Stolen purse

Me too GillT, really got me thinking what do I need to have on me..... so have removed driving license so far and wonder if I should keep store cards in a separate holder - but if bag gets snatched then the b......s have got the lot anyway. DH unhelpfully suggested carrying 2 handbags !

Petra poor you what a terrible situation to find yourself in.

I am so pleased some of you are rethinking the contents of your purse. I would like something good to come out of the theft.

When I went to the bank today they have suggested I join a company called Experian which help you avoid identity theft. It might sound over the top but they got my photo from my Driving Licence, they have numerous copies of my signature. They know my bank, account number etc. and the town I live in.

It is going to cost me about £48 a year and will shield me from anyone trying to take out a loan, or similar in my name.

I'm glad I had my bus pass, phone and house keys in my pocket. I have a hidden £10 in my mobile phone case.

I hunted for ages and eventually found a leather back pack style bag that has a zip pocket that is against my back which is where I keep my purse & keys. It is not big enough for shopping though.
for you nankate

So sorry to hear about this, Petra. It really shakes you up, doesn't it? A few years ago, I'd just got into my car and put my bag on the passenger seat. Someone pulled open the door, and pulled my bag out. Unfortunately I still had my hand round the handle, and ended up needing surgery for a torn tendon! Makes me shudder to think of it!

Hope you are feeling more like your old self now NanKate horrible experience

What a truly dreadful experience for you. I am so sorry and hope you are feeling better now.

I recently had my purse stolen, with the usual cards etc, however I have now decided to have a separate card holder for cards and ID information, and just keep a little ready money in my purse. I have also bought a 'biker wallet' which has a chain to attach it to my handbag.

This thread reminded me that a few years ago I picked up a discarded carrier bag littering a narrow street an to my dismay there was a purse in it. I took it in to the nearest place shop and the general opinion was that it had been pick pocketed from someone's handbag as there was no money but a bus pass,a library card and a very worn house key. I got the library to phone the person up as they would not tell me her phone number. The lady was in her 80s and had the purse stolen when she was in a changing room and had stepped out to look in a full length mirror. She lived quite a way from the city but always had the foresight to carry a £10 note in her jacket pocket and a neighbour had a spare key. She had a months pension stolen. It had shaken her a lot and we got a Christmas card from her for a few years.

I worry that the other half keeps all his cards in his wallet - with his money - in his pocket. So that if it is stolen he has lost everything. I have a small handbag which I carry over my shoulder with the flap always facing toward my body. My cards are all in different places - and I only have one card which I use regularly and is readily available, in the same place every time. I am not normally paranoid about things, or tidy, but this seems to be something I do quite naturally now.

Stansgran, i hope someone like you finds the discards if my purse is snatched!

I sometimes wonder why I carry all these cards, driving licence, health membership card and topup, car keys etc with me all the time. I don't carry house keys.
This thread has reminded me of the risks, and I'm going back to using a waist purse. It's quite roomy so I can even get my specs into it.
Thanks NanKate

Well done TriciaF get it sorted quickly.

Heard from Barclays Fraud Dept that one of my debit cards was used last Saturday even though we had stopped it within 20 mins. I am going into the bank tomorrow to find out how they could have done this with no pin code.

It was only £19.44 which the Bank will absorb as we had told them. I wonder if they used Contactless (I have never used it) as it has a £20 max.

If this ever happens to you keep a written record of everything you do including phone calls dates and times, as it goes into one blur after a while. I have to change all my pin numbers.

I am going to separate my cash from my cards and keep my cards in the zipper part of my bag. Someone earlier on this thread suggested it and I think it is a good idea.

I am about to get two wax effigies and a lot of sharp pins and say 'sod forgiveness'. I have told you this theft has brought out the worst in me.

I have however given an expensive handbag to Oxfam today to raise money for Nepal, so I am not all bad.

Somehow these people get around the PIN - I do not know how. Once we had £600 removed from our bank account and we have no idea how it was done - they bought up lots of perfume on ebay, which presumably they sold at a car boot sale; and they paid their council tax courtesy of our money! The bank was unable to say how they managed this feat, but they did reimburse us all the money with apparently very little interest in who might have done this or whether they might prosecute them - since they paid their council tax it would not have been beyond the wit of man to trace them.

