Thanks to Gothamist and BikeSnob

Well according to the comments I got on Gothamist, you'd be hard pressed to believe you were reading the work of the biggest sucker on the planet. I had to share my experience with the online community in the hopes of people looking for my bike and possibly getting it back, despite the scathing comments I knew I would be subjected to. I'm not looking for any sympathy here. Yes, it was a very embarrassing experience, but you learn from it. Perhaps if I had read about a scam like this on someone else's blog, I would never have given up my bike the way I did. Especially when I found out from other people that this same thing had happened to them...in the same part of town. I'm not going to live my life as an paranoid recluse never trusting humanity again. Live and learn. Perhaps more people can share their bike theft stories and we can begin to look out for one another and not just look the other way when that person is cutting a bike lock with a hack saw. It takes the better man to admit when you've been had, and the cowards who make anonymous comments are not contributing to anything. I hope they never need help in a situation or become the unfortunate victim of a crime.

Big shout out to BikeSnob. He really made an excellent post and had some really good advice about dealing with bike theft. Thanks to him and Gothamist for helping out.

A few people wanted to know about my renters insurance. I've had State Farm for years. You pay $270 for the year and it covers theft and fire. It also covers property loss even if its outside of your home. You pay a $500.00 deductible, so the value of the loss has to somewhat worth it. You call the insurance company and explain what happened, then a separate insurance agent gets assigned to your case. in which you list the value of the property lost and provide them with as much accurate records as you can. They did not ask for the police report in my situation, but I'm sure that is case specific.