LostMyRing

• Try to determine where and when it was most likely lost. I know this may sound a little silly, if you knew where you lost it then it wouldn’t be lost. However, having an idea of where and when it was lost can be helpful.
• Act quickly. Time is not on your side. You need to get the word out quickly.
• Click on the Report Lost Ring link on our page and fill out a report. Include all the information along with your email address.
• Go to www.craigslist.com and find the closest city page to where you live. This has become a very popular place to post lost and found advertisements. Post an item lost ad on Craig’s List. Give enough detail that a finder would know it was your ring.
• If you know you lost it in a fairly small area, or a few locations (ie: it is either at the grocery store or the gym) post a flyer at those locations.
• Retrace your steps. Look very carefully
• If it is lost in the outdoors, consider hiring a metal detector expert or renting a metal detector and trying to find it yourself. (For tips on using a metal detector click here)
• Place an ad in the local newspaper where you lost it.
• Check all the silly places. Look in the cuff of your pants, down the couch, on the bathroom sink, under your car seat and any other place it could have dropped.
• Repeat your postings and ads in 1 week (you don’t need to repost here, we leave your ad up for quite some time.)

• Relax. You won't be good at retracing your steps if you are a bundle of nerves and anxiety.
• Tidy up your car, home and workspace. Oftentimes, lost objects are found within two feet of where they should be. Double check all pockets, pushes, briefcases and bags you would have handled during the time you may have lost it.
• click on the Report Lost Keys link on our page and fill out a report. Include all the information along with your email.
• If your keys were lost with your ID and/or wallet, consider calling the police and changing you locks right away. If these items could have been stolen, the thief would now have your address and means to get into your home.
• some links for locksmiths: Find a locksmith at the aola site. or look for a locksmith at the Society of Professional Locksmiths site.

• If your phone is turned on, it may be as simple as calling it. Hopefully if someone found it they will pick up and you can arrange to get it back. If no one picks up, trying sending a text message with contact info for reaching you (email would be best) and a possible reward for returning it. If the phone was stolen, a reward may entice the thief to return it rather than sell it to a third party.
• Click on the Report Lost Phone link on our page and fill out a report. Include all information along with your email address.
• Retrace your steps. Make sure to check your home, furniture it could have slipped underneath, jackets, bags, and your car (especially underneath the seat).
• Smartphones can usually be tracked through your provider. For Android phones, you can use the Android Device Manager, which is linked to your Google account. This will allow you to track your phone's GPS as well as change your password remotely or delete all your data. This app does take a little setup so if you don't have it on your lost phone, don't worry, your provider should still be able to help you. For iPhones, if its an ios5 or higher, the app Find my IPhone is automatically installed. This app works with iCloud which you can sign into on any other Apple device to trace or control your phone remotely.
• If your phone is offline or not a smartphone, your best bet is placing ads and contacting your service provider.

• Try to calmly retrace your steps mentally. Make a note of where you could have lost it, call businesses where it could have been left.
• Click on the Report Lost Wallet/Purse link on our page and fill out a report. Include all the information along with your email address.
• Make a list of everything that was in your missing wallet or purse, including discount cards to grocery stores, library cards, all forms of id, anything that could be linked to your personal information.
• Physically retrace yours steps, perhaps someone posted a flyer or left it at a business nearby.
• Consider looking in dumpsters and trash cans near where you may have lost it. Someone may have come across it, emptied it out and tossed it nearby.
• Call your bank and credit card providers and suspend your accounts. Going without cards for a few days is way less of a hassle than disputing fraudulent charges later.
• Follow up on your missing forms of id. Stolen wallets are often used in identity theft. Call the DMV and report your missing driver's license. Consider placing a security alert on your credit report. This will let creditors know in the future to take extra steps when verifying your identity. This is especially important if your wallet contained either your social security card or your birth certificate. If this is the case, you may want to consider filing a report with an identity theft protection service such as *insert link to TrustedID and LifeLock*
• Don't forget to cancel discount cards and library cards. These have ties to your personal info and anything that happens tied to those cards you are inevitably liable for (i.e. books checked out, bad checks written or cashed, etc.).

