to tell people to be aware of thieves while xmas shopping

[MsMarvel]

Yesterday in town I'm pretty sure I nearly had my bag stolen. I was walking along a pedestrianised area and noticed a guy walking quite close to my right shoulder. I slowed down thinking he wanted past me, and he slowed down too. I then sped up again and so Did he.

I was starting to get freaked out at this point and stopped dead. He stopped abruptly as well and then quickly turned and walked into the nearest shop. I went into a different shop to hide for a while and when I left about 5 mins later he walked past me in the opposite direction, so he must have come out of the shop he went into as soon as I was out of sight.

Tbh it might not even have been anything, but I had my handbag over my right shoulder. Nothing was taken from my bag, so he wasn't a pickpocket, but I suspect he was looking for a good moment to grab my bag and run. It really freaked me out.

Please be careful of busy city centres, and scummy thieves who are taking advantage of distracted people in town doing Xmas shopping.

youareallbonkers You might think everyone knows this stuff but believe me they really don't. Working in a busy central London shop I saw a woman (American I believe) have her bad stolen while she was trying on a pair of shoes, she put the bag on the floor for 2 minutes and it was gone, her bag had passports for her whole family, their return tickets home and all of their money as well as their hotel keys and she just left it on the floor!!

At busy times I would stand on a chair and make announcements about looking after your stuff, please keep bags with you ect, we didn't have a Saturday where we didn't have at least 5 customers having their bags stolen. That was in one shop - imagine how much stuff will get stolen in the whole of Oxford Street tomorrow!

if you have bags of shopping with you and you stop in a cafe, thread the handle of your handbag (assuming you are using one) through all the handles of shopping bags, then put the whole lot under the table with the handle of your handbag around your leg and (if possible) the leg of the chair.

If you make it more difficult they'll more likely move on to some easier target.

Another scenario to be aware of - I know someone who put their bag on the floor at the cinema and someone in the seat behind tried to grab it from under the seat. This could potentially happen anywhere people are sitting behind you.

Horrible that you feel you can't let your guard down as you risk being robbed.

This might be a good thread to remind people not to put personal belongings in trolleys and then leave them 'just for a second' whilst they look at something. It happens all the time, and people will wander off with other people's trolleys by accident when it's busy, never mind the groups that specifically target stores looking to snatch bags from unattended trolleys.

I should say that I see it all the time at work, and I'm fed up with warning people there (busy times at work = very grumpy customers!)