I hate to break it to you buddy but you've got to snowballs chance in hell of getting your phone back just like me my iPhone was stolen from my first day here talk it up to her learning experience and move on with your life because if you get your phone back I'll eat my shorts And I really don't fancy eating my shorts and I'm sorry this happened to you but is a daily occurrence here in this Country .

I agree, although felt like I needed to try and do something about it.....even if I'm wasting my time, and apologies to anyone else reading this whose time I'm probably also wasting. Logic does say there's a strong chance of it being for sale in one of the local shops right, but realise there's LOTS of those, plus it may well have left the city. Now at least I know some good will come out of not being reunited with my phone, I wouldn't want your short to go to waste

Also had my phone in a pouch snatched on the riverside road (Preah Sisovath) at that open spot in front of the temple in broad daylight a few weeks ago the day after I arrived. Should have had the pouch tucked into my shirt.

Value of the phone was fairly negligible, nothing else in the bag other than some chewing gum and name cards, so wasn't too ruffled about that.

The inconvenience of dealing with numbers, passwords, accounts, getting new phone set up, etc was a little more of a headache/waste of time.

But the worst part was having your trip ruined by that paranoid feeling that comes after this sort of occurrence. The riverside is creepy enough with all the beggars, vendors, dealers, pimps and nutters (which you can pretty much ignore and dodge) but throw petty crime into the mix and you start to feel kind of weird feeling about walking around.

Of course, the whole point of being on holiday is to relax and have fun, but when you feel that you need to constantly check for and worry about your wallet, bankcards, phone, laptop, etc., you can forget about letting go and taking it easy. Not to mention having your drink spiked and money stolen.

I tried to shrug it off but in the end after a couple of days just bagged the idea of staying in Cambodia and traveling around a bit and booked an onward flight to Vientiane so that I could just go chill out in Laos.

Of course, stuff gets stolen in Laos too but the feeling is totally different.

Riverside Phnom Penh could be a really attractive place if they put some effort into cleaning it up a bit. In the meantime be very careful or avoid the area, or just forget about visiting Cambodia altogether.

Sorry to hear of your experience too.

sigmoid wrote:But the worst part was having your trip ruined by that paranoid feeling that comes after this sort of occurrence.

Yeah, I've tried to shrug it off, but no doubt it's changed my perspective beyond one of being careful to one of being paranoid. My trip is however improving, but hearing a lot of other stories of thefts. Right now soaking up some sun and activities on Koh Rong Island. I'll be back to Phnom Penh at the end of the trip and may check by some of the second hand stores. I have noticed the following...

http://soklyphone.com/phones/sony-xperia-z3/ <-- Strange for a 'new arrival', assume it's to their second hand section, although to be honest the phone could pass for new.

http://modernphoneshop.com/phone-detail ... ony&id=567 <-- similar to the above.

Anyone due to be passing either of these stores? I may just try and phone. Again, realise 99% wasting my time.

In no way meant to be a 'suck eggs' comment - but this emphasizes the importance of installing/enabling "where's my phone" apps so that you can cripple your phone remotely and at least protect sensitive information if the phone is lost/stolen.

(Yes, OD, I know that technically there are ways around encryption...)

StroppyChops wrote:In no way meant to be a 'suck eggs' comment - but this emphasizes the importance of installing/enabling "where's my phone" apps so that you can cripple your phone remotely and at least protect sensitive information if the phone is lost/stolen.

Yeah, understand your comment. For Android you don't have to have anything special installed now, just ensure it's up-to-date and location turned on I believe. Just type into Google 'where's my phone' and away you go. I actually had the Sony version turned on, built on the Android system. Unfortunately it appears my phone has been off since taken.....they're gonna send me an email when they can contact and wipe it?!

From my point of view, lessons I've learnt that may benefit others, in no particular order (and yes, you'll think a lot of it obvious until it happens to you):

* Better to be slightly lost than get your phone out on a street at night! - Especially one where you've been offered every drug under the sun after declining a Tuk Tuk.

* Encryption isn't for life - I was concerned about turning it on due to the performance hit, I should have done so for my trip when my phone is at high risk, and then decrypted when back home when I feel theft is a much lower risk.