Helpful Links: Reporting a lost credit card, major banks.

American Banks / US Banks

• Capital One Phone: 1-800-227-4825
• Chase Customer Service Phone: 1-800-432-3117
• CitiBank Phone: 1-800-950-5114
• Wells Fargo (Link not available) Phone: 1-800-732-9194
• Bank of America Phone: 1-800-732-9194
• US Bank Phone: 1-800-285-8585

Australian Banks

• Commonwealth Bank Phone: 011 61 2 9999 3283
• Westpac Phone: 011 61 3 6345 1058
• ANZ Phone: 011 61 3 9683 7043
• NAB Phone: 1800 033 103

UK Banks

• HSBC Phone: 03456 007 010
• Lloyds Bank Phone: 0800 096 9779
• Barclays Phone: 0345 945 4545

So, with all that in mind, here are my tips for amatuers with metal detectors:

• If this is your first time using a metal detector, ask for some assistance from the shop where you rent or buy it and/or read the manual. If you are looking for a ring, make sure that you set the ‘discriminator’ to the ‘ring’ setting. This will help you avoid getting lots of false signals from small bits of metal like old gum wrappers.
• Find a nice little practice area where you can move the detector around without getting a bunch of beeps. This may mean clearing some stuff away, or you may get lucky and find a clear spot right away. Just give yourself a few square feet that you can pass the detector over without finding anything.
• Train your ear. Take a gold ring or band and place it on the ground, then place a penny on the ground about 3 feet away from the ring. Pass the detector over both of them and listen to the difference in the beep. If the detector is properly set, you should hear a much stronger beep from the ring than you do from the penny. Do this for awhile. You really want to get a good feeling for the difference between a solid ‘hit’ and just a small beep.
• Once you start actually searching, work in an orderly pattern. Pick out the area you want to search and work in a methodical way. There are many different patterns you could use. One method that seemed to work for me was to do the border first, all the way around and then work left to right, front to back. However, the exact pattern isn’t as important as the fact that you use one. You need to know that when you’ve covered an area you have really covered it.
• If you hit a beep and you feel it’s worth digging, move the detector around side to side and front to back until you have a pretty good idea exactly where the target is. Digital detectors (which I haven’t used) will have a little indicator screen that will help you narrow in on it. Once you’ve decided to dig, use your plastic trowel and bring up a small area. Put the dirt and grass into your bucket and then check the area again. This will help make sure that you got the item. Don’t start sifting through the bucket until you’re sure you have gotten the target out of the ground.
• After you are sure that the target is out of the ground, use the detector on the bucket and see if the target shows up in there. If it does, then you know you got it and something is in there. Search the bucket until you find it and the bucket reads clean (no beeps) from the detector. If it wasn’t what you were looking for, get it out of the way. Don’t just throw that little piece of foil or penny back into your search area (I learned this the hard way when I spent 5 minutes to find the target I had just spent 5 minutes to find and then tossed in my search area).
• After you have dealt with each individual target, you must put the dirt and sod back! Don’t leave the park or yard looking like a mine field! It is up to you not to destroy or deface property.
• Keep working the search area until you have covered the entire area. From time to time, set your test ring and a penny on the ground and re-tune your ear to hear the difference.
• GOOD LUCK!!!

If you aren’t successful, can’t find a rental shop, or just don’t want to deal with it, there are people who do this as a side job / hobby. Expect to pay $50 to $100 to have someone search for a couple of hours. They are skilled at this and may have a better chance of finding the object that a novice. But read my story and you will see what dedication can do.
Once you find your item, consider registering it with us at LostMyRing.Com so that if it is lost in the future, your chances of getting it back will be greater!