It happens.
I had my bank account emptied by someone in Manchester, when, at that time, I'd never been there.
The bank reimbursed the lot but made me feel sick. I hadn't lost my card, neither had I ever written my PIN anywhere.

I once had my purse pinched in Tesco's. I was doing the big week's shop and it contained all my housekeeping money for the week so I was left without either food or money.
Another time someone took my handbag as I struggled off a bus with a sleeping child in my arms.
Thieves target the most vulnerable and know that their chance of getting caught is nil.

NanKate That must have been a horrible experience.

Thanks Nellie this whole debacle has annoyed me so much but I in no way feel fear just anger.

We have been very quick in dealing with every problem that has arisen, but I realise not everyone has a DH to be helping throughout sharing the problem, if I had been on my own there would have been a very different outcome. I am feeling sad for those more vulnerable victims who have to cope on their own, I am the lucky one.

The reason I have been so vocal on this thread is that I want something positive to come out of this robbery. From what I read many of you are rethinking how you protect yourselves when out in the big wide world. I want to beat the thieving ba****rds at their own game and let us Gransnetters come out on top.

My mum had never been robbed in her life. She was given a sharp lesson when she was about 80, that disgusted me and everyone we knew. She used a cane and a wheely bag. One of her shopping favourites was to buy really nice cards for birthdays, she would spend ages choosing just the right one for us.

Her favourite card shop had a step up to the door. She was struggling to get up the step, and a middle-aged 'normal-looking' woman offered to help support her. You guessed it - when Mum came to pay for the cards, her purse was missing, taken from her bag.

Fortunately she was more angry than upset, but what an absolute shit that woman was - spotting a disability as an opportunity.

How very sad Pamish it was cruel and totally despicable to treat your mum like this. How can they sleep in their beds at night having done such a thing. I hope one day that woman gets her comeuppance.

They are too damn clever. Some years ago when I worked in London, I was running down the platform at Marble Arch to get to the carriage that had doors opposite the exit at my destination. I was wearing a bag with a shoulder strap and a flap that covered the whole side of the bag and buckled right underneath.

I was suddenly aware of someone running behind me and quite close so I looked over my shoulder and, sure enough, there was a young man there and when I looked at him he distanced himself and got into the immediate carriage. When I reached my carriage, I sat down, looked at my bag and discovered that the buckle under the bag was unbuckled.

Now I knew with absolute certainty that when I started my run down the platform the bag was fully buckled, buckle pin in the strap and loose end through the further bar of the buckle. Nothing was stolen, I saw him in time, and anyway the book I read on the British Rail train was at the top of the bag, which was why I knew the bag was buckled, I remembered putting the book away and fully buckling the bag.

I have a friend who was on holiday abroad. She, her DH and friends were walking to supper one evening. She saw a couple of women nearby and as one of them attempted to steal her bag she somehow managed to swing it and hit the assailant good and hard with her bag. The would be thief went off shouting and swearing at my friend.

Sadly most of us don't get the opportunity to retaliate. Also it could prove dangerous.

Update.

Be aware that even after you have had your stolen credit/debit cards stopped the thieves can use your cards on Contactless. The thieves who stole my purse used it twice within an hour of the theft, however as I had officially stopped the cards the Bank is covering the cost.

I have now got a purse for cash and one for credit cards. I have bought from Amazon for £2.99 a slim anti theft chain which I attach to my purse and then clip to the inside of my bag - simples ! It is so good that I have sent for 2 more for my other purse and my car keys.

Over and out.

That would have been useful for me. In London a number of years ago I felt someone put his hand in my handbag as I got onto a bus. I turned around and there he was with my purse in his hand. I shouted "How dare you - put that down at once " and he did!!!! Dropped it and ran.

I must look at those though nan

Good idea NanKate! I have just ordered a couple from Ebay for £1.69 each. Decided to go for 24" chain with keyring at one end/clip at other, more difficult to detach from purse zip than clip. I have a built in ring in my healthy back bag. I have a vision of the chain wrapping around the contents of said bag and pulling everything out with my purse when shopping! We shall see!

I don't have to unclip it when I need a credit card I just place my bag on the counter and then rest the purse next to it when I have removed the card. No one can take it as it is still attached internally to the bag. Works really well. Glad you like the idea.