In the latest disturbing mugging trend, not only are criminals demanding everything in your pockets, they’re forcing you to empty your bank accounts right from your phone. You’ll need to prepare your mobile from forced transfer muggings, otherwise you could be left with a lot more loss than just a stolen phone.

Here’s what you need to do to protect yourself.

Basics First

Often, the victims of these kinds of robberies are in public but distracted, ironically, by their phones. Thieves are looking for a quick opportunity and catching someone by surprise is a good way to save time and reduce their chances of getting caught. Always be aware of your surroundings in busy areas and if you have to check your phone, do it somewhere indoors or where you feel safe.

Even then, try not to get lost staring at your phone and save anything you need to really concentrate on for home or inside a cafe.

Use Biometrics

Enable Face ID on your iPhone or Face Recognition for Android because there are some key security features tied to them. Also, the PIN on your phone should be unique – make sure it’s not your ATM PIN or used for anything else other than to unlock your phone. Next you want to enable remote tracking features like “Find My iPhone” for iOS or “Find my Device” on Android because those will let you erase your phone if it’s lost or stolen.

When you have facial recognition enabled you can also hide apps or use private space on Android so your sensitive bank apps are hidden and require a face scan to open. It’s not absolute security but in the heat of the moment the robbers will try to get away as soon as possible, so this level of protection makes it less likely they’ll dig deep on the spot.

Go Cold Turkey

I’d recommend not having any of your bank apps on your phone – which sounds crazy – but trust me, you probably don’t need them as much as you think. And if you are going to have one, use a separate account for just your phone. The robbers are going to go for the easiest method so if you do decide to keep a banking app on your phone, make sure it’s bait.

Create a bank account you’ll only use with your phone and keep a very limited amount of money there. You can also set transfer limits on your accounts if your bank allows it so if you are forced to transfer money out at gunpoint, there’s a limit on how much you can withdraw per day. A lot of banks too have privacy and security features that you might not know about. It’s a pain but spending a few minutes to call their customer service or fraud departments and ask what features they have can be useful and if they’re lacking, letting them know it’s important to you or you might go to a competitor, which can be useful feedback.

For apps and services like Paypal, Zelle, Revolut, and Venmo make sure you also set up those accounts with transfer limits and keep no or a very small amount of funds there. Also, don’t connect them to your main bank accounts – only connect them with that secondary account that has limited funds.

You want to insulate your main accounts from your phone’s apps. For more on protecting yourself against forced transfer muggings watch this video.

The post How To Protect Your Phone From Forced Bank Transfer Muggings appeared first on foXnoMad.

In some parts of the world mugging and pickpocketing is a common, advanced art (like slash attacks). With most people unsuspecting, big cities like Paris, Rome, and London can become easy hunting grounds for thieves. All of their tricks have counters though that they do not want you to know about.

Here’s how to handle your cash to thwart even the best of pickpockets.

Diversify

A tactic so simple it’s amazing more people don’t do it – distribute your cash in multiple places. Use your wallet, other pocket, socks, or money belt so that all of your money is not in one place. That way if you get robbed, there are limited loses from a successful pickpocketing. Keep your smallest amounts easily accessible and the larger sums in harder to get places. Carry only what you need and don’t keep it all in one place.

Anti-Theft Travel Wallet Decoy Cards – 6 Fake Credit Cards...

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Use The Fold, Luke

Rather than keeping your cash in one big wad, break it up into folds of ones, fives, tens, and other denominations. This way, even if everything is in a single pocket, you can take only a small portion of it out. (Watch the video above to see this demonstrated.) Clever cash folds are another way to lessen the impact of any single, successful theft. Using folds also means you don’t have to take all of your cash out every time for each purchase, when you might only need a small amount. Pickpockets are watching so be careful not to display your valuables.

Decoy The Day Away

In some places it might be worth carrying a decoy wallet loaded with some decoy cards. You can find these sold at just a few dollars and they make a convincing piece of bait for a pickpocket or mugger. They’re effective for times you do have to hand over your purse or empty your pockets in a short time or when confronted. Keep a small amount of cash in your decoy and part with it quickly, knowing the real valuables are still with you.

The post The Cash Tricks Muggers Don’t Want You To Know About appeared first on foXnoMad.

The Ridge Wallet has been a solid slim choice to carry cards and some cash. They’ve grown quite a bit in popularity since I originally reviewed Ridge and this is the first major update to the design. The changes are a lot of improvements on what previously weighed down the Ridge Wallet.

Version Increase

The Ridge Wallet 2.0 is a lot of the same at a glance. Two polycarbonate (strong plastic) panels held together with a durable elastic band. On the front of the panels are screwed on faces with options for aluminum, carbon fiber, leather or titanium materials. The look can be customized as well, with teams, artwork, logos, and more. Ridge has kept a lot of what’s worked, which is a good thing.

