[no longer safe]

My eldest daughter's iPod got stolen yesterday in National Bookstore, Trinoma. According to her, a woman "bumped" into her at the ballpen section & the next thing she knew, her bag was already unzipped with the gadget gone.

Immediately, my daughter thought of going online to change her passwords as she was afraid the thief might get access to all her accounts.  We went back to PARVATI, the dessert place we went to before NBS & got online again. After finishing what she had to do, we proceeded to the MAC store at the 3F to ask the people there if a way to get the gadget blocked from being used by the culprit can be done. The man who assisted us asked if the iPod was configured to the IOS-5 setting & the iCloud was activated. Good thing, my daughter was able to do that just recently so the man helped us find the gadget hoping that it was being used online. Unfortunately, it was not, so we couldn't locate its whereabouts.

Upon reaching home, my daughter tried her luck locating it on her own. She found out it was being used online but the location was UNAVAILABLE. Scared once more  that all her photos will be copied & used unscrupulously, she tweaked the settings & found out the files can be WIPED or LOCKED remotely once the person uses the internet. She opted for the WIPE setting, clicked the tab & prayed that the deletion thing will be done anytime soon.

Our children are really easy preys to heartless criminals. I have been relentless in reminding my girls to be careful with their things especially in malls or other public places teeming with people, but unfortunate incidents like these are uncontrollable. Sadly, this is the state that our country is in. Safety is really a thing of the past here. As always the case, the police are only there AFTER the situation (if we are lucky enough to be helped by them) so there is that feeling that crimes are not really prevented, criminals abound & they are so hardcore & brazen that they know they can always get away with the crimes they commit. When will that time come when we can say that the streets in the Philippines are safe to walk in? Wishful thinking... =(

*** When my hubby informed the NBS security about it, the guard told him that a similar incident was reported earlier by another victim. So, we know that a crime report, if made, remains just a report & nothing  ever comes out of it. As if to assure us, the guard said we can view the CCTV footage of the incident if we just make the request. My hubby waived that because he knows the thief already got out of the mall's vicinity & it was useless.

***For those with APPLE gadgets, go here to know how to set up your iCloud & facilitate gadget location or remote  LOCK or WIPE  your files once they get stolen.