pitch. From our perspective all three were scams.

-a few credit cards have been compromised...no issue since it is not our dime. Just some inconvenience.

-pick pocketed twice. Once in Rome and once in Athens. Less than 20E each time. No credit cards, ID's etc. Not really a scam, more like good old street crime.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

The car I bought in 1992, a 1991 Geo Prism, had a radio-only device and I soon bought a radio-cassette player and had it installed.

No one will ever accuse you of wasting money on cars.

 

[Koogie]

My business was scammed for tens of thousands. By an honest to god international conman as it later turned out. He also scammed several other businesses in the same industry in the same city. He got one for almost 400K. He also scammed individuals (some for over 100K) and many, many consumer companies.

As far as I know, he is still out there doing it. The police had no interest (he had left the country) and there were no ramifications that I know of. Someone has told me that he has since scammed one of the leading Asian airlines too. I can't confirm that.

I'm still really bitter about it and when I am in a self flagellating mood it is quite depressing still. People think that white collar or economic crime is cool and they make movies about it because it has no "ramifications" B.S.

 

[btdt22]

While visiting MIL I asked if her if she needed anything done to her Saturn. She said yes to new wiper blades and a/c was not blowing cold. Finished dinner, went to parts store and then went to charge A/C and install new blades. Opened the hood forgetting I had pulled the blades and left the wiper arms up. Broke the windshield and went to bed dreading what I had to tell her in the morning. Next morning she reports car is missing from her carport. Miami-Dade Sheriff later found it burnt and the air bag missing.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I had my ID stolen a few years ago and $180K fraudulently wired out of a HELOC but that's about it.

 

[Nemo2]

Next morning she reports car is missing from her carport. Miami-Dade Sheriff later found it burnt and the air bag missing.

Wow..you certainly went to extremes to avoid pissing off your MIL.

 

[MRG]

Wow..you certainly went to extremes to avoid pissing off your MIL.

+1000

I didn't know how to suggest it. Brilliantly done!

 

[athena53]

This is mild, but a cautionary tale. I sold a car early this year to a broker. He gave me back the plates and said I should dispose of them or taken them back to the DMV. I didn't want to mess with the DMV so I threw them in the trash. Apparently someone took them and they're now on a car being driven through EZPass lanes in Colorado running up tolls. The last bill was for about $15 so not major, but I just filed a police report once I realized what had happened (and verified with the DMV that those were the plates from the old car. Now I'll send the documentation to the toll authorities and hope they back down. What I really hope is that the bozos get picked up for some minor infraction and they're nailed for driving with a stolen plate.

 

[Aerides]

It is statistically likely that 20-25% of the women on the forum have been sexually assaulted. They are not likely to broadcast this on the forum, since it is still considered a taboo subject and many people at least partially blame the woman.

And they may also prefer to consider themselves survivors, rather than victims.

 

[Sunset]

When I was a teenager I had a girl walk up and slap my face. Mistaken identity. She thought I was a girl named Michelle who was messing around with her BF. She tried to slap me again and I was quick enough to get out of her way. The whole time she was calling me Michelle and I was telling her that Michelle was someone else. Unfortunately she wouldn't listen and it turned into a brawl because I wasn't about to let her keep hitting me. It ended when the brother of a guy who liked me intervened. It was so embarrassing and she never did apologize.

I hated her until about 15 years later when I read in the paper that she had a baby that froze to death in his crib that was placed next to a window in a run down drafty apartment. I couldn't help but feel bad for her circumstances and loss.

I had a fellow in the neighborhood, chase me down, beat me up and wash my face with snow.
I also hated him for that, and avoided him.
About 6 years later, he was in a car and a logging truck driving the opposite way went by as a log rolled off the truck. The log punched though the windshield and decapitated him.
I felt satisfied about it.

 

[calico1597]

We had a local banker convince us to invest in a viatical thru Metropolitan Life insurance. These are investments where terminal ill folks can cash in their life insurance for a reduced amount. Supposedly we were made beneficiaries of their policies. We did three investments totaling $20K. The local fire department also invested a large sum with their dollars. It was a hoax company based in Florida. The state charged the company, I think we were returned about $12K and took a loss on the balance. The banker promised to reimburse us but filed bankruptcy and repaid no one. I think a number of people in the local area were scammed. I know of at least one other couple who invested when we did. It was a hard lesson. Didn't cause us any financial hardship but we worked for those dollars.

