John Brouff left his car at Dubbo Fire Station while attending an incident. He forgot to lock his car and the wallet was stolen while he was away.

It was handed in at Orana Mall with everything in it except for $50 in cash.

"I was lucky to get back what I did, all my cards were still in it. There was only $50 in it but that's still $50 I don't have," Mr Brouff said.

Mr Brouff said he was disappointed that someone would resort to such a low act.

"I turned up at the station to attend a fire call, I got out of my vehicle and forgot to lock it. It was an automatic fire alarm at the police station so we grabbed our gear and jumped in the truck. We did what we had to down there, went back to the station, got changed and went home," he said.

"About 20 minutes later the guys at the station were ringing me to see if I knew where my wallet was. They had got a call from the Big W service desk to say my wallet had been handed in.

Dubbo has a bad reputation for vehicles being broken into. In 2012 it was ranked third in the state for thefts from vehicles, with more than twice as many as the state average.

Mr Brouff said he wouldn't forget to lock his car again any time soon.

"It's a valuable lesson. Lock your vehicle, even if you are in a hurry," he said.