A monkey, a smartphone and a fruit-based ransom negotiation set the scene for one of the more unusual travel insurance claims lodged by an Australian traveller in Bali. Only the monkey walked away happy.
Southern Cross Travel Insurance (SCTI) has revealed some of the stranger ways Australians have lost their mobiles overseas, from primate-led heists and festival pickpockets to boating mishaps and an ill-fated encounter with a toilet during a bout of Bali belly.
The insurer has handled more than 1,330 mobile claims over the past three years, with the average claim costing more than $1,013.
That is perhaps unsurprising given Australians now consider their phones and chargers more important travel essentials than travel insurance, according to SCTI’s Future of Travel research.
Seventy per cent of respondents nominated their phone and charger as a travel essential, compared with 47 per cent for travel insurance and 43 per cent for toiletries.
Clean underwear, apparently, is negotiable. Google Maps is not.
Bali monkey makes off with the goods
The standout claim involved a traveller dining at a clifftop restaurant in Bali, where a wild monkey reached around a wall and snatched a phone from the table.
Staff attempted to negotiate its return using fruit, but the monkey reportedly smiled at them before dropping the phone into the ocean.
The claim was paid at $1,020, although the emotional damage caused by being outsmarted and then openly mocked by a monkey remains difficult to quantify.
The incident also provides an important reminder that mobiles left unattended can attract opportunistic thieves, regardless of whether those thieves are human.
SCTI Chief Customer Officer Jess Strange said phones had become central to almost every stage of an overseas holiday.
“From storing boarding passes, hotel bookings and digital wallets, to navigating maps and capturing once-in-a-lifetime memories, our phones have become one of the most important items we travel with. But as our data shows, they can disappear in an instant, whether they’re knocked out of your hand on a speedboat or swiped by a cheeky local monkey,” Strange said.
Going overboard
Monkeys were not the only menace identified in SCTI’s claims data. The ocean also appears to have developed a taste for expensive electronics.
One traveller was filming a selfie video aboard a moving boat when another passenger bumped into them, sending the phone into the water. SCTI paid $1,240 for the claim.
Another traveller slipped on loose rocks while photographing the sunset on a beach in Fiji, dropping both a phone and camera into the ocean. That claim resulted in a payout of $5,748.
Other incidents involved capsizing kayaks in Portugal and Fiji, proving that the phrase “hold onto your valuables” should be taken especially literally when attempting anything involving a paddle.
Not all water-related claims came with an ocean view. One traveller suffering from severe Bali belly dropped their headphones directly into the toilet.
Some travel memories are best left undocumented.
Festivals provide rich pickings
Crowded festivals and parties also emerged as phone theft hotspots, including Thailand’s Full Moon Parties and Parklife Festival in Manchester.
One traveller had their mobile stolen from a zipped crossbody bag while wearing it at Parklife, resulting in a $754 payout.
The claim highlights the difficulty of protecting devices in tightly packed crowds, where even zipped bags may not be enough to stop an experienced thief.
Strange said that while the more unusual claims could sound amusing, losing a phone overseas could quickly become stressful and costly.
“While these stories may sound amusing, losing your primary way of communicating while overseas can quickly become stressful and expensive as replacing a phone while travelling can put a serious dent in your holiday budget,” she said.
Check your phone is actually covered
SCTI is encouraging travellers to review their insurance policies before departure, particularly the limits that apply to electronic devices.
Depending on the insurer and policy, travellers may need to list an expensive phone as a specified item and pay an additional premium to receive a higher level of cover.
Depreciation may also apply, meaning the owner of a three-year-old phone should not necessarily expect to receive the cost of a brand-new replacement.
“It’s important to understand how policy limits and depreciation apply before you leave home,” Strange said.
“Many people don’t realise insurance policies, including travel insurance, generally take into account the age, wear and tear of electronic items.”
Travellers should retain digital copies of purchase receipts and report suspected thefts to local authorities as soon as possible, as a police report will generally be required when making an insurance claim.
They must also take reasonable steps to protect their belongings. Leaving a phone unattended on a table may jeopardise a claim, even when the alleged offender is furry, locally connected and demanding a banana.
What to do when your phone disappears
SCTI recommends using Apple or Android’s remote erase function when a lost phone cannot be recovered, provided the device is still connected to the internet.
Travellers should also change passwords for email, banking and social media accounts, remove the missing phone as a trusted device for two-factor authentication and contact their telecommunications provider to blacklist the handset.
The provider may require the phone’s IMEI and SIM numbers, which travellers should record somewhere other than on the phone itself.
Friends and family should also be told the device is missing, while travellers should be alert to phishing attempts from scammers posing as banks, telecommunications companies or law enforcement.
And when dealing with monkeys, travellers may wish to keep their phones secured and their fruit budget flexible.
KARRYON UNPACKS: Bali, Fiji and Thailand sit high on the list of where Australians travel, and they also feature in these claims, which makes the phone conversation an easy add-on when finalising an insurance policy. The depreciation point is the sleeper detail worth flagging: a client picturing a brand-new handset payout may be disappointed by the cash value of an older device.
