Thought of the Day: Tuesday, September 16th, 2014

Love not your possessions but more your health, happiness, and family

You can imagine the dread and terror I felt when I realized yesterday morning that my wife and I were the victims of identity theft. We've always heard of the dangers of identity theft and how easily it can happen to anyone, but we never expected it would ever actually happen to us. I found out yesterday morning that both my wife's bank account and mine were completely cleaned out over the course of the last several days. We are looking at the numbers and trying to tell for sure, but it looks as if it is in the range of between 22,000 and 25,000 US dollars from both our accounts.

We have been international educators for the last 15 years and have experienced some difficult situations in the past. We understand that there comes risks with working and living abroad. We have always been vigilant about our safety and the safety of our boys. We never take safety for granted. However, this theft has taken us by complete shock and total surprise. 

We have lived and worked in Nanjing, China for 4 years now. We've never had a problem, but that all changed big time for us yesterday. Somehow our bank cards were copied and our pin numbers compromised. I was about to do a large bank transfer yesterday back to our Canadian account only to find out that we had zero left in our accounts. 

My school, the Nanjing International School, has been extremely supportive and is taking this identity theft crisis very seriously. However, laws here in China are different and banks do not offer compensation for these types of thefts. All we were told is that the money was taken from an ATM in Poland. Even though it is clearly obvious that we were in Nanjing and using our own cards, somebody at the same time was draining several thousand dollars per day from our accounts outside of China. The bank never put a lock on our cards or blocked the ATM transactions. It's something that we will now have to live with. The chances of compensation very slim to no chance at all. 

My wife and I are confused and don't know what to do. We are both caring, kind, generous, and giving of our time and energy to others. We teach our two boys the value of these traits on a regular basis. We practice visualization and meditation focusing on only positive things that we want to happen in our lives. Even though we are left questioning all this, we will never sway from these beliefs. As hard as it is, we will press on and continue to be the best that we can be as educators and as people. Perhaps this is a test of our resilience, who knows. I just know that we must look forward. We told our boys something last night that we feel is so true given this shitty situation we find ourselves in. 

We are grateful for our loving family. We are all safe, healthy, and happy. Although the theft hurts like hell, the above statement is the absolute truth. I know that anyone reading this will understand and be compassionate with what we have gone through. Change your pin numbers, be vigilant, and never assume that this will not happen to you. Protect yourself accordingly, so it never happens to you or anyone you love. Thanks for reading.