Theft BEWARE

After shopping in Consum Benimar yesterday afternoon at 15.25 I fell for the trick where a man told me I had a problem with my tyre, got out of the car to check & his accomplice stole my handbag. He had punctured the wall of the tyre with a very sharp knife.
Another person in the car park was changing their tyre so presumably it happened to them also. I had seen broken glass on the way into the car park & genuinely thought i'd picked up glass so was not suspicious but feel such an idiot now.
Since I have heard of the same thing being done in the Lidl car park.

Hi Vi sorry to hear about this but have you reported it, it is necesary to do so if the Guardia don't know they can't do anything and it is not to late to do it

Sorry to hear this - I do hope there wasn't much in the handbag Vi Robertson.

This has been a well known distraction theft for years and even happens in the UK. The other one is a flyer or piece of paper 'stuck' to the rear view mirror and if you get out to remove it , the theft happens. A lot of these type of thefts happen more to women as they are the ones who may put a handbag into the car before they drive off.

As has been mentioned before on this forum, cross-body bags are better if you actually need to use a handbag and don't keep valuables or much money in it. That way they can stay on while driving and are also safer when walking about.

Thank you for the warning.

Jan

Yes reported as soon as I got home and like most women everything necessary & imaginable was in my bag. I'd advise everyone to check their home insurance policies as I was under the impression it covered loss of money & keys etc. IT DIDN'T.

Just a bit of advice to those people reading this, I always put my handbag in the boot of my car before leaving home and when I have been shopping that way no one can reach into the car to steal it, normally most boots require the ignition key to open them, (well mine does). We had the same thing happen to us in the Consum car park 3 years ago and that is why I always put my bag in the boot. Our Home Insurance and Car Insurance did not cover us for the loss either and it cost us over 400 euros for a new tyre, passport, driving licence etc.

Keep them comming any experienc reported may help somone other, It is not nice to be a victim but it is good to make outhers aware as so many of us are complacent and the upset can be devastating so any advice is good.

Hi sorry to hear that you were robbed, I totally understand where you are coming from and how you feel. Exactly the same thing happened to us 5 yrs ago 3 weeks after moving to Spain, they did exactly the same thing with the puncture etc. we got robbed outside Super Valu in Formentera at lunch time. I had everything in my bag also passports,money,phones etc. We reported it straight away but nothing ever came of it. They had even tried my card in the cash machine 12 times! (in the UK I think the machine would suck your card in after 3 attempts) I thought there were cameras on all cash machines? these people are just pure SCUM! and it´s about time something was done.
Dawn

I had a lucky escape myself about 3 years ago in Guardamar. We had just parked by the beach when a car approached asking for directions to a jewellery shop. Given it was a Sunday I gave the chap directions to town but said he would be lucky to find a Jewellry shop open. The penny should have dropped there and then as the male was in the back with the kids and the women was in the driving seat! He then engaged me in conversation through the open window about the gold necklaces I had around my neck, one chunky and one delicate, and was it Spanish gold etc and could he have a closer look. Belatedly the penny finally dropped and I backed away and we walked off. I had thought them to be Spanish but thinking about it later they were probably Roma. It was clear that they had been cruising around looking for unwary victims and having spotted my chunky necklace moved in for the kill. Had I let him close enough I have no doubt he would have ripped the necklaces from my neck and the woman would have accelerated away. I consider myself to be a sharp cookie but still I nearly fell for it. We expect people to be like ourselves, decent and law-abiding, and that leaves us vulnerable to the 'low lives' looking for the unwary to prey upon. I am now on my guard in any 'out of the ordinary' situation. Be vigilant!

I have read on another group forum on Facebook that a gentleman was mugged leaving the Abbey Tavern La Florida and sustained quite bad facial and hand injuries and had his money and mobile taken and on another forum an older lady was approached by 2 women and one was choke holding her and was seen by passer by who saw a car nearby so started taking photographs of the car and incident. The man got out of car angry telling her to stop taking photographs and she said to him if he was doing no wrong why worry whereupon both women and himself angrily got into car and drove off. When she approached the old lady she was shaken and holding her neck and chain which the woman had tried to steal from her neck. This occurred only a few minutes walk from where I bought my townhouse outside the Horatio bar in playa Flamenca. The people in the car were of possibly Romanian. These two incidents happened within the last week. It is quite frightening to hear that it isn't safe to be walking about on your own. The second incident occurred at 1 pm. The first when the gentleman was walking home in the evening

Thank you all for replies. We need to keep the Guardia updated on all incidents as well as each other, the more info. we give them must surely help.
We have herd of an elderly lady walking home near Playa Flamenca a wearing a shoulder bag across her body when a man on a scooter drove past grabbing her bag, she was dragged about 20 feet before the strap burst.These robbers are the lowest of the low.
Keep safe all.