* Google Find My Phone isn't enough - I'll definitely be looking into a dedicated app.

* Having your IMEI & SIM details available quickly helps - to get your provider to block the phone/services where appropriate. Obviously this needs to be somewhere you can access away from your phone.

* Asking your travel insurance company if your policy covers your phone being pinched is a must - if you care about the financial value in your phone. The phone being just 4 months old, I was stupid for not checking this in more detail.

* Keeping a second phone for travel makes a lot of sense

* Having a list of accounts/passwords to change if your phone was stolen helps with speed of 'piece of mind'

Other stuff I'm thinking of that might be OTT to some.....

Running a Photo Backup Service under a 'Dummy' account - I use OneDrive to backup all my phones from my phone. However, I used that MS account for a lot and I wasn't happy not changing my password to it, hoping for the thief/buyer to take a photo that I'd see uploaded. However, now thinking about installing another app with an account that I don't use just for this purpose.

Switching to a temporary Google Account - I might switch my phone to a 'temporary' Google account when I go away and set my main account to forward mail. Turning this off from the main account would be a lot simpler in these situations, but of course there's the draw back of your other Google Services. I need to think this one through, maybe not practical, but a step further for the paranoid.

Probably some others, but those are my initial thoughts, and I'm sure it's not a perfect list and there are flaws/considerations to a lot of the points that an individual needs to make for their particular circumstances.

sm123 wrote:
* Better to be slightly lost than get your phone out on a street at night! - Especially one where you've been offered every drug under the sun after declining a Tuk Tuk.

* Encryption isn't for life - I was concerned about turning it on due to the performance hit, I should have done so for my trip when my phone is at high risk, and then decrypted when back home when I feel theft is a much lower risk.

agree. I keep my phone encrypted but my tablet, which never leaves my house, isn't. Good practice would probably be too encrypt everything as default but I personally just don't want a thief running around with my personal data.

* Google Find My Phone isn't enough - I'll definitely be looking into a dedicated app.

I use Cerberus. It's brilliant. Can remotely control phone via internet or silent sms. Can track and it'll even contact you via email and SMS if an unauthorized simcard is installed. And you can flash it as a system app so it will survive a factory reset.

* Having your IMEI & SIM details available quickly helps - to get your provider to block the phone/services where appropriate. Obviously this needs to be somewhere you can access away from your phone.

* Asking your travel insurance company if your policy covers your phone being pinched is a must - if you care about the financial value in your phone. The phone being just 4 months old, I was stupid for not checking this in more detail.

* Keeping a second phone for travel makes a lot of sense

* Having a list of accounts/passwords to change if your phone was stolen helps with speed of 'piece of mind'

using a password manager can make this a quick and painless procedure. I use lastpass.com

Other stuff I'm thinking of that might be OTT to some.....

Running a Photo Backup Service under a 'Dummy' account - I use OneDrive to backup all my phones from my phone. However, I used that MS account for a lot and I wasn't happy not changing my password to it, hoping for the thief/buyer to take a photo that I'd see uploaded. However, now thinking about installing another app with an account that I don't use just for this purpose.

Switching to a temporary Google Account - I might switch my phone to a 'temporary' Google account when I go away and set my main account to forward mail. Turning this off from the main account would be a lot simpler in these situations, but of course there's the draw back of your other Google Services. I need to think this one through, maybe not practical, but a step further for the paranoid.

not sure why you would do this. With dual factor authentication turned on for my Google account I can set each and every device or app a different and unique password so if I were to lose that device I can just delete the device password.

Some credit cards insure your purchases for 6 months or more. A drunk customer dropped my iPhone when he wanted to switch my bar's music over to his and Amex credited me back the money I paid for it. One 5 min call took care of it.

Thanks both.

wackyjacky wrote:Some credit cards insure your purchases for 6 months or more. A drunk customer dropped my iPhone when he wanted to switch my bar's music over to his and Amex credited me back the money I paid for it. One 5 min call took care of it.

Good to hear. Thought had crossed my mind. I need to confirm if I used my Amex, as I think that has purchase protection, not sure if this situation is covered, but if anyone will cover it it'd be them. I'll look into it.