Thieves target elderly in stores
Several incidents of theft are occurring in upmarket shopping centres in the east of the city and police are warning shoppers to be vigilant.
Elderly women and mothers are being targeted by groups of “very clever” thieves and pickpockets in upmarket shopping centre stores in the east.
Brooklyn police have issued a warning for shoppers to be extremely alert and not to allow strangers to distract them.
Wallets, purses and cellphones are the loot of choice. The “considerate” criminals sometimes dump the purses and wallets. These are then found and returned to the owners – still containing credit an debit cards, identity documents and drivers’ licences but no cash.
In addition to possessions being stolen out of handbags without the victim realising it, police are also looking for three women following two incidents in which possessions were taken with force from women at shopping malls east of Pretoria.
Police spokesperson Colette Weilbach said two incidents were recently reported and a group of women were identified as the culprits.
“The perpetrators, who work in groups, distract female shoppers by starting a conversation with them. One of the perpetrators then forces the shopper to hand over her possessions before disappearing.”
Weilbach said the incidents occurred at about 16:00 at two separate centres.
Vivian Von Backstrom, an 86-year-old pensioner, recently also fell victim to pickpockets who stole her purse out of her handbag, which was zipped closed.
She only realised her purse had been stolen when she received a telephone call from Woolworths, Atterbury Boulevard shopping centre, informing her they had found her wallet.
When she collected her wallet, she saw a heap of purses on a desk and was told some eight purses and wallets had been found hidden among goods on the shelves in the store on the same day and the manager was contacting the victims to collect their possessions, including credit cards and personal documents.
Von Backstrom said she had not been to Woolworths in Atterbury Road, but had been shopping at Woolworths Foods at Gift Acres in Lynnwood Road.
Several other victims who collected their possessions from Woolworths at Attebury Boulevard, said they had also shopped at Gift Acres.
Woolworths Gift Acres manager Dieketseng Maake told Rekord she was aware of one incident last week during which a couple, posing as husband and wife, had stolen the belongings from a customer’s handbag.
“We have very strict security in our store and on the video footage it was clear the two alleged criminals picked their target carefully. They are very clever.”
She said the couple had followed several shoppers in the store until they came across a woman whose handbag was hanging on the trolley – an easy target.
“We have to help each other. We cannot have security guards following every customer and we ask our customers to be very vigilant, not be distracted and not to leave their handbags unattended on their shopping trolleys,” said Maake.
She added that the incident was of great concern for the store and additional extra care would be taken regarding security.
A Rekord reader who asked not to be identified said she was shopping with her family in a clothing store in The Grove on Sunday when she became a victim.
“I was looking at some items when suddenly two women surrounded me, acting like they were looking at the same items. Moments later I felt a hand against my body and my phone was gone. The only thing I saw was my phone getting handed to a third woman.”
The woman shouted at her husband who managed to block the women from getting away, but by then the cellphone had been discarded by the alleged thief and was found among clothing on the shelves.
“We called security and we spoke to the store manager who told us this happened to shoppers every week.”
Rekord could not get comment from the store involved and could therefore not publish the name.
“Valuables such as handbags, purses and cellphones must always remain under the shopper’s direct control,” said Weilbach, adding that mothers were also targeted because they were often distracted by their children.
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