“Serving overseas as a small-town boy from America is intense, stressful and humorous! Enjoy a light-hearted story with me from our last 20 years overseas!”
—Matt
TAKEN FOR RANSOM
In the old days, it seemed the plot to many movies and real-life adventures were people being taken for the purposes of ransom. Today, ironically, it seems that our information is worth more than we are, as our information and not us is taken for ransom.
It seems like a common event for hackers to steal digital information from a website or business that contains data about us or our finances. The hackers then ransom the information for big bucks. Living overseas we have thankfully little risk for being taken ourselves for ransom, but our physical information is a great risk for ransom. Bureaucracy is common everywhere, but the USA is actually quite streamlined and efficient compared to other places. Because of this inefficiency overseas, thieves will steal documents that have no value, but would require months of headaches to reacquire. It is common for thieves to break into vehicles to steal the documents required to be present with the vehicle. The thief then contacts you with a ransom request to get the documents back.
As we often have overseas visitors, keeping their identification and documents secure is also a concern as we travel about with them to events. We were not quite sure what to do to protect ourselves against having our documents stolen for ransom, until we realized Jeep owners in the USA had helped us solve the problem. A Texas company had designed a slim strongbox that fit under a front seat to store the Jeep owner’s pistol when he was not carrying the firearm. These types of safes are nonexistent where we live overseas as small firearms are not allowed. We ordered one of these Texan Jeep pistol safes and had it brought over to us with a visitor. We bolted the heavy-duty safe to the floor from below the vehicle and it fits out-of-sight under the front passenger’s seat. We thank the Lord that we are currently batting 1000 with no documents or identification taken for ransom in all our years overseas.
I can get frustrated by the time and effort given to prepare against mishaps, but time invested in avoiding some mishaps is well spent and cheaper than the alternative. Well, I did inadvertently disconnect an airbag cable when moving that under seat safe around, so it is on my to-do list to fix.
Something similar ever happen to you? Contact me and let me hear your story! Matt’s Mishaps, PO BOX 114, Grabill, IN 46741
