DEVASTATED - STOLEN PHONE, MONEY & POLICE REPORTS

Hello everyone! Today is my first post in the last 10 days, I know a lot of you have been asking if I am ok and why I haven't posted. Well I have a really good reason and explanation, in fact it's a really sad story and this post is making me feel upset. Something awful happened to me last Monday in Barcelona. My phone and money was stolen from me in the day light just a little bit outside of centre in Barcelona. 

As some of you might know, it was my 30th birthday few months ago and i got a brand new iPhone x as a present so I can take better pictures and videos for my vlogs and my work in general. This was a special present from my boyfriend who works day and night in the gym training clients from 6 am till 8 pm pretty much 7 days a week. So it's not a cheap gift and I feel so devastated it was just taken away from me. I felt bad, disappointed in myself how could I let this happen. 

So we were in Barcelona, it was our first day of our vacation. In fact this vacation was a present from my family - it was a cruise for my 30th. Anyway , first day we arrive in Barcelona. We got this 24 hour hop on hop off bus so we can see most of the city in such a short space of time. Our ship departed at 6 pm. Everything went well for the first half of the trip, @ivargereiko has never been to Barcelona so it was exciting and we just finished London Crypto Currency Show in London the day before, and I hardly slept and was looking forward to relaxing finally ! 

I have been to Barcelona before and I know about the criminal activity , and in fact I told @ivargereiko 3 times about it and that he needs to be careful with all his stuff because this city is really professional in stealing things. I am generally really aware and careful with these situations, and I traveled a lot. I did backpacking in strange places with weird hostels and never in my life had anything stolen such big as that. 

We just changed buses to go onto a different line, and we decided we should get some water, it was a grey day, raining and cold and frankly quite miserable. Ivar said he will go and get us some water for the trip so we stay hydrated. He literally left me alone for 5-10 min and that was enough for them to take my stuff. They stole all money and my phone. I was so traumatised by the experience I couldn't believe it. At first it was a denial like a shock, then it hits you....

We went to centre and found police officer and reported it straight awAy, they tried to help us and find the phone through find my phone app - but it was off already! That's it - police said it's gone. This all was happening around 12 pm and it was around 15 when we talked to the police. We tried calling my phone several times but it was off , I was thinking so many things at that time like , I've not only lost my phone which was an expensive brand new present from my boyfriend, but also my money and all my memories, pictures and videos and all the apps.  Below you can see a police report we filed a week later after the cruise. 

Then I panicked and was thinking what if they steal my data, information all of that? Police reassured me that usually they just delete everything from the phone and sell it. It was brand new... aaa feel so upset just thinking about it! Actually just before it was stolen we walked past some bakery shops and iPhone case shop where ivar got me this iPhone case which has a cupcake on it with sparkling bits that moved all around the case if you turned it around. It was super girly and pretty, and I was so excited !

Anyway we needed to go to the police station to file a report about my phone, but it was already late and we had to go back to hotel, pack and leave for the boat. We didn't have enough time so we departed straight to our cruise boat. As you can imagine the mood was pretty damp. I just couldn't believe what happened for about 3 days. When we got through security onto our boat it was a crazy havoc around there, nobody knew what is happening where to go and what to do. We finally managed to find our cabin. As you can imagine my stress levels were high and when you look forward to your holiday and after the stealing,  the boat was just so hectic, it made us more stressed. 

I won't talk about my cruise much because there were a lot of positives and negatives and I am really trying to see the bright side and be grateful that I didn't get stabbed or hurt while my phone with money was taken. We then discovered that we won't have internet on the boat and that we literally had to pay for everything on that cruise ". The agents that got my family this cruise promised them that everything was included but it was a total scam. You even had to pay overpriced price for water!!! Anyway point is that I didn't have a phone, I had my laptop but no internet. Ivar had his phone and we thought we will use his / but it was no internet and the boat blocked all signals so we weren't able to use it. You could pay for internet but it was only allowed for several platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, snapchat and whatsapp and even google was blocked. So we didn't see much point in getting internet. Hence I couldn't even post or do anything while I was away.

So we stopped in different cities and enjoyed the cruise as much as we could. Ivar had internet on shore sometimes and only for short limited time as we are abroad. So half way through the trip ( which was 7 days,) after I have calmed down with the fact that my phone is gone and I don't know what I will do now. I asked him if I could check my emails for work and generally. We were on a train going back to the boat and I get one email from 02 which is a mobile provider here in uk. And an email said to urgently pay charges that I have made. The total bill came to 560 pounds! 

My hands started shaking again and I quickly realised that those people that stole my phone and money then used my english SIM card and somehow managed to use it and spend 560 pounds? So I immediately call the providers and try and explain my situation. I couldn't report it sooner because we were sailing with no signal or phone line. Anyway this was a total disaster. I tried to explain, they said they will look into it, ivar tried to reassure me that it will be ok. But now the scammers have taken my phone which cost 1500 and the bill for 560 pounds so a total of over 2000 pounds, which is a lot. And it's two months of my salary. 

We tried to log into my account and see where the charges came from and found that calls were made to Zambia with two numbers and they made over 52 calls costing that amount. My theory is that it's a service number that they call and make money from - perhaps their own service where they call from other people's stolen phones and make money in their country. After the phone call they said they will email me. They did a day after saying I have to pay those charges. I am now back in london and will be dealing with this issue and I have my case - i didn't make those calls and it was stolen from me, anyway overall it's been really devastating and stressful. 

I guess I want to warn everyone to be extra careful and not misjudge the situations. It can happen anywhere and even in daylight and what you consider safe locations. We went to the police station yesterday to file the report and police said if they ever find my phone they will get in touch, the likelihood of that is zero they said. The amount of times this happens a day in Barcelona and all other major cities is shocking so all we can do is be careful. Thing is I am more upset with myself because I am experienced traveller and I know all scams, I know how careful you have to be and I'm always on a look out. This just happened out of my control and I guess I keep thinking over and over in my head what could I do differently. The phone for me is my work, I take pictures and videos and edit there, do all my social media. It's just devastating. But life goes on and main thing I wasn't attacked or hurt.

I am going to work extra hard now so I can save enough and get myself a new phone for work and personal life. I won't ask for anything, but if anyone wants to support me through steemit or help me in any other way they can, I would really appreciate it. :( 

Thank you for reading and listening. Be careful and always extra safe. Love Alla! x :(