Stolen or lost abroad: what to do in the first 24 hours

Nothing about the next day is complicated. But nearly all of it has to be done through other people — a bank agent, a police officer, a consular clerk — and the order you do it in matters more than most travellers realise. This guide is that order, whether your things were stolen abroad or simply lost.

If you only read this

• Block your cards and lock your phone first. Minutes matter there; hours do not.
• Get a written police report within 24 hours. Most travel insurance policies refuse a theft claim without one.
• The report is for your insurer, not for finding your bag. It must say stolen if it was stolen, and list what was taken and what it was worth.
• In the EU, being understood is your legal right. You are entitled to a written acknowledgement of your complaint — and to a free translation of it if you ask.
• Passport gone? Your embassy can issue an emergency travel document. For British travellers that is £125 and usually two working days.

• The three clocks
• The first hour
• The police report
• Lost passport
• What goes wrong
• The numbers
• Before you travel
• Questions

Three clocks start at the same moment

Having something stolen abroad feels like one problem. It is three, each with its own deadline:

Do them in that order. Travellers lose the most money by doing them backwards: spending the evening retracing their steps while the cards are still live.

The first hour after a theft abroad: stop the damage

1. Get somewhere safe and lit. A hotel lobby, a café, the staffed desk of the station. If you are hurt or in danger anywhere in the European Union, call 112: it is free from any phone, and in many countries the operator can help in English or French.
2. Block your cards. Call your bank's 24-hour line from a companion's phone or the hotel reception. If you still have a second device, freeze the cards in the banking app — it takes seconds. Write down the time of the call and any reference you are given; your bank and your insurer may both ask.
3. Lock the phone, then the SIM. From any browser, Find My (Apple) or Find My Device (Google) will mark it lost, lock it and show a message. Then call your mobile carrier to block the SIM and blacklist the handset by its IMEI — the serial number you can see on any phone by dialling *#06#.
4. Change your e-mail password first. E-mail resets every other account you own. Then banking, then anything that stores a card.
5. Tell one person at home. Someone who can call your bank, find your policy number and send a copy of your passport while you deal with the rest.

Do not chase anyone. Pickpockets rarely work alone, and everything you were carrying can be replaced. You cannot.

Within 24 hours: the police report that decides your insurance claim

If you have been robbed abroad, here is the thing almost nobody tells you: the police report is not about getting your things back. In a busy tourist city, nobody at the station expects that, and neither should you. The report is the document your insurer reads, months later, to decide whether to pay.

Insurers use it to establish that you suffered a loss, what it was worth, and the circumstances. Without a written report, a theft claim is typically rejected in full. The UK government adds a second reason to hurry: in most countries, you must report a crime before you leave the country if you want it investigated at all.

What the report has to say

• Stolen, or lost — the right word. Many policies treat the two differently, and most exclude property that was "left unattended". "It was taken from my bag while I was sitting there" and "I put it down and it was gone" are the same afternoon to you, and two different outcomes to an insurer.
• Every item, with its value as a number. Not "an expensive camera" — the model, and the figure with its currency.
• Where and when. Date, time, the station or street.
• Your name exactly as it is in your passport.

Before you walk out of the station

• Ask for a copy and the reference number. A report you cannot produce does not exist.
• Note the station, the date and the officer's name or number. Your insurer may ask who took the report, and so may the embassy.
• Photograph every page. At the counter, in good light. Paper goes missing on the way home.
• If a word on the page is wrong, say so before you sign. Changing it takes a minute then. Afterwards it takes a lawyer.

Where to go

The nearest police station will do, and your hotel usually knows which one deals with visitors. Some countries make it easier:

• Spain: report by phone, in English. The Policía Nacional takes reports from tourists on 902 102 112, in English and several other languages, from 9:00 to 21:00. You then sign the report at a station.
• Greece: the Tourist Police. They answer 1571 around the clock, in Greek, English, French and German.
• Lost by an airline? That is a different document. Get a Property Irregularity Report at the baggage desk before you leave the airport. Insurers ask for it, and you cannot get one afterwards.

The sentence to open with

A phrase gets you started. It does not get you through twenty minutes of questions about where you were sitting and what the bag looked like — which is where reports go wrong.

If your passport is lost or stolen abroad

A lost passport abroad is handled by your own country, not by the local police — though you will want the police report too, for your insurer. A report is not always required to replace the passport itself: the U.S. State Department says it is not mandatory, but that it helps confirm what happened.

Know what an embassy is not. It does not investigate crimes, and it will not generally pay your bills. It can replace your travel document, help you reach family or your bank so that money can be sent, and give you lists of local lawyers and interpreters.

What usually goes wrong with a claim for theft abroad

Travel insurance claims for things stolen abroad rarely fail because of what happened on the metro. They fail because of what happened — or did not — during the following day.

• "They will never find it, so why bother?"

  The most expensive sentence in travel. The report was never about finding it. No report, no claim.

• The clock runs out while you are being sent around.

  The first station sends you to a second. The officer who speaks English is in tomorrow. It is your last evening and the flight is at seven. Go early, and go before you do anything else that day.

• "Lost" gets typed because it is simpler.

  You do not write the sentence that decides your claim. An officer does — after listening to an upset tourist in a second language, and typing one line in their own.

• You sign a page you cannot read.

  Most people do. What else is there to do, at eleven at night, with a queue behind you? But that page is what your insurer will read, not your memory of the evening.

• The word "unattended".

  The bag on the back of the chair, the phone on the café table, the towel on the beach. The UK's Financial Ombudsman notes that most policies carry an unattended-baggage exclusion, and that the bulk of baggage disputes are about exclusions and limits. How the circumstances are written down matters.

• No proof you ever owned it.

  Insurers want receipts, photographs, a bank statement, the box with the serial number. People discover this at home, which is where those things should have been photographed before leaving.

• Telling the insurer last.

  Many policies also set a deadline for notifying them, not only the police. Call the emergency number on your policy the same day.

Lost and stolen abroad: the numbers

How common is it to have something lost or stolen abroad, and to end up arguing about it afterwards? Common enough to be measured:

Before you travel abroad: ten minutes that protect you

Everything above is easier if you did this at home, before anything was lost or stolen abroad. None of it costs anything.

• Photograph your passport's photo page. E-mail it to yourself and to one person you trust.
• Find the deadline in your own policy. Search the document for "police" and for "hours". A minute at home; impossible at a counter at night.
• Write your insurer's emergency number and your policy number on paper. Put it in your suitcase — somewhere that is not your phone.
• Dial *#06# and write down your IMEI. Your carrier needs it to blacklist a stolen phone.
• Photograph receipts and serial numbers. Do it for anything you would want to claim for.
• Split your cards. One on you, one in the room safe.
• Save your embassy's address. The one in the country you are visiting — and remember 112.
• Install a translator you have actually tried. In a real conversation — not one you will be learning how to use at a police counter.

Stolen or lost abroad: questions people ask

Official help, in one place

• GOV.UK — Get help if you're a victim of crime abroadBritish nationals. The FCDO answers 24/7 on +44 20 7008 5000.
• U.S. Department of State — Help abroadU.S. citizens: lost passports, victims of crime, emergency contacts.
• European Commission — Consular protectionEU citizens in a country where their own state has no embassy.
• Your Europe — The 112 emergency numberHow it works in each EU country.
• Hellenic Police — Direct linesGreece, including the Tourist Police on 1571.
• Financial Ombudsman Service — Insurance complaintsIf a UK insurer refuses a claim you believe is fair.