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The first hour
- Check whether anything on the keys gives away an addressA tag, a receipt, a fob with a car or building number. If the address can be worked out, change the lock without waiting.
- Retrace your stepsPockets, bag, the door lock, the car, the bench by the entrance. Keys most often fall out where you took out your phone or wallet.
- Ask at the places you have beenSecurity, the manager, the driver, the neighbours. Found keys are usually left at the desk or hung by the door.
- Check the finds on DeRechiSearch by the look of the bunch: how many keys, the fob, the colour. Post a notice about the loss.
Where to look
- By the doors you opened last: the flat, the car, the office.
- In coat pockets and the lining of the bag.
- At reception desks and the lost property offices of the places you visited.
- In the groups of your building, district and city: found keys are posted there all the time.
In the notice describe the fob and the number of keys, but never the address or the car number.
Should you change the lock
If nothing on the keys gave away an address and you did not lose them together with documents, the risk is small: a key alone will hardly lead anyone to your door. If there was an address, or the keys went missing together with a wallet or passport, change the lock cylinder right away.- Car keys: if you have a spare, ask a service centre to delete the lost key from the car's memory so it can no longer start it. Until that is done, park the car away from where you lost the keys: one press on the fob shows which car is yours.
- Office or entrance keys with an intercom: tell the manager so the old key is cancelled.
- Electronic cards: deactivate them with the issuer.
Found someone's keys?
- Leave them where you found them, or hand them to the managerThe owner will come back to this very place. If the spot is deserted, take them to the nearest venue or police station.
- Post a notice on DeRechiDescribe the fob and the number of keys, but do not photograph tags with an address. The owner will prove the keys are theirs by describing what the notice leaves out.
