Last week I was pickpocketed at Hard Rock Cafe in Montreal. I'm sure it was the couple dining at the table behind me. There was a lot of bumping and squeezing into my chair. Initially I didn't understand how it made sense to invest in a meal to get a mystery amount of cash from my wallet. However, they had my credit cards out on the street and before we finished our meal they had run up $5k. What a nightmare. The merchants in Montreal apparently don't check the signature or id even on a $1400 electronics purchase. Too bad because if the merchants made some minimal attempt it would decrease the payoff and incentive for stealing the wallet. They didn't use my American Express card, I'm assuming because the merchant would have had to hold the card in their hand to enter the 4 digit security code and the thief who may not have even been the same gender as me didn't want to risk having the merchant scrutinize the card.

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