Ridge Wallet for Men - Slim Minimalist Compact Wallet and Card...

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Refining The Details

Ridge have dropped the weight of the Wallet 2.0 down to 70 grams. It’s not a major drop in weight from the original but noticeable enough to make the Ridge Wallet 2.0 feel much less imposing in your pocket. (A big gripe of mine the first time around.) The cash strap on the back has also been slimmed down, is still removable, and as much as 2.0 looks like 1.0, it feels significantly improved.

Ridge’s Impressive Guarantee

Ridge has always had a very generous 99 day return policy for many of their products, including the Ridge Wallet. It’s no questions asked so you can really test this out to see if you like one. But Ridge also though have a full replacement policy for loss and theft that comes with the Wallet 2.0 at no extra charge.

Basically, if you lose your Ridge Wallet or it gets stolen, they’ll send you a new one minus a processing fee of 17 to 27 dollars, depending on the cost of your original wallet. That’s a backing competitors will find hard to copy and a backing Ridge are hoping Wallet 2.0 will convince you too.

The post Ridge Wallet 2.0 Review: Slim Gets Slimmer appeared first on foXnoMad.

Marriott hotels announced in 2024 that they would be partnering with Sonder and rebranding the apartment accommodation service as Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy. Then, abruptly at in November 2025, Marriott released a statement saying they were terminating their partnership with Sonder effective immediately and all guests staying at Sonder properties had to get out. Immediately.

So here’s what happened between Sonder and Marriott.

The Partnership That Wasn’t

Right after Marriott’s press release on November 9th, messages were sent to Sonder guests informing them they had to vacate their rooms. Some returned to their rooms to find their belongings in plastic bags left in hallways. It turns out, Sonder had not been paying Marriott for their end of the bargain (Marriott even used the term “default” in their press release) and filed for bankruptcy within 48 hours.

Their CEO, Janice Sears made it seem like Marriott was to blame for their Chapter 7 filing:

“We are devastated to reach a point where a liquidation is the only viable path forward,” said Janice Sears, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Sonder. “Unfortunately, our integration with Marriott International was substantially delayed due to unexpected challenges in aligning our technology frameworks, resulting in significant, unanticipated integration costs, as well as a sharp decline in revenue arising from Sonder’s participation in Marriott’s Bonvoy reservation system. These issues persisted and contributed to a substantial and material loss in working capital.”

Yikes. The blame game has begun but it’s hard to see how partnering with Marriott could have devastated Sonder so quickly. It’s more likely Sonder were already running on fumes and simply could hold out until the (expected) revenue boost from Marriott came.

Sonder No More

Filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy leading to liquidation means that Sonder won’t exist any more. All future reservations have been automatically canceled and if you want a refund, you’ll have to work with your bank to get a charge back. Marriott is helping customers who booked through their site but have said Sonder users are on their own.

It’s been a messy break up and a shame for travelers. Sonder offered spacious, apartment style alternatives to hotel rooms in major cities. I guess now we know that it was all too good to be true.

The post The Sonder-Marriott Hotels Divorce is Ugly appeared first on foXnoMad.

Ridge is a company whose first mainstream product was a metal slim wallet. They’re sleek but in my past reviews have noted the Ridge wallet is just a bit bulky and rigid to fit comfortably in some pockets, especially in jeans. Recently though Ridge have introduced the Biflex, a slim wallet made of leather a soft elastic that aims to be the flexible version of their flagship product.

Biflex Basics

The Biflex has two folds for mostly cards (up to 8) and maybe a few bills but there isn’t a lot of space for both. Ridge use an elastic band that’s held together with leather to create the fold style which is very reminiscent of the Trove Swift wallets. There’s a small half circle cut out on the front you use to push your cards up and out and on the back an oval cutout to slide the top card.

Ridge Biflex Wallet for Men - Slim Minimalist Compact Wallet with...

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The front cutout works better, ideally when you keep at most 3 of your most frequently used cards in that front pocket. The back cutout on the Biflex doesn’t work as well because it gives you only access to push one card out at a time so you end up just grabbing all of your cards at once. It’s here where the Biflex might be a bit too minimal even for minimalist wallet enthusiasts and where some of the design features of a Trove (like a Swift tab) would come in handy.

Lack Of Color Options

It’s a bit obvious that Ridge are venturing into the soft slim wallet market (which is notably smaller than the hard-backed options) cautiously. Ridge currently only off the Biflex in three color options whereas their flagship Ridge wallet has dozens of color, logo, and customization choices available. The Biflex is also pricey for a fabric and leather based slim wallet compared to the competition. At $85 the Biflex is thin but the price a bit heavy compared to the competition. Unless you want the most minimal (and self-priced premium) soft slim wallet, the Biflex has a lot of competition that makes better wallets with more options.

The post The Ridge Biflex Is A Familiar Slim Wallet With A Big Price appeared first on foXnoMad.