 

[Amethyst]

Our home was broken into, twice, and stuff stolen.

Many years ago, I had a police officer in NC extort money from me to repair his kid's car, which the kid claimed I had backed into and damaged. I am a very careful backer-upper and I knew I had never hit anything. The dust on my car had not even been disturbed, but the plastic grill on the kid's car was broken. Obviously he'd blamed an out-of-town license plate because he was afraid to face his Dad. Anyway, I was cited for "hit and run" and did not know how I was going to fight it from MD, so I paid up.

 

[ivinsfan]

I had a fellow in the neighborhood, chase me down, beat me up and wash my face with snow.
I also hated him for that, and avoided him.
About 6 years later, he was in a car and a logging truck driving the opposite way went by as a log rolled off the truck. The log punched though the windshield and decapitated him.
I felt satisfied about it.

Remind me not to ever Pi#% you off....

 

[aja8888]

Years ago when working in Detroit, my car got hijacked with me in it late one night when leaving a restaurant. The two guys had me drive them to a seedy part of town where they took my wallet and let me go (thankfully). They were caught a few days later trying to use my credit cards.

When I went to court to press charges, the officer I met with told me they would be put away for a short time and they will still remember where you live and may pay you a visit. I declined to press charges.

 

[ncbill]

a couple of minor home burglaries...probably by the kid up the street.

he later got into major trouble. had just walked out of a high-end home he had burglarized when the homeowner showed up.

instead of beating feet he pulled out a handgun and fired several times at the homeowner, hitting their SUV.

and in so doing upgraded from misdemeanors to felonies (bad luck for him that the homeowner was politically connected)

iirc it'll be at least a decade before he'll be eligible for parole...

 

[zedd]

Late 80's in Phoenix, I'm stopped at a traffic light, two cars back, center of three lanes. Driver's side door pops open and a nut job starts punching and pulling me out of the driver's seat. Seatbelt held me in place but I can't drive off cause I'm boxed in. We trade punches for ten seconds. I land a solid punch squarely on his jaw, he cartwheels backwards, bounces off the car next to me and lands flat on his back in the oncoming lane. The light turns green and I drove off. In my rearview mirror I watched him get up and return to the parked car that was behind me. He made no attempt to follow.

 

[tuckeverlasting]

I have been lucky so far.

2 debit card incidents. Once when my card and driver's license were stolen at work, and once recently where the card never left my possession but somehow the number was used to make purchases. I discovered the first incident, and bank fraud unit notified me of the second. No loss to me from either, bank replaced funds.

Many years ago I was asleep upstairs in the early evening, alone, when a splintering sound awoke me. I went to the stairs half-asleep and called out. Saw no one, but whoever it was fled. Discovered front door jimmied open, police came out and took a report.

 

[Meadbh]

Some of these stories are scary!

I forgot a few things!

December 1989, St. John's, Newfoundland. The police phoned in the middle of the night to tell me that a thief had smashed windows of two vehicles (including mine) in the parking lot of my apartment building and had stolen the stereo from one. Both owners got up and met with the police to inspect the damage. My neighbour's Audi had its stereo stolen. My rinky-dink little Chevrolet Sprint (which had no stereo) had its side window smashed, but that was it. There was frost on the windows, so they couldn't see that there was no stereo without breaking the window. When they saw the Club on the steering wheel, they finally twigged that they were wasting their time. Most of the vehicles in the parking lot were much better than mine, so I don't see their logic. These thieves were not very smart.

The other was a near miss. The first home improvement I did when I bought my first home, a SFH, was to install a monitored alarm system. A few months later the house next door was burglarized and all the electronics were taken. The police traced the burglars' footprints in the snow up my back yard to the house. When they saw the alarm sign prominently displayed there, they turned right and went next door, where the pickings were easier!

 

[Jerry1]

Minor in terms of being scary, but had two cars stolen. The first one was basically new (1500 miles on it). Went into a store and hear the wheels burn rubber (it was a fast car). Said to myself, that sounds like my car. No, you're just being paranoid. Nope. Walked out and it was gone.

Replaced that car with the same car. Several years later, I see that it broken into in an attempt to steal it. Fortunately, it had been sitting and the battery was dead so they couldn't start it. I got the lock fixed and a couple months later, it was stolen. The battery tie down and a terminal wrench were on the ground. I guess they came back with a battery and got it. I didn't replace it that time. I didn't have good storage and as long as I can't store a recreational/nice car inside, there's not much point in having one.

