Ethics and the Subway

It's a useful reminder for somebody writing and teaching about ethics: watch out for pickpockets. I tend to forget that not everybody plays by the rules. I guess that's why, when I was being pushed onto a crowded train in the St Petersburg Metro I figured that the burly stranger was just trying to board before the doors closed.

Wrong! He (or a confederate) was extracting my wallet from the lowest pants-leg pocket of my cargo pants, where I had complacently believed it was safe. Within a half hour over $8000 had been fraudulently paid from my checking account for "purchases." The bank assures me that they will make me whole. And I relearned a lesson.