 

[scrabbler1]

I had my wallet stolen at a Knicks basketball game at Madison Square Garden. This was a rescheduled game on a Sunday night after a blizzard back in March of 1992 postponed the game, so there were some empty seats. I put my winter coat on the seat next to me but it had my wallet in one of the pockets. Someone in the row behind me took the wallet but because I keep my noncash items in a separate card pouch, only the cash (about $60) was taken. And the card pouch was in the same pocket as the wallet itself! I still had my monthly train pass, drivers license, and bank cards, so I was able to get home, get some cash, and buy a new wallet a week later.

 

[athena53]

Ah, pickpockets. Poor DH was a pickpocket magnet. He was older, moved slowly and stood out because he was tall. He was pushed on the steps leading up to a restaurant in St. Petersburg, Russia and as he stumbled they removed $200 worth of rubles from his pocket (likely followed us from the ATM). In Rome he was in the subway with his wallet in his back pocket (really- a guy who lived in NYC for years?- we'd landed the day before so maybe it was jet lag). That disappeared, of course. I thought he'd stopped carrying cash on our trips and when we were in Barcelona a group of young people were unusually aggressive in pushing past DH to get out of the subway car at a stop. They not only managed to get US $50 in his money clip on the way out, but they neatly dropped the money clip before exiting (evidence they didn't want on them).

I miss DH on my travels but it's far easier to hold onto the cash supply.

Another memory: in the early 1980s someone broke into my room at a Hyatt outside of O'Hare while I was in sessions of a conference. That atrium setup was perfect for someone to watch for people leaving their rooms. The drawer in which I'd stashed my underwear was unusually chaotic and then I realized that the cash in my purse was gone, as well as a brass bookend I'd bought as a souvenir. The hotel did little other than bring in a cop so I could file a report. They'd cleverly stolen only one credit card, from a gasoline company, so I didn't notice it missing till I got a bill with an unfamiliar charge- had to get that reversed. I remember I was really creeped out just thinking of someone rifling through my underwear, and realized that was only a shadow of the experience of those who have experienced genuinely violent crimes.

 

[Nemo2]

1966...three of us drove down from Hamilton, Ontario, to Manzanillo, Mexico, (with many stops in between)....rented a sparse waterfront cottage in Manzanillo.......one day noticed about $10 was missing.

That afternoon, since we were in town and passing the police station, we happened to mention it to them.

Three days later a truck full of Mexican cops with rifles, etc, showed up and began searching the surrounding shrubbery.

 

[Alvin Tostig]

a few incidents.

Three years ago, wife and I are at the Tropicana in Vegas - 3:00 o'clock in the morning, 2 guys outside kicking at my hotel door and screaming profanities. I'm looking through the peephole, tell then they got the wrong room. One gut has his shirt off and he looked completely crazed. I thought the door was going to break down. Grabbed a knife and called security. They quickly showed up and escorted these guys out of the area. Didn't sleep the rest of then night. Next morning, went to hotel management and security to find out what happened. Seems these two guys were so hammered that they not only had the wrong room - they had the wrong hotel! Still not sure what they wanted. Tropicana moved me up to a penthouse type of room and comped me for the rest of my stay, but I'd rather not have had that experience.

When I was a young single guy, my apartment in Brooklyn was robbed twice by the same guy! All within 6 months. While I was off to work, someone got into the building, went up to roof, climbed down the fire escape (I was on the top floor) and robbed me. Stereo, TV, money. Police came and said robbers don't hit the same place twice. Got extra locks, window gates, etc...6 months later they waited until I replaced everything and robbed me again. I actually knew it the second time, because when I got off the elevator, my front door was ajar - it got caught on the welcome mat. I was stupid enough to lose my cool and run into the apartment to deal with it- What if the guy had a gun? Anyway the burglar left. How do I know it was the same guy? Different witnesses in the building each time had the same exact description. It could have been an inside job - who knows? Anyway, I wasn't waiting for a third time - I moved within a few days to a doorman building (rent went from $175/month to $215/month. That was nearly 40 years ago.

When I was maybe 15, coming back on a train from a Knicks game with a friend, a young thug puled a knife on in the secluded area of a train station. Probably got less than $5 apiece.